Grass Hut - 1 - Things Change

[Anshu Bryson]

While I can see reference to impermanence in the body of the poem, I hate to seem critical, but I think Ben is perhaps over-reaching a little to pull so much out of that first line... I am, of course, likely to modify that opinion as we get further into the text...

What I get from "I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value" (the line in isolation) are the following initial thoughts:

- I now have a place
- It is the result of my own efforts
- It is a simple place
- There is nothing of value in it, but I need nothing of value
- Emptyness is form; form is emptiness
- What is a 'thing of value' anyway?
- The value of this hut is in its utility, limited as that might be; I have no need for embellishments
- Because it's a grass hut, I will be perpetually working on it, due to the impermanent nature of the materials (as those of us who have ever lived in a thatched-roof house know!)
- Any opportunity for samu is an opportunity for practice

I know that's a bit random; I'll try to make things a bit more cohesive as we go forward...

Gassho,
Anshu

sat today

[Tb]

Hi.

Living simply in the Changes, built a grasshut where there is nothing of value.

Great line about impermanence of all things.
It also iterates the Treeleaf saying "Life is our temple", because what is life if not a grasshut where there is nothing of value in a state constant change?

It also puts a perspective on the value of Words. Words like Life, simply, Changes, nothing, of, value.

Thank you for your practice.

May the force be with you
Fugen

[Kyotai]

Have not read any of your posts on this yet. Thought I would share my perspective first. I am hoping my book comes in the mail today but I read the short link Jundo provided.

This reminds me of a man, who lives in Toronto during his season. Known as "van man" he lives off a small income from his savings account. He is a 21 year old surfer dude. He parks his van behind a Walmart while he is at work. Many of the employees think he is homeless. He is not, he lives in a van. He uses a head lamp to write in his journal and enjoys reading jack kerouac. He Lives off $800 per month. Is he a lazy hippy? Not exactly, He is a millionaire. His name is Daniel Norris and he plays for The Toronto blue jays baseball team.

"Nothing lasts, everything changes"

Wonderfully simple and true.

1. Yes

2. A person I know making terrible decisions almost daily. I get annoyed and feel down just thinking about it. But, it is out of my control, is as it is. They did not ask my opinion, nor would I volunteer it unless asked. Thinking of how our relationship was, and how that is changing maybe not so good now. But, letting that go, it was a good friendship while it lasted. Things change, spring is coming.

Gassho, Kyotai
Sat today

[Rich]

Jundo, hope your back heals quickly. I've been in your situation and someone told me that the key to a strong back is strong abdominal muscles. So for almost 25 years I start most days stretching and doing crunches and leg lifts. This hasn't cured my back completely but it keeps me going.

My grass hut is the 10x12 den where I sit, read and work.

Sat today

[orangedice]

If there is God/Goddess/Life Force ... there is birth and death, change and heart break, smiles and tears ... so just flow.

If there is No God/No Goddess/No Life Force ... there is birth and death, change and heart break, smiles and tears ... so just flow.

In either case ... there is birth and death, change and heart break, smiles and tears ... so just flow.

But whether "God/Goddess/Life Force" or no "God/Goddess/Life Force" ... there is also no birth and no death, nothing to change and a Heart which cannot be broken, holding "smiles and tears", beyond and right through "existence" or "nonexistence" ... just flowing.

Perhaps this "just flowing" and this "no birth and no death amid birth and death" is the Heart which words such as "God/Goddess/Life Force" seek to express?

A bittersweet Buddha Smile holding smiles and tears.

Gassho, J

Thank you.

On this path, I'm very new. Perhaps it'll take me a lifetime to accept or understand most of what you mean... but for now, what I can understand and what I've been trying to do is... just flow...

Thank you again.

While I can see reference to impermanence in the body of the poem, I hate to seem critical, but I think Ben is perhaps over-reaching a little to pull so much out of that first line... I am, of course, likely to modify that opinion as we get further into the text...

What I get from "I've built a grass hut where there's nothing of value" (the line in isolation) are the following initial thoughts:

- I now have a place
- It is the result of my own efforts
- It is a simple place
- There is nothing of value in it, but I need nothing of value
- Emptyness is form; form is emptiness
- What is a 'thing of value' anyway?
- The value of this hut is in its utility, limited as that might be; I have no need for embellishments
- Because it's a grass hut, I will be perpetually working on it, due to the impermanent nature of the materials (as those of us who have ever lived in a thatched-roof house know!)
- Any opportunity for samu is an opportunity for practice

I know that's a bit random; I'll try to make things a bit more cohesive as we go forward...

Gassho,
Anshu

sat today

I really like your first impressions. Poetry isn't my strong suit, so I never would have gotten all that meaning like you have. I particularly like, "It is the result of my effort," which I feel can be a metaphor for our practice.

But I find it interesting that you think Connelly was over-reaching, since you came to a similar conclusion (what I bolded in the quote above). What particularly did you think was off-base or overreaching?

--

I'm very much enjoying reading these posts!

Gassho,
June

#SatToday

[Anshu Bryson]

But I find it interesting that you think Connelly was over-reaching, since you came to a similar conclusion (what I bolded in the quote above). What particularly did you think was off-base or overreaching?

Hi June,

As I also said: "I am, of course, likely to modify that opinion as we get further into the text..."

Maybe I'm there already...?!


Gassho,
Bryson

sat today

[orangedice]

Hi June,

As I also said: "I am, of course, likely to modify that opinion as we get further into the text..."

Maybe I'm there already...?!

