Who Am I

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

 

 

This morning I will travel back to Las Cruces. I am hoping that our new house will close this coming week.  We will board our dogs for a few days until we know what is what.

 

I have been thinking a lot about my practice.  Not good.  Better to practice!   While I will open a small Zendo and invite the public to sit with me, I will continue streetZen, as well as Hitbodedut, that unique Jewish meditation.   But it is very important to remember that Clear Mind Zen is not about large gatherings and large practice centers.  It is not about formalities.  Clear Mind Zen is practice Zen.  Living Zen.

 

It is the Zen of opening a door, talking with someone, sitting down, walking along the way.  It is the Zen of correct interaction with others: free and easy, yet within the rules of the Universe.

 

As one of my Zen heroes, Nyogen Senzaki, has said, Zen belongs to the world. Indeed, it is the world.*  So, what matters most is our daily practice:  our practice of zazen, our mindfulness, and a life awake to what is there before us. Especially as we practice to let the "us" disappear.

 

Today, I would ask that we each offer something to the Hungry Ghosts.  When we do, please recite the following:

 

May the merit of this penetrate into each thing in all places,

so that we and every sentient being together,

can realize the Buddha’s Way.
The ten directions, the three worlds,
all Buddhas, all venerable ones,
Bodisattvas, Mahasattvas,
the Great Prajna Paramita.

 

Be well.

 * see Senzaki's new book, Eloquent Silence.  I have been studying it while on retreat at the Refuge.