Share the Bloom: Engaged Zen

With palms together,

Good Morning Sangha,

Clear Mind Zen begins and ends with behavior. To know facts about Zen is not to understand Zen. To understand Zen is not enough either. As Daido Loori-roshi points out, we climb the mountain, attain the peak, but we are not yet finished. Clear Mind Zen demands a next step.

An expression of Our True Nature is always that next step. It is that next step that is Engaged Zen. So. Sitting Zazen is good and bad. It is good that we sit Zazen. There we settle ourselves, dig deeply into our present moment and learn the practice of being there. But sitting Zazen is bad as well when we refuse to get of the cushion and remain a statue.

Our world is full of pain and suffering. Even the President of the United States pointed out the other night that people are uncertain. In fact, these are uncertain times. In such times, people look for certainty. They demand to have solid ground to walk on. Practitioners of the Way know this is a root cause of suffering itself. There is no solid ground. All is change. Our practice is learning to bloom within process. And our next step is always sharing the bloom.

So what do we do to share the bloom?

I suggest that we create a Share The Bloom group at Zen Center. Thois group's functiuon will be to select projects for us to witness. Peace/War Violence/Non-Violence, Poverty/Mutual Aid: each have a need for our attention. If you are interested in such a group, please let me know.

Be well.