I'm still very much struck by your initial impression of "this was a result of my labor." I've been thinking about it some more, and to me, it feels like a sense of contentment, maybe even some pride, of building something with your own two hands. There's a sense of peace of a job well-done, even if you know that you'll have to continue maintaining it as it crumbles around you. But when it falls down, you build it up again and again. But there's nothing else to do but re-build each moment. And each time, a sense of contentment of building again. I really like that idea.

Gassho,
June

#SatToday

[Joryu]

I'm coming to the place called "acceptance" in my life, believing that life is winding itself along exactly as it should, so I let go and bob along. Many things have been lost in these past few years but the losses opened up some surprising finds....both brought tears and laughter - tears first then laughter once all was played out. I have things, people, places, ideas etc that I deeply love but the losses now cause more of a puzzling/curious "huh???" as opposed to overwhelming sadness - Huh as in "I wonder where this is going." Zazen and oddly enough Brad Warner's words/style gave me the "ok" to let go and flow with my "anchors." All things change.....


I once chose to love a person that in reality I didn't even love.....I was simply very attached to her life experiences and all the "fresh air" she was breathing into my world. We were not compatible but we both refused to accept that...over the years we each tried at times to exit the relationship but our individual insecurities made that a very tricky proposition. In the end it was messy as all the fresh air turned sour and I lost a person that would have made the perfect best friend....Had I been then where I am now I would have relaxed and accepted the "clouds in the zazen" and I would have allowed our relationship to flow into a friendship......I would have been able to recognize and let go of my ego..... maybe. That's the hardest for me....saying " I'm acting the way I am because of my ego, I want what I want because of my pride, I want this because I need to be perceived in ____ way" This is still my challenge, I want to say it's not.....but that would be my ego speaking for me ramble ramble ramble... Gassho Joryu sattoday

[Myosha]

Hello,

It's not trite at all realizing affection is truly universal.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Kokuu]

Hi all

This poem speaks to me as I feel that all I have at the moment is in a very small space. Due to my health I have not left my two bed flat for six months now, and sometimes I only have the energy to shuttle between two rooms. It is my hermitage and Shitou reminds me that everything I need is in this small space.

I don't have a grass roof but am fortunate to be surrounded by trees and in summer can leave the door open and get visited by a squirrel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfMplPDh3uk

One thing I would say about change is that even when things get bad, they are always enough. Beforehand we might think that we could not cope with certain events of loss or change in circumstance but we do, and find small things that make life worth living.

I have a small hut with nothing of value but it protects me from the wind and rain and has everything I need within it. For that I am truly grateful.


Kokuu
#sattoday

[Ongen]

Hi all,

1: Yes it is definitely possible. In fact, if one truly cherishes something or someone without clinging to ones fixed idea of that thing or person, that love and cherishing includes the objects impermanence and its changes. It includes everything.
2: I can think of many times things would have turned out differently if I had experienced things more as above. Speaking of relationships but also of owning objects, handling of my reaction to damage to my 'property' due to an error of someone else. In retrospect I can usually conclude that things turned out way different that I expected them to. It was the expectations that came from the attachment. If I had flowed along with it all, there would have been no expectations, nothing to fight against. All would have been OK.

Gassho

Gassho,


Ongen / Vincent
Sat Today

[Mp]

Hello everyone,

Yes! Through acceptance and gratitude just as it is ... without trying to fixated it to our own needs and desires.

I have made many experiences in life that could have been that much better if I had just been gracious and accepting of them as they were. But instead, I wanted them to fill the empty pockets and voids in my life, which ultimately pushed them away, thus causing more suffering and emptiness.

Clinging does not eradicate impermanence, it blinds us from reality.

Gassho
Shingen

SatToday

[Meishin]

Hi,

It depends. Long story but recently I lost one of my front teeth. I didn't think I was attached to that tooth, but as it turns out I was. Of course the dentist gave me a temporary, then a crown. But there was a bit of death in my mouth and I am still sitting with that loss. It changed things.

There will be other body parts that will wear out and drop away. Not all of them can be replaced. I am 72 years old, so this trajectory is not a mystery. All I can say is that I am doing my best to sit on that cushion every day and accept whatever it is that comes my way. But I do not have one of those once-I-was-lost-now-I-am-found reports. I do trust those who have much more experience in Zen than I do that this is the way of practice. So this answers the second question as well. Just about everything would have had a better outcome if flowing with impermanence were the norm.

Today I am grateful that I can eat, albeit in a new way to which I am having to become accustomed. And I am grateful that others have made it possible for that food to be available.

Gassho
Meishin
Sat today

[Mp]

I lost one of my front teeth. I didn't think I was attached to that tooth, but as it turns out I was. Of course the dentist gave me a temporary, then a crown. But there was a bit of death in my mouth and I am still sitting with that loss. It changed things.

I know this lose you speak of Meishin, I too lost a side tooth (eye tooth) in an accident. For the longest time I worried about what others might think of me, would they judge me because I was missing a tooth - I was feeling self-conscious. I couldn't afford to have it fixed. But I have to say, that little tooth taught me so much more then I thought it would.

The impermanence of that tooth taught me about the impermanence and importance of this life. The tooth didn't define who I was, nor did any part of my body. What defines me is my actions, my values, my compassion, the stillness and openness in my heart. This is what people will see and remember long after I am gone. =) So in someway I am thankful for karma, for gravity, and for the lose of that tooth ... each and every action has been a wonderful teacher. =)

Gassho
Shingen

SatToday

[Jika]

Thank you for discussing this, Meishin and Shingen.

I was thinking about "nothing of value", and how we tend to associate beauty, good looks to be of value.
A virtuous person, someone you can trust, is good-looking. Show me a badly scarred buddha statue.

But in fact, I am experiencing what Shingen says.
So, nothing to repair, while still applying ointment so the scars will fade.

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday