1/4 - Prefaces, especially by Wright and Uchiyama

[Lynn]

My take-away messages were two fold:

First, we do not do this for rewards. I forget this so, so, so often as I am a product of my culture and I was spoon fed the reward concept from the moment of birth. If I do , I will get the guy/the job/the money/heaven.
We sit zazen to sit zazen. What often concerns me is what I find when I look into my motivations for coming to the cushion: that I will get wisdom, that I will look cool, that I will get this out of the way so I can go back to doing what I want to do, so I can generate good merit and send it to my son so that he will not die in this stupid ass war. Sadly, there always seems like some reason I need to come up with to justify why I sit. I really want to work on this.

Secondly, was Uchiyama Roshi's description of jiko with regard to the clouds and sky analogy. I have always translated this to the clouds being the self's thoughts/emotions and the sky being the Eternal - two separate things, and shooing off the clouds was the "goal" in order to become one with the sky.

This explanation states that the two selves are not two because we are both clouds and the wide, blue, limitless sky. There is self and Self and they are one.

I'm kind of mangling what I am trying to say because what happened in the reading of it was one of those unexplainable "a-ha!" moments that make one dance.

In Gassho~

*Lynn

[Eika]

Lynn wrote:
We sit zazen to sit zazen. What often concerns me is what I find when I look into my motivations for coming to the cushion: that I will get wisdom, that I will look cool, that I will get this out of the way so I can go back to doing what I want to do, so I can generate good merit and send it to my son so that he will not die in this stupid ass war. Sadly, there always seems like some reason I need to come up with to justify why I sit. I really want to work on this.

Hi Lynn, I empathize, I too sometimes get tied up into ideas about the 'purity' of practice. Jundo talked about Zen Robots one day and I think it might be relevant here. I imagine that all humans, no matter how 'enlightened,' might say the same thing as you about motivation. Even though I think questioning our motivation is healthy, falling into idealism regarding our human shortcomings is counter-productive.

I know this is unsolicited advice from a relative stranger, so disregard it if it strikes you as presumptuous.

Later . . . gassho,
Bill

[Lynn]

Bill, you are not a stranger; you are the "Bill" part of "Lynn," therefore your advice is always welcome and taken to heart.

Thank you, friend.

In Gassho~

*Lynn

[Jundo]

Secondly, was Uchiyama Roshi's description of jiko with regard to the clouds and sky analogy. I have always translated this to the clouds being the self's thoughts/emotions and the sky being the Eternal - two separate things, and shooing off the clouds was the "goal" in order to become one with the sky.

This explanation states that the two selves are not two because we are both clouds and the wide, blue, limitless sky. There is self and Self and they are one.

I'm kind of mangling what I am trying to say because what happened in the reading of it was one of those unexplainable "a-ha!" moments that make one dance.

In Gassho~

*Lynn

I use the following to describe "Just Sitting" to beginners:

I sometimes compare [Zazen] to a blue sky with clouds (thoughts). Clouds drift in and out, that is natural. However, we bring our attention again and again to the open, blue sky between, allowing the clouds to drift away. More clouds will come, same again. Repeat process endlessly, coming back to the clear blue sky.

But one important point is this: Although we seek to appreciate the blue, empty sky between the clouds, some days will be very cloudy, some days very blue ... BOTH are fine. We never say "cloudy day is bad because there is no blue sky today". When the sky is blue and empty, let it be so. When the sky is cloudy, let it be so. In fact, both the blue sky and the clouds are the sky ... do not seek to break up the sky by rejecting any part of it. It is all the sky. Also, the blue sky is always there, even when hidden.

[Mika]

Just finished reading the preface and this seems like a really good book. I can't think of much else to say right now - that hasn't been said already, I agree with many of the comments here - just wanted to pop in to say something so you'd know I'm participating too.