Walk Like An Elephant

[ghop]

I've been reading Suzuki today and, as always, I found something
that I'm sure you all have read before, but I just couldn't help sharing.

"You can do true zazen practice here, watching yourself step by step,
one step after another. We practice like a cow rather than a horse.
Instead of galloping about, we walk slowly, like a cow or an elephant.
If you can walk slowly, without any idea of gain, then you are already
a good Zen student.

"We do not practice zazen to attain enlightenment, but rather to express
our true nature. Even your thinking is an expression of your true nature
when you are practicing zazen. Your thinking is like someone talking in
the backyard or across the street. You may wonder what they are talking
about, but that someone is not a particular person. That someone is our
true nature. The true nature within us is always talking about Buddhism.
Whatever we do is an expression of Buddha nature."

gassho

[Risho]

Re: Walk Like An Elephant

I love "Not Always So". I just started reading it again. I love how each chapter is so short, but it offers a lot of cud to chew on. The more I practice, the more I understand it. Honestly, there's still a lot I do not understand.

[Shohei]

Re: Walk Like An Elephant

Thank you for sharing that!
Ive got some reading to do and going back to this one is on the list

Gassho
Shohei

[Keishin]

Re: Walk Like An Elephant

And all this time I thought it was 'walk like an Egyptian!'

[JohnsonCM]

Re: Walk Like An Elephant

I really enjoy reading Suzuki Roshi. One of my favorite passages in Branching Streams.... was where he was talking about zazen and that it wasn't always sitting meditation. He said the river flows and, for the river, the act of flowing was it's stillness, it's original nature, and so the river flowing is the river's zazen.