Awake!

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



The practice of Zen is difficult. It is not for everyone. Zazen requires discipline, as does koan work, samu, oryoki, and kinhin. A Zen life is a life of dedicated and committed practice. We rise in the morning with an aim in mind: wake-up! We sit with this, we walk with this, we eat this, we work this. Wake up!



Yes, of course, but what, exactly, does “wake-up!” mean?



Have you ever had the experience of lightening striking near you? Or an experience of dozing off and suddenly being startled as you woke? The instant you were brought to presence, that is awake. The instant afterwards, not awake.



What is it about these experiences? The main thing is the sharp dropping away of everything but your senses: no thought at all, just pure perception, clear, unimpeded, and flawless.



While we cannot live in this state we can approximate it by paying attention.



The Buddha taught this method in a number of sutras, but primarily in The Four Establishments of Mindfulness. This sutra has us placing our complete attention on exactly what it is we are doing in each moment, with each posture, and with each gesture.



There is a copy of the sutra here, at this website:

http://www.buddhistedu.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:discourse-on-the-four-establishments-of-mindfulness&catid=16:class-lessons&Itemid=41



Be well