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Special Treeleaf Event - Guest Teacher, Rev. Myozan Ian Kilroy - Tuesday July 1st
Nephew Myozan happens to happen a WONDERFUL essay in Tricycle magazine this month, a portion of his book. It is a elegant statement of our Shikantaza way ...
When we meditate, we want for little but to sit still with the inbreath and outbreath. We know satisfaction with the state of things the way they are, and seek out peace and quiet. With effort, we bring our awareness to when and where we are, right now, cultivating wisdom and stillness. In this state we no longer objectify the world as something we can use for our own selfish ends. We intimately realize that we are deeply connected to the world around us. In truth, our body reaches far beyond the boundaries of our skin. It is the air we breathe and the food that sustains us, grown in fields watered by rain that falls, brought here by clouds that have crossed the broad ocean. The ground that supports us as we sit in zazen is not merely an object or commodity; it is our body itself. It is the body of things that stretch out in every direction, filling the entire universe. And in a simple, quiet way, that total reality is just here where we quietly sit. To be present here is to be present with the true reality of all things.
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