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PODCAST

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud

Silent Thunder Order

A podcast of original teachings and music by Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston Roshi, guiding teacher of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center and abbot of the Silent Thunder Order.

religion & spirituality buddhism

All Episodes

00:19:32

90. Politics & Design

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/05/11

Such a lovely world —if it weren’t for the people!Let’s get rid of them.* * *In the last segment on Precepts & Putin, I finally got around to asking what all these ethical and political issues have to do with Design thinking, pointing out that even such large-scale dilemmas are subject to analysis and problem definition, with design intent being the underlying premise. What kind of intent rationalizes waging war, visiting death and destruction upon fellow human beings? What is the intent behind

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00:20:34

89. Precepts & Putin

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/05/04

Dharma trumps karmabut it is not an escape —Consequences come* * *Last Sunday we performed an initiation ceremony called “Jukai Tokudo” in Japanese. We had an international visitor and a couple of other candidates who were ready and willing to receive the initial precepts of Zen, declaring themselves Soto Zen Buddhists. We will do so again in November of this year, which is our Founder’s Month, honoring Matsuoka Roshi, our founding teacher.It occurred to me that in this context, with all the

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00:22:09

88. Zen Priest & Householder

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/04/27

Who is this Zen for?Yes, you can practice alone —sangha will survive.* * *No, this is not the beginning of a bad joke about a priest and a householder entering a bar. Though that certainly has happened a lot in history. No, this is about the anomalies and apparent contradictions that arise in the propagation of Zen in a hyper-secular society such as the good old USA, where a lay Zen priest, the very idea, lands with a thud, like the proverbial lead balloon. Another can of worms to open.This issue

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00:18:40

87. Pandemic & 4 Spheres

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/04/20

The Four Spheres are real —as real as anything else —but temporary* * *We left off with the promise that we would continue examining the can of worms called “anxiety.” To a fish or a bird, as Master Dogen analogizes, this would be a more attractive proposition. Growing up outside a small town in southern Illinois, we lived near the country club overlooking an artificial lake, where we and others would go fishing. I sold earthworms for bait on the road to the lake in front of our farmhouse. Amongst

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00:16:26

86. Anxiety & Completion

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/04/13

I may not be done —my race may be almost run —not yet... not yet... not...* * *In the discussion devoted to Bodhidharma’s four observations in zazen, we mentioned anxiety and serenity as one of the polar binaries encountered in meditation in the category of emotional mood swings, as the great sage is said to have taught. Indeed, the mind seems to function as a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to the other in all manner of ways. But we encounter anxiety in daily life as well, one of the motivating

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00:15:57

85. 4 Spheres & Zazen

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/04/06

It’s all personal —but entangled seamlesslywith universal* * *This is the last of a quartet of essays on semantic modeling, an approach that emphasizes simultaneity of components in a system and how they interact with each other, a more geometric than algebraic framework for portraying causes and effects. This preference for simultaneous interface over linear causality is said to be characteristic of the Eastern mind in comparison with Western thinking, and is illustrated by Buddha’s Twelvefold

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00:16:58

84. Tetrad & Zazen

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/03/30

He was the great sagewho said no need for zazen —if you grasp the truth* * *At the beginning of the last section on analysis and systems modeling, I suggested it may be worthwhile to delve a bit more deeply into applying the tetrad to the scope of activities in daily life as well as directly to Zen practice, particularly zazen. And that we would continue along these lines with yet another variation on the tetrad theme, looking at things from a four-pointed perspective. It turns out that there are

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00:13:47

83. Tetrad & Zen

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/03/23

It’s not that simple.But it helps to simplify —at least in your mind.* * *Before leaving the discussion of systems and analysis modeling, and its application to daily life and Zen practice, it may be worthwhile to delve a bit more deeply into applying the tetrad to both. This exercise, which may feel a bit awkward in the beginning, may help you answer the question as to not what may be wrong with your approach — as we maintain, you cannot really do Zen wrong — but what may not be working as well as

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00:11:27

82. Systems & Analysis

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/03/16

What is a system?It has inside and outside —all dharma beings.* * *We ended the last section with the suggestion that you consider the design of your Zen practice from a creative perspective, rather than as a pat system that others can teach you to follow. More like jazz than classical music. In other words, be prepared to improvise. This does not entirely eliminate, but places reasonable parameters around, the issue of doing zazen right, as opposed to getting it wrong.If you take this approach to

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00:16:22

81. Discovery & Invention

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/03/09

Discovery now.Invention follows later —in Design or Zen.* * *One more point about process in general may be worth noting before considering the processes of discovery and invention in particular. Like most words, “processing” can be used as a euphemism. The last message on the evening news was that this night was going to be the worst of the current invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military. Turning on the news this morning, the first station was talking about sports; the second about methane

