With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
Awake overnight, I take advantage of the space to practice zazen and to write to you.
A monk asks, “If there is no hint of cloud in the sky for ten thousand miles, what do you say about it?” The Teacher replies, “I would punish the sky with my stick.” Queried further, the Teacher is asked, “Why do you blame the sky?” Teacher replies, “Because, there is no rain when we should have it and there is no fair-weather when we should have it.”
In his commentary on Case 32 of “The Iron Flute,” Nyogen Senzaki says, “A Zen monk punishes everything with his big stick; even Buddha and the patriarchs cannot escape that blow of Zen. His stick is the handle by which he can shake the whole universe.”
There is no room for complacency, no time for sleep. We are to be awake in order to function and our functioning is to heal the world. Complacency suggests a sleeping conscience. Just like in Zazen, where a Teacher is ever mindful of his student’s eye, we all should be mindful of the state of the world around us.
Our practice challenge is to wake up!. Our world deeply needs our willingness to embrace it, help it, and heal it.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/ap-source-confirms-video-of-baghdad-firefight-18998230
None of us are blameless.
Be well
It seems that,
ReplyDeletenone of us are to blame, either.
It is all the way it should be.
If I engage any acts to embrace, help, and heal it, it is the way it should be either.
Be well, too. Roshi :)
HH: What is the difference between a little girl's neighborhood and a battle zone?
ReplyDeleteThey are too often one in the same. Shame on us. We human beings really need to get a grip and practice peace.
ReplyDelete