With palms together,
Good Morning All,
Zazen this morning was a quiet affair. I sat alone in the Ino's seat chanting and ringing the bells. Then silence in the upright posture. Zazen is a silent and deeply quieting practice, through the practice periods themselves can be riotous. In the end, just as the breath finds its own rhythm so do our minds.
I read a piece in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind a short while ago that caught my attention. Suzuki suggested that talking about the philosophy of Zen was a little blasphemous. He pointed out that talking about what you do not realize is wrong headed. I suggest it is a little like putting the cart before the horse, or curtainly like mistaking a picture for a thing.
So, what is Buddhism? Sit zazen.
Be well.
“talking about the philosophy of Zen was a little blasphemous”
ReplyDeleteThat’s very interesting and perhaps it explains why I have such a hard time engaging Buddhists in conversations on the internet. Folks are happy to cut and paste a response from some teacher or text but they seem to be afraid of expressing their own thoughts with regard to Buddhism. Some Americans even seem reluctant to call themselves Buddhists as if that were some kind of title that needed to be bestowed upon a person. I was chalking all this up to a fear of looking stupid and/or a desire to look spiritual and enlightened but I’m having second thoughts. Although I’ve resisted this idea for some time, I am starting to think there really are levels of readiness in terms of Buddhist teachings. I may have to take a look at the book ‘Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind’.
VW