With palms together,
Good Morning Sangha,
What is the "higher" truth? Does God exist? Is there a Heaven? A Hell? Where do we fit in along the way? Was there a beginning? Will there be an end? Who am I? What ams I? How should I live my life? How should I treat my friends, my family, strangers? Where do we go to get the answers to these questions?
Some would say we should go to Church or Synagogue or Moque or Temple. I would agree. A good religious center would then take us and sit us down and ask us to take a backward step. A good religious center would not give us answers to these questions, instead they would invite us to examine ourselves, deeply examine ourselves. Of course, in the process of this examination they would offer us tools.
Liturgy is such a tool. Means of practice, such as dailty rituals, meditation, chanting, are such tools. Prayer in its many colored and textured varieties are such tools. But these are not the answers themselves. It is a mistake to think that because you bow and light incense you are connecting to anything. It is a mistake to think that because you put on a prayer shawl or a robe that you are getting closer to God, being like Jesus, or becoming a Buddha. These are important practices and they will orient you, but they are not the thing itself.
The thing itself comes from inside out. It is in your heart/mind.
The backward step is, of course a step into stillness. A step into your "still small voice." Not just listening to that voice, but enjoining that voice. You and that voice are one, just as you and your God are one, just as you and Jesus are one or you and Buddha are one. This One, regardless of name, is there whether we feel it or not, see it or not, experience it or not. The questions I asked at the beginning are our invitations to discover this One.
It is now your turn to take this backward step. Be still.
Be well.
5 comments:
So, ritual is an odd thing. there is a certain comfort in it but there is a lot there that is archaic and half understood. Ritual is almost an impediment to understanding. Zazen on the other hand, while a practice, seems almost to be in opposition to ritual. It is about recognizing habitual behavior and clearing it away. Am I seeing this correctly or should I view it differently? Thank you
Hello Jeff. To the extent that a ritual is not understood, you are correct, it becomes an impediment. But it is not the ritual that it the impediment, it is the lack of understanding. Ritual is nothing more or less than what we do in a repeated, but meaningful, way. It is good practice. The question of being free to choose this or that within a ritual is another matter. That freedom is often an excuse to not practice. We become lazy. So, with freedom comes the responsibility to establish goals and practices that meet those goals. If it is our goal to practice zen, then there are certain bare bones rituals that must be done and done routinely, daily, if you will. In the doing, we enter them or they enter us, depending on how one views things. This oneness is rather like riding a bicycle or running or driving. It is done mindfully, but without step-by-step thought.
Put together your own ritual, then follow it whether it becomes a hassle or not. It is following what we set out to do that is the practice of discipline. Be well.
So, Thank you for that clarification. That helps me a lot.
So, you mentioned various tools for religious practice. Do you consider zazen a tool?
Hello Jeff, Zazen is both a tool and a thing in itself. Master Dogen Zenji said that Zazen was practice realization, no differece between Zazen and enlightenment. Still, we must practice. Just because a seed exists does not mean it will flower.
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