My Renegade Zen:

 

 

The Four-Gone Conclusions: (tradition - "The Four Noble Truths")

 

 

1. Life Sucks. (Which is why I love this quote from The Princess Bride:  “Life is pain, Princess. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”)

 

2. It sucks because we want things to go our way. (In other words, we crave contentment; pursue pleasure; long for love; collect treasures; compare dick sizes.)

 

3. It isn’t all about us. (And if we really get that, life will not suck anymore.)

 

4. There’s a Way for us to really get just how much life is not about us, and Buddha figured out how — just follow the path of

 

The Eight- Track Groove: (tradition - "The Eightfold Path")

 

 

 

1. The Apt Outlook Groove (Right View)

 

2. The Apt Intent Groove (Right Intention)

 

3. The Apt Speech Groove (Right Speech)

 

4. The Apt Conduct Groove (Right Conduct)

 

5. The Apt Work Groove (Right Livelihood)

 

6. The Apt Effort Groove (Right Effort)

 

7. The Apt Awareness Groove (Right Mindfulness)

 

8. The Apt Focus Groove (Right Concentration; referring to meditation practice.)

 

 

Groovy!!

 

About the word “Apt,” the thesaurus gives the following synonyms: suitable; fitting; correct; proper. I really don’t like the use of the word “right” in this context, because the opposite of “right” is “wrong, bad, evil,” etc. “Apt” doesn’t really have an opposite, and that’s good, because Zen is really into avoiding distinctions, comparisons, and either-or thinking. The antonyms of “apt” are awesome: “dull; stupid; irrelevant; unbecoming; incongruous;” and my favorite, “unsustainable.”

 

 

So—

 

Groove #1; Apt Outlook:

It’s about attitudes, viewpoints, understandings, paradigms. The recommendation is to experiment with seeing the world as it is, and not how we want it to be. Keep on cultivating equanimity and clear perception of reality, and keep on checking to make sure that our illusions and delusions are not gaining the upper hand. It's also about seeing the world as a place where our actions have consequences, and the aim is to clear away confusion and misunderstandings from our path in life.

 

 

Groove #2; Apt Intent:

This one is about intentions, aspirations and the individual will or purpose. It also seems to be about the will to learn and study. The recommendation is to consciously choose what is important to us; what is consistent with our values, and attempt to hold a deliberate awareness of our values, intentions, and purposes in the forefront of our minds at all times. On the other hand, it’s not about achieving a future goal. It’s more about bringing this deliberate intentionality to all of our decision making.

 

 

Groove #3; Apt Speech:

The recommendation is to ‘mind your tongue’! From the Anguttara Nikaya Fives: "Monks, a statement endowed with five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people. Which five? “It is spoken at the right time. It is spoken in truth. It is spoken affectionately. It is spoken beneficially. It is spoken with a mind of good-will.” A statement endowed with these five factors is well-spoken, not ill-spoken. It is blameless & unfaulted by knowledgeable people." (Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)

Wow, it doesn’t get any better than that!

 

 

Groove #4; Apt Conduct:

The recommendation is to ‘mind your p’s and q’s’! No-one knows the origin of that phrase, and so it’s very apt for us to use it to guide us in regulating our behavior by the ‘action of non-action’.

The Tao te Ching offers this quote—

 “Creating without claiming, Doing without taking credit, Guiding without interfering, This is Primal Virtue.”

“A Western Approach to Zen” by Christmas Humphries offers these quotes—

“But while the brain argues, the heart knows, and the truth is simple. There was a jingle quoted largely when I was a child, written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Do the work that’s nearest, though it’s dull at whiles,

Helping when you meet them lame dogs over stiles.”

-and-

“Can we learn to ‘live life as life lives itself’, without fuss, seeing all things to be rightly what they are, and prepared to leave them so, without our interference? If so, we can allow ourselves to be utterly occupied by the job at hand.”

-and-

“There remains but what the master Takuan called ‘the unfoldment of doing’, a ‘quiet, ceaseless ‘walking on’.”

 

 

Groove #5; Apt Work:

How should we ‘make a living’? The recommendation is to live life as a seamless, integrated whole. It does not reflect our skillfulness if we separate out parts of our life for which we feel a diminished sense of accountability. Traditionally, Buddhists can’t be arms dealers, human traffickers, butchers or meat packers, drug dealers, or poisoners for profit. The worth lies in the vow, not the values, however. Always remember the potential for harm, and steer clear of it.

 

Groove #6; Apt Effort:

“Abandon what is unskillful; develop what is skillful”. There is a wonderful conversation recorded between Buddha and a monk named Sona, in which Buddha compares apt effort to the tuning of a stringed instrument. Too tight is no good; too loose is no good. Over-eagerness will just make us restless, and carelessness will only make us lazy. The recommendation is to keep on adjusting our frequency until we’re in tune.

 

 

Groove #7; Apt Awareness:

Being aware of things “in and of themselves”; “ardent, alert, and mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.” The recommendation is to be absolutely attentive— as if it were a matter of life and death. At the same time, this awareness is without nervousness or tension. “‘We will develop mindfulness immersed in the body. We will pursue it, hand it the reins and take it as a basis, give it a grounding, steady it, consolidate it, and undertake it well.' That is how you should train yourselves."

 

 

Groove #8; Apt Focus:

“…a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful (mental) qualities — enters & remains in the (state of): purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This is called right concentration."

There’s a continuum of concentration which leads to “a state of equanimity and mindfulness marked by a sense of pleasant abiding”. The recommendation is to have a singleness of mind equipped with all 7 of the forgoing ‘grooves’— apt outlook; apt intent; apt speech; apt conduct; apt work; apt effort, and apt awareness.

 

 

Sources: Samyutta Nikaya & Anguttara Nikaya; from Access to Insight webpages—https://accesstoinsight.org/