Blessing amongst the noise

[MalleableGirlParts]

Hi again,

Something occurred to me this evening. I was watching a Youtube video on day to day life at Antaiji, in Japan. I find videos such as this relaxing and inspiring. There were a couple of stories of residents that come from various places around the world, searching for something. The meaning of life, or the meaning of their life...some kind of answers. But after awhile of living at the monastery full time they had gotten disillusioned. Life there is self-sustaining and no walk in the park. It's a serious commitment and there's a lot of hard work.

Anyway, it occurred to me that maybe, in walking a Zen path in amongst my everyday life, I'm quite lucky. Every small difference that happens to me is a cause for gratitude. It's relatively easy to appreciate any respite from the noise of life's chaos. And I thought that perhaps if I left everything behind, traveled to Japan and immersed myself in the difficult life of full-time living at a monastery, that appreciation might be tougher to come by. If my search was looking for some kind of answers and I made this enormous commitment and put myself up on a mountain, isolated from everything and found an even more difficult existence, would I get jaded? Would I lose hope that I'd ever find an answer if I didn't have some magical bolt of enlightenment amongst those extreme conditions?

I'm sure there's a serious lesson there. LIfe is life no matter where you are, even isolated in the mountains. And maybe, just maybe, we're really lucky to be able to do it right down here. In between mortgage payments and traffic and arguing children. I don't know. I'm just thinking...

[Jundo]

If you cannot practice just where you are, where can you practice instead?

Better to find what you search for right where you stand, then to imagine that it is over some distant hill.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Bion]

I was talking just yesterday to a friend who's a monk also and it was precisely about this. He was telling me about his struggles with time and responsibilities. Somehow, folks got the idea the life of a monk is easy breezy, untroubled and peaceful. But life in a Zen monastery, for example, means 5 hours of sleep, everything on a tight schedule, someone tells you where to be, what time to wake up, where to work, what you eat and all that. A monk/nun can and some probably are peaceful and untroubled, but they are so in the middle of all that! I find it to be the same with life here in this world of jobs and families and responsibilities, money troubles, pesky coworkers and broken washing machines. If we don't know how to live well and at ease in the middle of everything just as it is, it doesn't really matter where we are.

Gassho
sat lah

[Matt Johnson]

So I stayed a few months at Antaiji and it was really cool and worth going and I'm glad I went. It was a very austere and "real" place to practise. The subsistence farming alone was quite challenging let alone trying to do that while also dealing with what comes up on the cushion.

I will never forget when I got food poisoning probably from the fact that the vegetables were fertilised with raw sewage. I shat myself silly for almost week.

But I came to realise that you take yourself wherever you go like MalleableGirlParts suggested. For me it was good as a curiosity and as a challenge kind of like climbing a mountain or running a marathon. Do we all need to climb mountains to live good, ethical, whole lives.... absolutely not... and it is the height of hubris and arrogance to suggest it is necessary....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Jundo]

I will never forget when I got food poisoning probably from the fact that the vegetables were fertilised with raw sewage. I shat myself silly for almost week.

Ah, the full, authentic, medieval Zen experience!

Gassho, J
sthah

[MalleableGirlParts]

If you cannot practice just where you are, where can you practice instead?

Better to find what you search for right where you stand, then to imagine that it is over some distant hill.

Gassho, J
stlah

This. This is the perfect distillation.

[MalleableGirlParts]

I was talking just yesterday to a friend who's a monk also and it was precisely about this. He was telling me about his struggles with time and responsibilities. Somehow, folks got the idea the life of a monk is easy breezy, untroubled and peaceful. But life in a Zen monastery, for example, means 5 hours of sleep, everything on a tight schedule, someone tells you where to be, what time to wake up, where to work, what you eat and all that. A monk/nun can and some probably are peaceful and untroubled, but they are so in the middle of all that! I find it to be the same with life here in this world of jobs and families and responsibilities, money troubles, pesky coworkers and broken washing machines. If we don't know how to live well and at ease in the middle of everything just as it is, it doesn't really matter where we are.

Gassho
sat lah

It's funny because this is one of the biggest things that appeals to me regarding Zazen. I feel that I can do it anywhere and carry it anywhere. Ok, maybe not specifically Zazen, but that focus that I give while I'm doing it.

[MalleableGirlParts]

So I stayed a few months at Antaiji and it was really cool and worth going and I'm glad I went. It was a very austere and "real" place to practise. The subsistence farming alone was quite challenging let alone trying to do that while also dealing with what comes up on the cushion.

