Zen gravy

[Taigu]

That's what Dogen had to say about something we all experienced here, the moment the universe comes forth, the moment as the myriad things, it could be anything, come and shine on the self. We could also call it Zen cooking, all thrown, self and others, into the big pot. Wondrous alchemy, juicy gravy and yet as clear as pure water. My rain drops are often traffic noises, neighbour television or street shouts.

Steven Heine gives us this very good rendering:

Because the mind is free –
Listening to the rain
Dripping from the eaves,
The drops become
One with me.

another one in the same vein:

Drifting pitifully in the whirlwind of birth and death,
As if wandering in a dream,
In the midst of illusion I awaken to the true path;
There is one more matter I must not neglect,
But I need not bother now,
As I listen to the sound of the evening rain
Falling on the roof of my temple retreat
In the deep grass of Fukakusa.

gassho

T.

[Onshin]

Re: Zen gravy

My raindrops are a main road and Heathrow airport, but I have always had something like it, I cannot imagine sitting in total silence, I think the sound of my own tinitus would drive me to distraction :twisted:

[Myozan Kodo]

Re: Zen gravy

Thanks Taigu. Gassho.
On tinitus: it has made me want to jump out the window on occasion. Sometimes the only silence is in the din of noise. Silence can be a curse.
Gassho,
Soen

[disastermouse]

Re: Zen gravy

Thanks Taigu. Gassho.
On tinitus: it has made me want to jump out the window on occasion. Sometimes the only silence is in the din of noise. Silence can be a curse.
Gassho,
Soen

Yes! The din...pushing against it exhausts me. Why do I push against it?

Chet

[Rich]

Re: Zen gravy

I remember the first time reading Dogen explaining how to brush your teeth and clean your face, ass and dick - thinking why is he talking about this, I want to understand my true nature and resolve the question of life and death. Well, this everyday life is the holiest of activities and they actually create and sustain life. So when I get frustrated with my job or relationships I always end up trying some simple action that maybe I've never done before. Experience teaches you what works or not, but you have to be willing to try new approaches, new things. Nothing stays the same, everything is changing. Just rambling.

[Risho]

Re: Zen gravy

Thanks Taigu. Gassho.
On tinitus: it has made me want to jump out the window on occasion. Sometimes the only silence is in the din of noise. Silence can be a curse.
Gassho,
Soen

Interesting you say that. I don't know if I have tinitus, but back in December I started noticing a low humming sound in my right ear. It is only present when everything is silent, and it's not alway there, but grrrr it is annoying.

[Omoi Otoshi]

Re: Zen gravy

Thanks Taigu. Gassho.
On tinitus: it has made me want to jump out the window on occasion. Sometimes the only silence is in the din of noise. Silence can be a curse.
Gassho,
Soen

Interesting you say that. I don't know if I have tinitus, but back in December I started noticing a low humming sound in my right ear. It is only present when everything is silent, and it's not alway there, but grrrr it is annoying.

Yes, it's tinnitus. Since you don't hear it all the time, it sounds like a minor form. In fact, all people get tinnitus if their surroundings are quiet enough, ie if you lock a healthy subject in a completely silent room, he will get some sort of hearing hallucination, because the brain isn't used to handle complete silence. Normally, even when we think it's quiet, there's a lot of background noise that we aren't aware of.
How much you suffer from Tinnitus often depends on how you feel on a given day. When we are completely balanced, we can often handle a bit of noise in our ear. When we feel stressed, depressed, unbalanced, this noise can be unbearable. It has in some cases made people kill themselves just to escape it. Some researchers even say that you can't have clinical tinnitus if you don't have some sort of psychiatric co-morbidity, but this is far from a consensus and I don't believe it's true. I do believe I have met patients with severe Tinnitus and a very healthy psyche.
I haven't seen any paper on Tinnitus and Zazen, but I would guess that a positive side effect of Zen practice could be that is brings some balance and perhaps even allows a little rest from the Tinnitus, by accepting it as perfectly what is and not paying too much attention to it, just like with thoughts.

Gassho,
Pontus