Grass Hut - 22 - "Light on the Mountain"

Mp · 08-01-2015, 06:16 PM

Thank you for this Jundo. For me nature is a supportive pillar to my practice and my practice a supportive pillar to my experience in nature. Nature, like Shikantaza, allows me to just be present, open, and grateful with each step, each moment.

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

**Joyo** · 08-01-2015, 11:25 PM

Originally posted by Jundo

- How important is it for you to get out into nature from time to time?

Gassho, J

Shingen already said everything so well, to which I wholeheartedly agree. I would just add that getting out in nature is almost as important to me as breathing. I spend as much time as I can outdoors, just practicing living in the moment, soaking it all in, watching the impermanence of life and how nature slowly just is.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

**ForestDweller** · 08-02-2015, 07:41 PM

My heart goes out to those who must settle for "getting out in nature" rather than living amidst it which anyone who has read my past posts will already know I am privileged to do. If you don't remember, I live in a remote corner of NW Minnesota in an 800 sqft very rustic log cabin in the middle of a grand old boreal Forest. I capitalize Forest because to me it is a proper name, the name by which I call a familiar entity that I live with. Is it important to me? (And to my husband) Yes, so important that we literally gave up everything (not really "giving up." rather unloading) that city life means to live "in the middle of nowhere. And yes, again, living this way makes it more possible to carry the serenity and wisdom of Forest-living into any environment. The beauty is that once establishing a life in nature, the doo-dads of town and city living seem superfluous and can be seen for what they are -- extraneous possessions. And no, we have no "toys" like 4-wheelers or snowmobiles. We have also invested a lot of creativity into being able to work from our Forest home, thanks to the internet age. That means we have to leave here less and less. Does that mean we are isolated? On the contrary, we are finding that people seek us out more than ever because they are drawn to the lives we live and they want to experience it even if for only a few hours. Can anybody do it? I'll answer in the words of Fool's Crow, a native medicine man: "Anyone can life the life I live, if they are willing to do the things I've done." ^^Forest-Sat-Today^^ -- CatherineS

**Jishin** · 08-02-2015, 10:01 PM

Grass Hut - 22 - &quot;Light on the Mountain&quot;

Hi,

I grew up in a jungle in Brazil called São Paulo, one the largest cities in the world. There were high rise buildings every direction I looked as a child. The entrance to my 25 stories mountain opened to Avenida Paulista, an eight lane avenue where pedestrians were run over on occasion. As a child I got to witness outcomes of two suicides of people who jumped from my high rise. I also got to see people jump to their death from the high rise across my own when it caught on fire.

In spite of it all, I had a most wonderful time growing up in Brazil. Folks were extremely friendly and happy with trash tied with a string in the shape of a soccer ball. It's what you make of it. Wherever you are.

A jungle is a jungle. A mountain a mountain. A city a city.

It pisses me off when I perceive Zennies placing some special value in being with nature. My nature is where I am. Right here. Right now. The tiger around the corner ready to ponce on me is a figment of my imagination. The tiger is present here in my luxurious home, in my vacation home in the mountains, in my death bed or never.

But this is just my opinion.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Mp · 08-03-2015, 02:14 AM

Originally posted by Jishin

It pisses me off when I perceive Zennies placing some special value in being with nature.

Without nature, we do not exist. =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

**Jishin** · 08-03-2015, 02:19 AM

Originally posted by Shingen

Without nature, we do not exist. =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

Nature does not exist without me.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Mp · 08-03-2015, 02:21 AM

Originally posted by Jishin

Nature does not exist without me.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

How do you exist without the oxygen nature provides? =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

**Jishin** · 08-03-2015, 03:12 AM

Originally posted by Shingen

How do you exist without the oxygen nature provides? =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

Oxygen does not exist without the carbon dioxide I create.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

**Risho** · 08-03-2015, 04:09 AM

I live in the suburbs not in a forest or in the mountains, but this is absolutely still nature. Theres a quote from Daido Loori Roshi that I really like and I think it applies here: "The spider web and The Brooklyn Bridge are both works of nature. We must learn how the delicate dynamics of this unlikely relationship work. The Earth's heart is big enough to hold both. The question is, 'how big is the heart we manifest?'"