I will never forget when I got food poisoning probably from the fact that the vegetables were fertilised with raw sewage. I shat myself silly for almost week.

But I came to realise that you take yourself wherever you go like MalleableGirlParts suggested. For me it was good as a curiosity and as a challenge kind of like climbing a mountain or running a marathon. Do we all need to climb mountains to live good, ethical, whole lives.... absolutely not... and it is the height of hubris and arrogance to suggest it is necessary....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

I must say, I'm kind of envious that you had that experience. Not the shatting of course, but to visit that monastery. :-)

[Matt Johnson]

I must say, I'm kind of envious that you had that experience. Not the shatting of course, but to visit that monastery. :-)

To be honest I feel kind of silly that I once thought that Zen had to be that tough and painful and remote and Japanesy to be authentic... When I first came here I remember telling Jundo I had heard of treeleafs existence as far back as 2009.... I happened to be in Japan at the time... and in full disclosure, I scoffed at this online Zen thing.... after all I was there to do the "Real thing"..... But then covid happened.... and now all the big centres (and little places too) are online.

What became apparent was that it has nothing to do with where you do it... some of the best places I've practised have been tiny, unknown or marginalized places... because one thing you know for sure is the people aren't there for superficial reasons... they are not "zen tourists"... they are not there to get famous or to write a book or make a social media moment......... they are living it as their daily life.

And I must say it is a very different and unique experience to feel this connected to a zen sangha while continuing to go about my "normal" life. It feels much more integrated than going for hardcore retreats or other immersive residential experiences.... But I suppose everything has its place and time...

Just some thoughts...

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Jundo]

to get famous or to write a book or make a social media moment

Huh? That's why I'm here! Also for the cash, groupies and eventual movie deal.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Matt Johnson]

Huh? That's why I'm here! Also for the cash, groupies and eventual movie deal.

Gassho, J
stlah

I mean if you happen to write a book or make a movie... ok... whatever...

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Bion]

To be honest I feel kind of silly that I once thought that Zen had to be that tough and painful and remote and Japanesy to be authentic... When I first came here I remember telling Jundo I had heard of treeleafs existence as far back as 2009.... I happened to be in Japan at the time... and in full disclosure, I scoffed at this online Zen thing.... after all I was there to do the "Real thing"..... But then covid happened.... and now all the big centres (and little places too) are online.

What became apparent was that it has nothing to do with where you do it... some of the best places I've practised have been tiny, unknown or marginalized places... because one thing you know for sure is the people aren't there for superficial reasons... they are not "zen tourists"... they are not there to get famous or to write a book or make a social media moment......... they are living it as their daily life.

And I must say it is a very different and unique experience to feel this connected to a zen sangha while continuing to go about my "normal" life. It feels much more integrated than going for hardcore retreats or other immersive residential experiences.... But I suppose everything has its place and time...

Just some thoughts...

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

I say, lovely thoughts. I never quite get a feel for how you feel here, around us, and then you drop something like this and I go: awwww .. It's good to have you around. I love the particular level of spice you bring with yourself!

Gassho
sat lah

[Matt Johnson]

I say, lovely thoughts. I never quite get a feel for how you feel here, around us, and then you drop something like this and I go: awwww .. It's good to have you around. I love the particular level of spice you bring with yourself!

Yeah it's tough... My past experiences of "training" could be summed up by what Ryushin Marchaj said to me once. I asked him where the kindness and compassion was in zen... it seemed people were grim, stoic, silent and austere...He took me out of the Daisan room and in front of the zendo where everybody was sitting hard at peak sesshin.... He said "here is your kindness and compassion" I turned to him and he smiled and kindly said "but we are not your friends"....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Bion]

Yeah it's tough... My past experiences of "training" could be summed up by what Ryushin Marchaj said to me once. I asked him where the kindness and compassion was in zen... it seemed people were grim, stoic, silent and austere...He took me out of the Daisan room and in front of the zendo where everybody was sitting hard at peak sesshin.... He said "here is your kindness and compassion" I turned to him and he smiled and kindly said "but we are not your friends"....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

yeaaaaah.. that approach is really not my jush at all.

Gassho
sat lah

[Matt Johnson]

So would you consider Jundo to be your friend? Is he friends with everyone? If yes, then it negates the definition. If no then what are the criteria?

_/\_
sat/ah
matt