With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
I am kneeling on my seiza bench at our rough cut wooden table in our living room. It is nearly 1:00 PM and by the time I am done with this missive, I am certain it will be well past the hour. No matter. What I have to say is important at any hour.
I particularly enjoy kneeling at this table. It is just the right height and angle for my one-handed typing. I have found, as in a prayerful hand gesture, (a mudra), it is difficult not to be at peace when knelling. There is something about the posture that demands stillness.
I am reading, once again, Bernie Glassman Roshi’s book, “Bearing Witness,” as I prepare for this coming Sunday’s Dharma talk over at Treeleaf Sangha (8:00 AM). My topic is to be Engaged Practice. I talked with my therapist about this. She asked what was meant by the phrase. I politely responded that engaged practice was similar to the Jewish notion of tikun olam, to “repair the world.”
You see, as Zen Buddhists we take the Three Pure Precepts, to cease doing evil, to do good, and to bring about abundant good in the world. So right there, built into our lives through vow is a commitment to engaged practice. Some of don’t quite see it that way and feel it is perfectly OK to just sit in a zendo for hours on end. Even some of our credentialing bodies suggest the amount of time in retreat (i.e., on the cushion) is a major criteria for admittance to the realm of the OK, versus not OK amongst us. I say poppy cock. What is OK about measuring our credentials by the amount of time we sit on our ass?
The Buddha sat. Indeed he did. But then he got up and did something: he taught, he healed, he brought the hope of an end to suffering to the world. And us today? Too many of us are so attached to sitting that we fail to live out our precepts smug as we are in our cloistered Zen world. Oh, to be so enlightened that the world around us goes wanting.
And I am not innocent in this. For weeks now I have not practiced in public spaces. While I have assisted in feeding homeless folk, I have been, for the most part self absorbed in my own aging.
Somewhere along the way, I lost my direction. Perhaps it is because I am newly married. Or perhaps because I have become a tad too comfortable in my home. I don’t know. What I do know is that siting at home, while providing a much needed respite, is not my practice.
So, it is time to put on the robes again and take to the street. Hallelujah!
Gassho,
Daiho
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With palms together,
Good Afternoon All,
I am kneeling on my seiza bench at our rough cut wooden table in our living room. It is nearly 1:00 PM and by the time I am done with this missive, I am certain it will be well past the hour. No matter. What I have to say is important at any hour.
I particularly enjoy kneeling at this table. It is just the right height and angle for my one-handed typing. I have found, as in a prayerful hand gesture, (a mudra), it is difficult not to be at peace when knelling. There is something about the posture that demands stillness.
I am reading, once again, Bernie Glassman Roshi’s book, “Bearing Witness,” as I prepare for this coming Sunday’s Dharma talk over at Treeleaf Sangha (8:00 AM). My topic is to be Engaged Practice. I talked with my therapist about this. She asked what was meant by the phrase. I politely responded that engaged practice was similar to the Jewish notion of tikun olam, to “repair the world.”
You see, as Zen Buddhists we take the Three Pure Precepts, to cease doing evil, to do good, and to bring about abundant good in the world. So right there, built into our lives through vow is a commitment to engaged practice. Some of don’t quite see it that way and feel it is perfectly OK to just sit in a zendo for hours on end. Even some of our credentialing bodies suggest the amount of time in retreat (i.e., on the cushion) is a major criteria for admittance to the realm of the OK, versus not OK amongst us. I say poppy cock. What is OK about measuring our credentials by the amount of time we sit on our ass?
The Buddha sat. Indeed he did. But then he got up and did something: he taught, he healed, he brought the hope of an end to suffering to the world. And us today? Too many of us are so attached to sitting that we fail to live out our precepts smug as we are in our cloistered Zen world. Oh, to be so enlightened that the world around us goes wanting.
And I am not innocent in this. For weeks now I have not practiced in public spaces. While I have assisted in feeding homeless folk, I have been, for the most part self absorbed in my own aging.
Somewhere along the way, I lost my direction. Perhaps it is because I am newly married. Or perhaps because I have become a tad too comfortable in my home. I don’t know. What I do know is that siting at home, while providing a much needed respite, is not my practice.
So, it is time to put on the robes again and take to the street. Hallelujah!
Gassho,
Daiho
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