Organ Mountain Zen



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Stages

With palms together,




Good Morning Everyone,







Last night at Clear Mind Zen Temple we had a nearly full house with eight of us practicing together. It was good to see so many zafus being put to good use. This evening we will host our Zen 101 Group at 6:00 PM and follow this with a practice period. The section of the text, “The Eight Gates of Zen” we will address is “The Ten Stages” from pages 39 through 78. I know we will not get through all of the stages this evening, but we will make a beginning.







The stages are based on the Ten Ox-Herding pictures and are an effort to offer some idea to students a sense of where they are in their practice. Much more a Rinzai notion than a Soto one, the idea of stages is a standard for Rinzai and a challenge for Soto. In the Soto tradition, we are taught that the practice of Shikantaza is, essentially, enlightenment itself. So, what need of “stages”?







Come this evening and we will discuss this question among others. If you are not able to come, I will begin to address these in a post tomorrow.







Lastly, remember, we will be hosting a joint Zazenkai this weekend with the Zen Center of Las Cruces. It will begin at 10:00 AM and close at 4:00 PM. Please reserve your space now by replying to this email.







Yours,



Daiho





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