For several weeks while crossing the moorlands in Eastern Cumbria and also into Yorkshire I’ve been captivated by the thistles growing on the side of the roads. Seen in low light in early morning and late evening has them looking almost science fiction like.
From the Eihei Koroku – Dogen’s Extensive Record. Another gem from this huge tome.
Zazen within Desire and Stumbling
I can remember, Dharma Teacher Dayi of the Tang dynasty asking Master Ehu, “There is no dhyana in the realm of desire, how can we cultivate the samadhi of dhyana?”
Ehu said, “You only know that there is no dhyana in the realm of desire. You do not yet know that there is no desire in the realm of dhyana.”
Dayi had no response.
and that, you might think, was the end of that but no… After a pause Dogen said:
Within seven tumbles and eight falls we still take up and use [meditation]. Both “no desire” and “no dhyana” are not true. In steadfast immovable effort there is nothing to seek. How can this be equated with the three realms [of desire, form, and the formless]?
We are constantly being pointed to ‘going on beyond’. No resting place and no ‘stumbling’ place it would seem.
If all you can manage mentally in this hot weather is to look at moving traffic where nothing much happens then this is for you. For around six minutes somebody in Melbourne Australia is featured doing formal zazen in the middle of moving cars, she or he is not moving! I’d have been happy just to watch to the end with nothing happening, but something does! If that is too much excitement in this heat-wave we are all enjoying in Britain at the moment I suggest sitting very still, not in the middle of the road, with a wet flannel on your head. Keep cool.
Back in the day when the monastic kitchens would heat up to impressively high temperatures I’d wear a wet bandana on my head and from time to time spray a fine mist around the kitchen from a spray bottle. Anything to help keep the kitchen staff keep their heads. One day we registered 100f while a monk fried chips on the griddle.
As we all must know already there is a real danger to health when the temperatures stay consistently high day after day. Vulnerable people such as the elderly the young and those with certain medical conditions can suffer from heat-exhaustion and worse, heatstroke. Let’s watch out for each other out there.
Today marks the second anniversary of the death of Iain Robinson a long time member of the congregation and long time fellow traveler. (correction – Iain died on the 14th). We traveled around Japan and in China in 2005 and before and after that we worked on various projects connected to the religious order I am part of. To remember and honour him I’m republishing this poem first published 18th July 2011.
In my mirror,
birth and age
sickness and death
reflect.
Sour and sweet
bitter and hot,
true sweet dew.
Into the four forms,
my body disintegrates,
earth and fire
water and wind;
emptiness.
But like Buddha’s kindness
I am everywhere.
Who doesn’t? Who hasn’t at some time worried and been anxious? There is usually a ‘story’ isn’t there, one that can be returned to and ‘seen’. Somebody said to me the other day that one way of thinking about or viewing the difficulties of worry and anxiety is to see them as a negative use of our powers of Visulization! This is not to suggest one then replaces the negative with the positive more to say that what we return to tends to be what we return to, over and over and over again. Pictures are compelling. Returning to just sitting, allowing thoughts to arise and pass without judging them, or oneself for having them, is worth a go. Regularly.
Simply sitting and opening oneself to oneself, which doesn’t look like much, does weaken habits. That happens without needing to consciously unravel the tangles of our minds. As one of our scriptures states The obstacles dissolve….
Practice Within The Order of Buddhist Contemplatives
