Tuesday 11 July 2017

132. ZEN REMARKS

132. The practices of concentration, letting-be, mindfulness and self-inquiry in zazen are not undertaken out of an individualist desire for self-improvement but rather for the transformation of oneself and the world. Thus we chant in the first of the Four Great Vows: 'Though the many beings are numberless, I vow to save them all'. And as Master Dogen writes: 'To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualised by the ten thousand things'. And so in zazen we do not sit for ourselves alone but for our families, friends, companions, strangers, enemies, the whole wide world. Our zazen practice is directed towards the transformation of ourselves and the world. There is no end to this process of transformation. In the words of Robert Sardello, our intent is 'to live a transforming life without ever seeking an imagined end to the transformation'.

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