Mondo Zen

I had been hearing mention of Jun Po Roshi a few times around the Boulder Integral community, but the first time I encountered him was at the live filming of one of Stuart Davis' Sex, God, Rock N' Roll episodes where Jun Po was to be the featured guest.  Within the first 30 seconds of the interview, I got the hit that this Rinzai Zen master was not your average bear (You can see the first couple of minutes of the interview here).  I left all of Stuart's shows feeling shifted and lifted, but this particular night left me inspired to explore, adventure, and challenge myself further in the risky dimensions of consciousness.

I continued my exploration of Jun Po's teachings through recordings he did with some of my friend's podcasts: Buddhist Geeks, and The New Man.  I was intrigued by the Hollow Bones Five Training Elements, a progressive approach honoring traditional zen training while propelling it with components in alignment with the Integral Life Practice 4 Core Modules.  One of the training elements that ILP does not address but that I'm particularly intrigued by is Sacred Stewardship.  I heard stories of presentations that Jun Po put on involving chickens that really piqued my curiosity.  You can hear Jun Po describing this fowl presentation in his interview with Tripp Lanier here.

Coincidentally, my personal meditation practice had been deepening and I was looking for an immersive experience to further my progress.  Researching various meditation retreats on the basis of cost, location, duration, etc; I noticed that Jun Po's Hollow Bones Zen order was holding a 7-day sesshin in Colorado a couple of months down the line--and it was incredibly affordable compared to the others.  As the sobering spotlight of destiny began to focus and point at me, I quickly began to come-up with excuses why this wouldn't work-out.  The best thing I could rationally come-up with was that I had tickets to see Flight of the Conchords and Iron & Wine play at Red Rocks during the week in question.  After being slapped into reality by my men's group, I bit the bullet and submitted my deposit for the sesshin and contemplated where this rabbit hole might lead.

The date approached quickly, and realizing that it had been 7 years since I had completely unplugged from communication (not to mention speech), I made sure to clean-up as much as I could in my life to avoid having any nagging unforeseen complications distract me from focusing on the work that was sure to be arduous.  Of course, as soon as I began to clean-up stagnant projects and initiate difficult conversations, deeper avoidances crept out of the shadows and more work presented itself to be completed--leaving me in a somewhat manic, hyperactive, twitchy state when I finally was able to pry myself away from town and turn-off the iphone for the week.

The retreat was held at a lodge in Allenspark Colorado, just a mile from the gorgeous St. Malo's chapel where a portion of the Integral Contemplative Christianity event with Father Thomas Keating was held in 2006.  The structure transcends and includes a traditional, formal zen sesshin--setting the foundation with a rock-solid container; the idea is to cut down on distraction as much as possible to allow everyone the opportunity to deeply focus on each moment.  This ends-up looking like military boot-camp, but more disciplined; there's no talking, no eye-contact, and no movement at all while in sitting meditation--which is 8 hrs/day.  All meals are held in silence, walking is in formation, and surgically focused reprimanding (verbal) is used when any of these boundaries are exceeded.

About 10 minutes into our third hour of sitting mediation on the first day, my knees filling with fluid and beginning to throb, I began to have panicked thoughts of "What did I get myself into?"  Shortly after this, we were each individually asked, now knowing what the week had in store, are we in or are we out?  This confirming vow sealed the deal for me, and I knew I was in for the long haul come hell or high-water... little did I know.  Once I got my posture right and the pain ceased to be of primary concern, I began to see wild demons and sharp-teethed beasts appearing in the carpet in front of me as I sat.  This did little more than entertain me at first, but they didn't go away... all week.  I began to think I should be worried about these images as if my psyche was trying to tell me something--or scare me away from something else... I yearned for some wikipedia access so I could research Rorschach tests and interpret all this, but alas... no such procrastination possible.

These long sets of sitting and walking meditation make up only the Genuine Insight portion of the Hollow Bones Five Element Training methodology. Fortunately, Mondo Zen offers four more allies to complement this bold journey.  Every morning and evening we would have Conscious Embodiment sessions where we would do various qi gong, yoga, and kung fu forms to keep our minds in our bodies, our focus on our breath, and our bodies limber and strong to endure the long sits.  Each day we would also engage in the Mondo Zen Koan Ego Deconstruction and Emotional Awareness Intervention process that Roshi has been fine-tuning for over 30 years.  This process combines Socratic dialogue with Neuro-Linguistic Programming to systematically take apart the participant's false sense of self, and then give them a key to access the deeper, ever-present state of meditation whenever emotionally challenging charges come looking for violent responses.  I walk away from this work recognizing that I'm the only one who really makes myself angry, and my angst offers a doorway to my liberation in each moment, allowing me the opportunity to laugh at what previously results in outward anger, or inward shame.  Integrating this work into the week allowed me to drop significantly deeper into my concentration with each new discovery from my shadow.  The demons and horrific visions that would appear in my mind's eye didn't go away, but the part of me that tried to apply meaning and significance to them relaxed and found better things to do... such as just listening and enjoying the emptiness of pure awareness.

After the first few days of the retreat, I found myself living each moment more impeccably than I've ever been able to achieve in my routine life.  I tasted the integrity that I've been grasping at for years.  Many more challenges and magical incidences ensued, and by the end of the week, I was reluctant to get in the car and drive home.  The last night before supper, the silence was broken and we were allowed to speak again.  It took a while to figure-out what to say, but once the ego got rolling, I was off on a raucous bender of self-indulgent blather.  I felt drunk by the end of the night, not caring as I casually stumbled across my previously cherished impeccable formalities.  Remember, all we did was start talking again...  Fortunately this depth of concentration doesn't wear-off quickly, and we were given the opportunity to share some personal vows of how we were to integrate these training elements into our lives going forward.

Looking back I realize that this experience embodies the Integral Life Practice boot-camp I've for so many years been searching for.  I have tangible knowledge of what I'm mentally and emotionally capable of achieving, and I know that my mind/ego in reality doesn't run the show... I have a choice... that choice just seems more difficult after a few drinks or a milkshake.  The training is effective, my work is laid-out before me, all I have to do is choose how I want to live my life.  I want to live my life with integrity, and this is why I practice.  I look forward to my next deep taste of this life and another Mondo Zen sesshin... I hope to see you there.