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00:18:11

80. Processes & Outcomes

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/03/02

Process is the thing —Outcomes only the result —Some tweaking required* * *Matsuoka Roshi’s expression that “You have to work your way through every bone in your body” implies a kind of thoroughgoing process of potentially hundreds of micro-adjustments to the posture of zazen. While this may seem daunting, and an unnecessarily complicated way of looking at meditation, it is meant to be encouraging. It reminds me of the old cowboy tune, “Home on the Range,” where “never is heard a discouraging word,

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00:17:43

79. Methods & Routines

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/02/23

Method and routinemay be hard to separate —Work it out in time* * *In the last episode of our series on Design thinking and Zen, considering methods and materials, tools and techniques associated with Zen practice — as well as their place in the process of Design and problem-solving in general — it occurred to me that zazen is not the solution itself, but a recommended method for arriving at an ongoing solution to the problems life presents. This may be belaboring the obvious, but Bodhidharma is

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00:16:13

78. Methods & Materials

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/02/16

No matter the tool —Whatever materials —The method is Zen* * *In the last episode we ended by noting that the design of the method of Zen, as well as the equipment used in practicing it, were operative from the very beginning of the tradition. We said we would further explore the simplicity of both the method, and the gear needed to exercise it, in this segment. The broader scope of the intersection of methods and materials is a major concern in Design thinking, especially what is called

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00:14:02

77. Simplicity & Methodology

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/02/09

Let’s keep it simple.It’s complicated enoughwithout our meddling.* * *In the last episode we said we would shift gears a bit from a general emphasis on the intersection of Design thinking and Zen as problem-solving activities, to a closer focus on some of the more salient details of both endeavors, and where we may find some overlap. This will necessarily constitute an exercise in finding harmony in comparing samenesses and differences in the two fields, which forms the title and substance of Sekito

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00:17:10

76. Problem & Solution

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/02/02

What is the problem?Is there a real solution?We have a method.* * *Last episode we promised a closer look at what we mean by “the problem,” and suggested that you might take another look at what you would define as your particular case example. What did you come up with? While it is true that the fundamental problem of existence is a shape-shifter, it seems to cycle through permutations back to its original form. Its iterations turn out to be variations on a theme.One of the problems in writing is

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00:23:03

75. Design of Design: Unskillful Means

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/01/26

Chance is not random.Synergy is arising —in Design or Zen.* * *Welcome to the third episode of our new series on Design thinking and Zen. Note that we are capitalizing Zen, as is the custom, but also Design, as a reminder of its broader and deeper application to those uninitiated into its history and philosophy. The cognoscenti in both disciplines recognize the scope and breadth of each, in Zen referenced as the wide and long tongue of the Buddha. In other words, there is virtually nothing that does

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00:18:19

74. Design & Zen: Buddha’s Design

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/01/19

What did he intend —the design intent of Zen?We are still learning.* * *In the last episode of UnMind we closed with comments that Zen and design both entail individual effort as well as group collaboration, and that designing the most efficacious processes in each requires experimentation and creativity. We will continue this line of thinking in this episode, around design and Zen. We also suggested taking another look at what Buddha did, from this perspective. What problem did Buddha solve, would

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00:12:47

73. Zen & Design: Skillful Means

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/01/12

What is the problem?Buddha defined it as Dukkha —I say Upaya.* * *We launched the UnMind podcast the third trimester of 2020, in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Running through the end of 2021, they featured various individual episodes and series of commentaries on selected historical teachings of Zen Buddhism from India, China and Japan. We wrapped up with Matsuoka Roshi’s excellent overview on finding your way amongst the Zen ways, “Dhyanayana,” from Mokurai, the collection of his later talks

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00:20:34

72. Finding Your Way Trio 3: Dhyanayana III

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2022/01/05

Rinzai or Soto?It does not make much diff’rence —if you are sincere.* * *In the last segment, we ended with Matsuoka Roshi’s cautionary tale about overreacting to the menu of Zen and other meditation teachers on offer today:In all the world now there are many genuine teachers and many more pretenders. The popular Zen teachers of today may fade in a year or two.He goes on to point out that with Master Dogen, and other teachers in the so-called unbroken face-to-face lineage from Shakyamuni on down,

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00:16:45

71. Finding Your Way Trio 2: Dhyanayana II

UnMind: Zen Moments With Great Cloud ·

2021/12/29

Skillful means or not,it is still all up to you —not your teacher’s fault!* * *In the last segment, we ended with Matsuoka Roshi’s simple but stunning summation of the essence of Zen training, or skillful means:Ultimately, what form the upaya take are the conjunction of a particular teacher, and all that he or she is, with a particular student or group of students and all that they are. In the free flow of Zen the teaching will teach itself as long as the teacher doesn’t interfere, and as long as

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