Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy

Zen is what happened when Buddhism met Taoism, 
and the more accurate term
would be "Zen-Taoism,"
not "Zen-Buddhism,"
because Zen is more Taoist than Buddhist.

If you are interested,
check out "The Tao of Zen" by Ray Grigg,
hardback or Kindle at Amazon.

With both Taoism and Zen
you get the doctrine:
"It doesn't matter 
what you believe or think.
It matters what you do.
Believe anything you like.
Think anything you want.
As long as it enables you
to do what needs to be done,
when, where and how it needs to be done,
in each situation as it arises,
with nothing in it for you,
all your life long."

See what needs doing and do it,
when, where and how it needs to be done,"
is all it takes to transform the world
(If applied).

And we spend all our time talking about 
the 10,000 things
without doing what needs doing.

If you see something that needs doing, 
do it.

That's all the Zen/Taoism you need.

–0–

"The peace of wild things"
(Wendell Berry)
is found in letting things be what they are,
and not incessantly willing
things to be different than they are.
Life protests its surrender to life,
but it recognizes inevitability 
when it sees it 
and acquiesces to the circumstances
without holding grudges,
planning its revenge,
or endlessly bemoaning its plight
through resentment and depression
over eons and ages.

Rivers dry up.
Species go extinct.
Earthquakes and volcanoes
remake landscapes.
And nature works with what it has
to work with
to make the best of what's what
and that's that.

Nature takes everything in stride
and keeps going.
Dandelions grow through asphalt.
Dogwoods bend themselves out of shape
reaching for the light.
Nature does what it is here to do
any way it can.

Nature's mantra is 
"Here we are, now what?"
Life lives in the service of life
as long as life lasts,
with spirit, energy and vitality
all the way along the way,
looking for what can be done
with what is left to work with,
forever rising from the ashes
with heart for the work
yet to be done,
anyway, nevertheless, even so.

–0–

Every living thing has
some guiding sense 
of what it is about,
about what is its to do.
Every living thing
lives knowing and doing its business
and avoiding/ignoring what is not its business.

Every.
Living.
Thing.

And that has been true of human beings
for most of our existence.

With agriculture and domestication of animals,
communal life allowed
for a division of labor
which allowed specialization to develop
and people began to do different things
with their lives,
and that led to mobilization
and creativity,
and soon enough people were asking,
"Why do we do it the way we do it?
And why don't we do it some other way instead?
And why don't we all do it differently
if we want to?"

And now everybody has "their way"
and tries to impose it on everyone else,
and human beings have no idea 
of what their business is as a species
or what they are here to do and not do.

Yet, that is the first order of life
for every other living thing,
knowing its business and doing it,
from birth.

We are on our own.
And, have to realize that
and develop a developmental plan.

The first step is to understand
the crucial nature of establishing
a foundation upon the "adamantine rock"
of our original nature and innate virtues
that are ours at birth.

We are born being who we are
and who we are not.
And our task of life 
is to know what is "us" and "not us."
And what fits and what does not fit.
And where belong and where we do not belong.
And to allow everything to fall into place
around these fundamental realizations.

All of these areas will change
as we grow into who we also are
and out of who we once were,
and our awareness has to take 
this into account,
allowing us to make adjustments
as necessary,
but the idea of "me" and "not me"
is our foundational guide through life,
with specifics changing
through the developmental tasks of life.

–0–

I say this from time to time
because it cannot be heard often enough:

It is all useless, hopeless, pointless, futile
and absurd,
and coming to a very bad end--
every living thing dies.
And.
How we live in the meantime 
makes all the difference.

We have to live as those 
who do not care what our chances are
because we have a life that is ours alone
to live--
in response to a will to express 
that which must be expressed
through us alone.

We are here to align ourselves
with that will in the time we are alive,
and to do what we are needed to do
in doing what needs to be done
with the original nature
and the innate virtues
that are unique to us
and especially necessary
to the here/now of our daily walk,
and to each situation as it arises
throughout the full course of our life.

We must live to honor that will
which informs our living
and evokes our life
in response to the circumstances
that unfold around us
moment to moment,
day by day.

It doesn't matter what our chances are!

We live to do what is ours to do
here/now
no matter what--
for the joy of doing it
and the satisfaction of having done it!

And we will not be knocked off
the anchoring rock of our fealty,
liege loyalty
and filial devotion
to what needs to come forth through us
even now,
even yet,
even so.
No matter what.

Make this your grounding realization
and your life-long commitment,
letting everything fall into place around that,
and you will be amazed at the power
of your life to sustain you
and comfort you,
guide and direct you
as it impacts and transforms
the world around you.

If you are not going to listen to me here,
why bother to listen to me anywhere?