Gassho

Risho
-sattoday

**Myosha** · 08-03-2015, 11:33 AM

Hello,

"How important is it for you to get out into nature from time to time?"

Don't know. Can't distinguish getting out/getting into an eternal presence.

With gratitude,
Gassho
Myosha sat today

**Getchi** · 08-03-2015, 12:03 PM

- How important is it for you to get out into nature from time to time?

In the very last paragraph of the chapter, the author hints at how we must learn to find these same lessons anywhere ... in the inner city. Is it possible? Is it important that we do so?

I think it is absolutly vital to try to feel these lessons wherever we may be - city, work, mountains etc. I think we all recognise the pain of being alienated from your environment, and I dont know of anybody who lived in the mountains/forests but kept a holiday house in the city.

People always travel to rural nature to reconnect or just de-stress, never the other way around. I know my practice only really started becoming personal after I moved from the inner city to the greener suburbs. When my wife first got sick, we decided it was time to move further - we now live in what we think is paradise and our stress levels have plummeted and my practice has strengthened. We will be buying a plot of land soon and building a small straw bale cottage which we can expand as we need to. The local Yuin people call this area "The Place of Many Waters", and it is rich in wildlife and happy people. All around we see the mountain ridge, and Gulaga the sacred mountain is taller then all the others. She demands a certain respect and returns a certainty of our sacred place in this world. Not much money, but heaps of culture, happines and meaning. And hippies lol.

No matter where or how we live, I do believe it is beneficial for us to at least consider teh wider scope of "nature". How do we fit in our local enironment? Where would we want to be if we could be anywhere? And if it supports our practice then we are already lucky.

Can we connect to nature like this in the city? I know people who say we can, but for me it just doesnt work well outside the sitting time. When I first came here, I feared a tiger, but just me alone under the stars in the dark i realise that tiger is hungry, lazy and very very happy to be left behind.

Gassho
Geoff.
SatToday.

**Jika** · 08-03-2015, 04:31 PM

A self-quote.

"Here" was/is the sea.

I think it differs from person to person where we can experience this offer to open up, to really see the richness of life, of each moment being special and a gift to us, which is a very humbling experience.
Some see it in mountains, others at the sea shore, others in cities bustling like ant hills.

I notice more red squirrels and birds and bumblebees in this dusty town this year.
I do not think it's a "Zennie" thing, I just seem more curious.
But my attitude has changed - while a seagull was "beautiful", a city pidgeon was "only a pidgeon".
That probably is a Zennie thing, but I don't mind

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

**Byrne** · 08-04-2015, 03:25 AM

I find that getting outside of my comfort zone is the best place to go.

Nature is nice. Trees are great. Wildlife is wonderful. I just planted my feet on a farm in North Eastern Pennsylvania. It's remote. its scenic and beautiful. The ground is being fracked for natural gas. I live there now.

Gassho

Sat Today

**Kyotai** · 08-04-2015, 04:02 AM

Originally posted by Shingen

Thank you for this Jundo. For me nature is a supportive pillar to my practice and my practice a supportive pillar to my experience in nature. Nature, like Shikantaza, allows me to just be present, open, and grateful with each step, each moment.

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

Opening the window after zazen tonight, the crickets and coyote calls remind me to be present, here and now.

I can also hear the 401, the busiest highway in North America 700 meters away...

Both are as they are. In fact, as it was written " it's good to be reminded that all things are related"

But for me, there is nothing like paddling a canoe down a quiet river, or hiking through a park. Our friend Shingen says it well.

Gassho, Kyotai
Sat today

Grass Hut - 22 - "Light on the Mountain"

Grass Hut - 22 - "Light on the Mountain"

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