Entangling circumstances

February 16th, 2011 § 0 comments

Aitken roshi once again:

Muso Kokushi distinguished between three kinds of Zen students: those who shake off entangling circumstances and single-mindedly pursue their practice; those who scatter their attention and are fond of book learning; and those who just repeat the words of old teachers by rote.

There might be a touch of irony reading this in a book but I’m presently in that middle category, I think.

Shake off entangling circumstances

That’s a lot different than “wait for circumstances to improve,” isn’t it.

Retreat to the cushion

February 11th, 2011 § 0 comments

I sat a five-day retreat last week, my first as Taigen sensei’s student. I thought I didn’t have much to say about it but a bit of Aitken roshi’s Encouraging Words, quoted below, got me thinking.

I discovered Zen through the Beats, and while I quickly figured out that beat Zen wasn’t Zen, it was Zen and not Buddhism that I discovered. I spent a while reading about Zen and barely practicing zazen before getting frustrated and over the years my reading moved from Zen to Buddhism generally.

And while contemplating the Four Noble Truths and the precepts and the paramitas has been useful, at some point I forgot about Zen, about sitting zazen in faith and doubt, about the special transmission outside the scriptures.

So this retreat more than anything reminded me of the things that brought me to Zen in the first place at just the right time.

That Aitken passage:

Our basic practice is zazen. Avalokitesvara, practicing deep Prajñā Pāramitā, clearly saw that the way to transform anguish s to realize that forms and our perception of them are empty. This teaching reveals the fallacy of relying entirely upon personal thoughts and feelings for guidance. In messy circumstances, full of betrayals and malice, please remember the true self, the empty mind of the universe, so full of possibilities.

Deep gassho to Sensei, Roshi, Aitken roshi, and the Buddhas and bodhisattvas who have followed this path such that we might follow it too.

Words from Albert Low

December 22nd, 2010 § 3 comments

I posted this to my LiveJournal a while ago, and ran across it today while looking for something else. I figured it’d be relevant over here too.

My first taste of Zen was an introductory workshop at the Montreal Zen Centre with Albert Low. A little while ago I was reading his To Know Yourself and wrote down a couple of things, both of them from the chapter in which he explains why he recommends his students, especially those with Christian upbringings, read St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul.

First,

One of the questions frequently asked is, Why does it take so long to come to awakening? The answer is very simple: we want something else more than we want awakening.

And,

In Zen practice a first crucial point is reached when we realize that no experience of any kind is going to give the kind of satisfaction that we crave so deeply.

I wish I hadn’t passed up the opportunity to study with Roshi Low when I first encountered Zen.

What to focus on

November 24th, 2010 § 0 comments

I haven’t disappeared! I’ve been too busy practicing to write about it.

Sesshin was challenging, exhausting and wonderful. I can’t wait to go on another. Candice is going to the Vermont Zen Center, part of our triple sangha, in a couple of weeks for Rohatsu sesshin. We take turns at sesshin right now because one of us has to be not-at-sesshin to take care of our cat, Rasha, who has failing kidneys.

Following sesshin I asked to be, and then became, a formal student of Taigen Henderson sensei. A couple big dry logs on the fire, sesshin and the new student ceremony, on top of all that kindling from Term Student.

Right now Rasha has his head buried in my elbow. He’s doing alright.

This is what reminded me to come here and post: