Dear all
Some words on the situation in the USA from one of our few western Zen priests who is a person of colour, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: https://www.lionsroar.com/darkness-i...g-to-be-loved/
Of course, she is not literally saying that we should not be sitting at this time but pointing out that there is a time for practice and a time to grieve. For many in the African-American and wider community, this is a time for intense grief and she is calling us to join them and feel what they are feeling.
Our practice is not in ignoring the hard stuff, and the death of George Floyd should be hard for all us, whether we are among those who see our likeness reflected in George's face, or in the face of the police officers and the system of power that supports them.
Thich Nhat Hanh said that the lotus of compassion will not grow without the mud of life, and the first step in that is to get down amongst the dark and the dirt and become intimate with it.
Zenju is the author of The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality and Gender. Maybe we should invite her to talk on this?
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
Some words on the situation in the USA from one of our few western Zen priests who is a person of colour, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: https://www.lionsroar.com/darkness-i...g-to-be-loved/
If you are still holding up trying to meditate, I invite you to fall down. Fall down on the earth. Come down here and smell the sweat of terror on your skin, overpowering the scent of agarwood. Come down on all fours and greet the darkness that reeks of death, reaches out its desperate hand and asks to be loved as much as we love the light it gives.
Come down here on this earth and breathe for those gasping for air. Hear each scream as a bell that never stops ringing. Bury your face in the mud of this intimate place, in this shared disease and tragedy.
Come down here on this earth and breathe for those gasping for air. Hear each scream as a bell that never stops ringing. Bury your face in the mud of this intimate place, in this shared disease and tragedy.
Of course, she is not literally saying that we should not be sitting at this time but pointing out that there is a time for practice and a time to grieve. For many in the African-American and wider community, this is a time for intense grief and she is calling us to join them and feel what they are feeling.
Our practice is not in ignoring the hard stuff, and the death of George Floyd should be hard for all us, whether we are among those who see our likeness reflected in George's face, or in the face of the police officers and the system of power that supports them.
Thich Nhat Hanh said that the lotus of compassion will not grow without the mud of life, and the first step in that is to get down amongst the dark and the dirt and become intimate with it.
Zenju is the author of The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality and Gender. Maybe we should invite her to talk on this?
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
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