Social Action, Part Three

With palms together,




Good Morning Everyone,



Social Action, Part Three







Master Dogen said in his Final Instructions, “This monastery is an excellent place. We may become attached to it, but we should live in accord with temporal and worldly conditions. In the buddha-dharma any place is an excellent place for practice.”







To live away from “the world” is a marvelous thing. It enables us to go deeply inside and experience ourselves intimately as we go through the tasks of living. At our Refuge in the mountains where we lived for three years, the first two years we lived without electricity. Our lives were very slow and very deliberate. If I wanted to make biscuits for breakfast I needed to get up at 4:00 AM and get the wood cook stove going. If we wanted water in out tap, I needed to make sure we had the gravity feed tank full. Once or twice a week we would start the generator in order to accomplish tasks that required electricity, such as pumping water, charging the laptop’s batteries, etc.







Under such conditions, meditation and mindfulness were both easy and required. I could (and did) easily hurt myself without mindfulness at the stove or with the axe cutting my daily portion of wood. Meditation was a cinch since without lights, when the sun went down, contemplation came naturally. Eventually, however, we had to leave the Refuge. Groceries were necessary, meetings at the Volunteer Fire Department were scheduled, and visits needed to be made.







It was during this period of my practice life I determined Engaged Zen was necessary. Engaged practice is the practice of not being on auto-pilot. Engaged practice is the practice of the buddhas and is an antidote to the sleepiness of a life become so easy to cruise through. To live in engaged practice requires a commitment to wake up and stay awake.







Social action is a natural consequence of living with our eyes open. When we are awake to the fact that turning on the lights just to have the lights on, or turning on the television just to have it on, is wasteful and and example of sleeping in the present moment, we turn them off. We might replace our incandescent bulbs with more energy efficient spirals. This might lead us to consider not driving our cars so much or finding ways to use less consumable products.







Living away from people teaches us the value of silence and thus the value of right speech when we are with others. Idle chatter is never a good idea and leads to hurtful gossip. Our world is made completely of our own construction. If we need to hate we will find something or someone to hate. If we need to love, we will find something or someone to love.







When we encounter situations and people who are harmful, we engage them with mindful compassion. War is harmful, we engage those making war with peace and understanding. Social Discrimination is harmful, we engage those who discriminate with the wisdom of non-duality. We offer alternatives such as serene reflection meditation and generosity of heart/mind.







Social action is not something writ large with big signs and electric lights. It is the simple practice of walking in the world with our eyes and heart open coupled with a willingness to engage what comes before us in the simplest and most direct manner.







So, as Master Dogen points out in the opening quote, “In the buddha-dharma any place is an excellent place for practice.” This means taking the serenity and mindfulness of our zazen and walking through town with it, through work with it, and through play with it.







May we each be a blessing in the universe.









Rev. Harvey Daiho Hilbert-Roshi

Order of Clear Mind Zen

Clear Mind Zen Temple

Our Order's Store

Telephone: 575-680-6680

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