355. ZEN REMARKS

355. In the spiritual life, as Merton once remarked, we are always beginners. A Zen view of such a claim is that to walk the buddha path we should cultivate 'beginner's mind'. And so, after every meal, let us take care to 'wash our bowl'. 

354. ZEN REMARKS

354. How do we understand anatta? If we take it literally to mean no self whatsoever we get ourselves into all sorts of strife, both philosophically and practically. Why not interpret it to mean no independent, self-sufficient, autonomous self? 

353. ZEN REMARKS

353. What shift in consciousness might Zen help bring about? An embodied realization of the interdependence and interconnectedness of all things would be a good start. 

352. ZEN REMARKS

352. Joanna Macy has said something about our need for a 'shift of consciousness' if we are to face up to our urgent social and environmental problems, problems that our political leaders seem not to see. Perhaps Zen might have a role to play in helping to bring about such a shift. 

351. ZEN REMARKS

351. Many people are expressing fear about the future of planet earth and whether future generations will find it livable. Their fears are surely well founded. Accompanying these fears, however, is a sense of hopelessness. Does Zen have anything to offer that might give us some cause for confidence in the future? Is living responsibly and wisely in the present, and encouraging others to do the same, enough? Overcoming 'greed, hatred, and ignorance', even at the personal level, is difficult enough. How do this on a scale that will be effective in dealing with the environmental and social problems that are causing us so much anguish? Here I recall something Heidegger said about only a god can save us. But Zen people seem rather shy about any talk of an all powerful and all caring deity. 

350. ZEN REMARKS

350. A simple lifestyle, lived close to nature, resisting the attractions of consumerism, relying on a vegetarian diet and renewable energy sources -- would seem that Zen practice might be able to help out here. 

349. ZEN REMARKS

349. Sengcan declares that 'the Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences'. He goes on to say that 'if craving and hatred are both absent, everything becomes clear and undisguised'. So what are my preferences? What do I crave? 

348. ZEN REMARKS

348. Practising breath awareness and body awareness, we enter into the silence and stillness of zazen. In this stillness, in this silence, we have the ideal opportunity to encounter and become intimate with the mystery in which we live and move and have our being. Becoming more and more intimate with this mystery may we discover for ourselves that it is graciousness.

247. ZEN REMARKS

347. The Zen practitioner is challenged to step from the top of a hundred foot pole. Some seen to find it even harder to get up from their zafu for either kin-hin or dokusan. Getting stuck in Emptiness can be a problem for the committed student. 

346. ZEN REMARKS

346. Students of Zen sometimes avoid going to dokusan because, they claim, they don't know what to say. But just that could be an excellent presentation and it would establish a connection with the teacher. There is more to Zen than simply sitting on one's cushion. 

345. ZEN REMARKS

345. 'The Nondual is one with the trusting mind.' Sitting in Emptiness, the Emptiness that is Fullness, I become intimate with this Emptiness as the Mystery in which I live and move and have my being. And I experience this Mystery as Graciousness. And so I have learnt not only to trust the Mystery that is Graciousness but also to entrust my whole self to this Mystery. Here I think of the dying words of Jesus: 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit'. 

344. ZEN REMARKS

344. If you would go deep into Zen, you must make a serious commitment by becoming the student of a teacher. But be very careful in your choice of a teacher. He or she should be an authentic master. In making your decision you should pay attention to the call of the Bodhicitta, the deep yearning you find stirring within you for the liberation of yourself and all beings.
   In becoming a disciple you learn to put on the heart-mind of the master, the Dharma as realized in and through your teacher. This you must do in order to go beyond your teacher so that you can embody the Dharma in yourself as your very Self. To do this you must heed the call to a life of renunciation and self-transformation for the sake of the whole world.
   Following the teacher you enter the Sangha, the community of disciples and fellow students. Here you must realise and embody the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha by allowing the Bodhicitta to realize and actualize itself in and through you. 

343. ZEN REMARKS

343. The logic of the Heart Sutra would seem to lead the Zen practitioner to renounce the world and retire into solitude. And yet we lay members of the sangha happily chant it every day as we get on with our busy lives in the world of samsara. So what is going on here? 

342. ZEN REMARKS

342. How free am I? Am I free of all clinging? Do I find myself yearning for this, craving for that? How upset am I when things don't turn out the way I had hoped? The bodhisattva of compassionate wisdom clearly saw that all five skandas are empty. Do I clearly see that the objects of my clinging, craving, yearning are empty? 

341. ZEN REMARKS

341. Bodhizendo:

suddenly a wind
surges through the silent dark --
and my sleepless thoughts. 

340. ZEN REMARKS

340. Kovalam

cawing crows compete
with the ocean's endless roar --
muzak through the trees. 

339. ZEN REMARKS

339. Trivandrum:

listen to the sea,
hear it break upon the shore --
bird calls interweave.

338. ZEN REMARKS

338. Walking free of all labels, one can freely embrace the symbols, doctrines and rituals of the religion that best expresses one's underlying faith commitment.