–0–

I am reading Frederich Nietzsche
("The Birth of Tragedy")
and Arthur Schopenhauer  
("The World as Will and Representation")
simultaneously,
with each alternating as comic relief 
to the other.

Every time I open either,
I experience an immediate flashback
to the Kevin Kline character Otto
in "A Fish Called Wanda,"
acknowledge the similarities,
and dig in.

Though their works have been translated
into English,
I have to translate the translations,
and vault over the nuances of time and place,
in trying to relate my world to theirs.

In doing so, I watch all of the pertinent
YouTube videos on each author
and both books
in order to make as much sense as possible
of what I am reading.

And as I do so,
I relate all of it,
insofar as I am able,
to my situation in this here/now,
and respond to them 
out of my own world and world view.

It is as though I am designing
my own course of study,
and working my way through my
"reclining years"
in the company of people 
who have earned the respect of generations.

At the very least, 
it beats Bridge, 
Shuffle Board,
and Pickleball.
And keeps me off the streets.

–0–

When the door opens,
walk through.

The tricky part 
is knowing the right door 
when it opens.

It is not necessarily
the door we want to open.

"That which you seek
lies far back 
in the darkest corner
of the cave
you most don't want to enter"
(Joseph Campbell).

Walking through a door open
to what we most don't want to do.
Is that courageous or stupid?
It takes going to know.

We have to know what is on 
the other side of the door.
We owe it to ourselves to find out.
Knowing what we will learn
positions us to know the right door
when it opens,
which makes any door the right door,
in that the worst it can do
is lead us to the right door.

So, walk through every open door
with your eyes open,
knowing you do not know what you are doing,
and not caring what your chances are,
but paying attention to everything,
searching for clues that call you on,
or send you searching
for another door,
standing open,
winking at you,
blowing kisses your way,
saying "How about me, Sweetie?"

–0–

This Singing Bowl was blessed
by three Buddhist monks
over the course of my tenure
at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
in Greensboro, NC.

I used it to ring us into and out of
the silence that began the service
of A Gathering of Sojourners
each Sunday morning.

The right kind of silence
opens us to the here/now
in every moment,
and is the foundation 
of our alignment with
the flow of our life
through all of the
times and places of our living.

We can live through anything
and do anything
if we are 
still, quiet and empty enough long enough.

The Singing Bowl itself
is a Symbol of Transformation for me,
connecting me with my past,
my present,
and my future--
and with all of those
who have shared the silence with me,
and all who have been blessed by silence
through the ages and eons of times long forgotten,
and who will be through ages and eons yet to be.

We are one in the chiming of the bell.
One in the silence of the call to be here/now,
open to what is present with us
into all that waits to be seen and done.

--0--

How do we spend our time?
How do we decide what to do?
I recommend the practice
of living out of the emptiness,
stillness
and silence.
And finding our guidance and direction
from the things that come to us,
arising,
appearing,
emerging
in the silence
to evoke us into acting
in the field of action.

And, allowing one thing to lead to another
as appropriate,
like following the bread crumbs
from one here/now
to the next.

This is spiritual direction
from living in accord with the flow
of our life,
moment by moment.

And is the foundation 
of the adventure of being alive.

–0–

People who look for
what makes life worthwhile,
worth their effort,
worth their time,
are not concerned about
their original nature
and innate virtues.

"What's in it for me?"
is their only interest.
"When is it going to be my turn?"
"How can I get what I want?"
"All I want is MY WAY NOW!"
Is all life is about for them.

Their motives and operating principle
are not conducive to life.
Life is about making the best
of each situation as it arises
in the service of the true good of all.

How good is the good we call good?
Good for whom?
The best good does what needs to be done
in light of what can be done
in the service of the good of the whole situation
in each situation as it arises.

What the situation calls for
varies from situation to situation.
Sometimes this, sometimes that.
To be determined in the here/now
of the moment of action.

And we are to do it when, where and how
it needs to be done,
moment by moment,
situation by situation.

We have to be attuned to the here/now,
aware of what's what
and what needs to be done in response,
moment by moment,
situation by situation.

Using the gifts of our original nature
and the innate virtues we are born with
in service to the good of the situation
as a whole.

This means saying the things that need to be said.
Asking the questions that beg to be asked.
And doing what needs to be done.
In every situation as it arises.
All our life long.

We live in response to the good of the moment,
every moment.
No matter what.

The Buddhist monks who immolated themselves
during the Vietnam war
were doing what they felt the moment called for.
They were calling attention to the absurdity
of the war
by ending their life in an absurd and awful way.
Their deaths were their statement
about the here/now of their living.

Their disciples said they were following
the examples of their masters
by immolating themselves
for the good of every moment,
adding that they were only burning to death
more slowly.

Like them, we all die to the good of each moment,
in each moment,
"burning to death very slowly."

–0–