With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Dropping the coffee cup on the floor, we see the relevance of Zen is its discordance. Zen is so often thought of as this flaky sort of "oneness" with monks floating along not disturbing the sand under their feet. Compassion has come to the marketplace with huge price tags. Everyone is smiling. Oy.
Not always so.
Zen is not like that. Zen is Jizo's staff with the noisy rings. Its a kyosaku slap and the floor. Its a rattle your brain koan. We are not supposed to walk around in perfect bliss, you know. Zen is about paying attention to something larger than our creature comforts: to the Koreas and Japan and Iran and Iraq and India and the United States and Israel and Saudi Arabia, to Africa, to Antarctica, to Greenland, to Central and South America, and to our neighbors, Mexico and Canada.
Zen is the moment the bell is invited to ring, the moment two cars near each other on a collision course, the moment a weapon is drawn, the moment an addict comes close to his drug of choice, or a homeless person to sundown in the winter.
This is everyday Zen, the Zen of those awake to see, smacking those who are asleep upside the head. Oneness means we are in this together.
Shouting Wake Up! in a Zen Monastery is about as useful as asking dogs to chase rabbits. On the other hand, inviting everyday sleepwalkers to stub their toes or reminding them there is an ecological finitude to planet Earth or suggesting intelligent, non-violent practice may be a viable alternative to deadly weapons, that may be useful.
Concordance is wonderful: it feels good. Discordance is jarring; it doesn't feel good. Spiritual practice is not a narcotic..
May you be a blessing in the universe.
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