Hi Folks,
I have been reading Realizing Genjokoan and really liking it. Interestingly the writing that has had the most impact on my was in an introductory chapter on the meaning of the title.
In Chapter 2. "The Meaning of of Genjokoan" Shohaku Okumura talks about Emptiness vs Form. He uses the analogy of a hand. He writes that you can call it a hand, or you can call it a collection of five fingers. Each finger is independent and has a different shape and function. We cannot exchange the little finger with the thumb because each has its own function, shape, and unique way of being. Each finger is truly independent. And yet, from another perspective as a hand, all five fingers function together, and there is no separation between them.
One hand is 100% one hand. Five fingers are 100% five fingers. We can view the world as a collection of independent things or we can view it as one vast seamless whole.
And I liked the teaching. Not that different than my favorite analogy of us as waves and ocean at the same time.
But then the idea got switched up on me.
He went on to write that this whole universe is one universe; there is no separation within it. And yet, this universe is a collection of unique individual beings. These beings are each unique - each and everything is completely independent. And yet this whole world, the universe, and all of time from beginningless beginning to the endless end are one.
And he goes on - it is an excellent chapter.
But the thing that hit me hard was that I have always thought about Form and Emptiness as it applies to me. About how I am both a wave and an ocean. But that is just looking internally - at my own existence. And that is an important learning.
But I had never looked outward. I had never thought about how I am connected to the other waves in the ocean - how all of us exist in the ocean at the same time. How we are all part of the same whole.
Somehow thinking about people as fingers and the community as the hand woke me up to connections I had been missing.
Sadly I have kind of made Zen about me. But that misses most of the ocean! I need to think about Zen in context of others. It isn't enough to manifest Zen in my own life. I have to manifest in a greater way. Outward, not just inward. Others are part of me. I am a part of them. We are all one. And I need to lead my life accordingly.
Oddly enough I have been hearing this message over and over from Jundo, the other priests, and the rest of the Sangha. But, sadly, I thought of charity or such activities as me being a good person. Doing the right thing. I never saw it as a more fundamental connection to the whole.
I need to process more about how this will work for me. How I am going to manifest Zen in a larger way. But it is clear to me I need to head down that road.
So you all probably already get this.
But I thought I would share because it really was an important lesson for me.
I have studied Zen for a long time, and yet I still know so little.
Gassho, Shinshi
SaT-LaH
I have been reading Realizing Genjokoan and really liking it. Interestingly the writing that has had the most impact on my was in an introductory chapter on the meaning of the title.
In Chapter 2. "The Meaning of of Genjokoan" Shohaku Okumura talks about Emptiness vs Form. He uses the analogy of a hand. He writes that you can call it a hand, or you can call it a collection of five fingers. Each finger is independent and has a different shape and function. We cannot exchange the little finger with the thumb because each has its own function, shape, and unique way of being. Each finger is truly independent. And yet, from another perspective as a hand, all five fingers function together, and there is no separation between them.
One hand is 100% one hand. Five fingers are 100% five fingers. We can view the world as a collection of independent things or we can view it as one vast seamless whole.
And I liked the teaching. Not that different than my favorite analogy of us as waves and ocean at the same time.
But then the idea got switched up on me.
He went on to write that this whole universe is one universe; there is no separation within it. And yet, this universe is a collection of unique individual beings. These beings are each unique - each and everything is completely independent. And yet this whole world, the universe, and all of time from beginningless beginning to the endless end are one.
And he goes on - it is an excellent chapter.
But the thing that hit me hard was that I have always thought about Form and Emptiness as it applies to me. About how I am both a wave and an ocean. But that is just looking internally - at my own existence. And that is an important learning.
But I had never looked outward. I had never thought about how I am connected to the other waves in the ocean - how all of us exist in the ocean at the same time. How we are all part of the same whole.
Somehow thinking about people as fingers and the community as the hand woke me up to connections I had been missing.
Sadly I have kind of made Zen about me. But that misses most of the ocean! I need to think about Zen in context of others. It isn't enough to manifest Zen in my own life. I have to manifest in a greater way. Outward, not just inward. Others are part of me. I am a part of them. We are all one. And I need to lead my life accordingly.
Oddly enough I have been hearing this message over and over from Jundo, the other priests, and the rest of the Sangha. But, sadly, I thought of charity or such activities as me being a good person. Doing the right thing. I never saw it as a more fundamental connection to the whole.
I need to process more about how this will work for me. How I am going to manifest Zen in a larger way. But it is clear to me I need to head down that road.
So you all probably already get this.
But I thought I would share because it really was an important lesson for me. I have studied Zen for a long time, and yet I still know so little.
Gassho, Shinshi
SaT-LaH
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