The Sangha Dunce Speaks

[AlanLa]

Re: The Sangha Dunce Speaks

Me?
A dunce?
Yup, uh-huh...
So?

[AlanLa]

Re: The Sangha Dunce Speaks

You?
A dunce?
Yup, nuh-uh...
So?

[Voton]

Re: The Sangha Dunce Speaks

That's a great story. I remember the first couple of sesshins I went to: I couldn't do anything right. I'd walk into the zendo with my shoes on, spill my oryoki meal on the floor, walk the wrong direction in kinhin...I just couldn't get with the protocol. It was a real humiliating experience. Then I heard someone else talking about feeling the same, and I realized that that's all part of the experience.
Robert Aitken wrote, "Carry your practice lightly." You can take practice seriously without being all glum about it. I have a feeling the Buddha would have smiled at his image with a bra draped over it.