Everyday Life

from JoeUser Forums
With palms together,

Good Morning Everyone,



We have been exploring emptiness in all its forms. Yet, so what? What is the everyday application of an awakened way? The short answer, according to Nansen, is "Everyday life is the path." (quoted by Mumon)



What this means is this. each moment of each day is fresh to us if we see it without reference to something else. The dishes are dirty and stacked in the kitchen. We do the dishes. If we do the dishes with resentment, "goodness, every day I do these dishes, what is she doing?!" problem. This is not clear mind.



There is a poem about such things:



In spring, hundreds of flowers' in autumn, a harvest moon;

In summer, a refreshing breeze; in winter, a snow will accompany you.

If useless things do not hang in your mind,

Any season is a good season for you. (Mumon)



Everyday life and its challenges are to be received. I want you to think about this. What does receive mean? How we understand and live this word is the practice of path.



From this we might say that bells and robes and other such dressings are not important. This is true, but only so if one is on the path. Bells and robes and the rules of the Zendo are everyday things we must receive as practitioners. How do we receive them?



Our relationship to our everyday life is most important, then, and can be described in terms of our receptivity.



Consider your relationship to everyday life. I'd like to hear about it.



Be well.



PS: Clear Mind Zen Temple has pushed the dates for our next sesshin out:



Obon/Ohigan Sesshin begins at 7:00 PM on Thursday Evening the 13th, through Sunday Morning until 12:00 PM on the 16th



Please consider attending!
religion
1,972 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
We have to learn to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes otherwise we won't move on. That's what I learned today. "Everyday life is the path" we should live and experience and forgive and move on. We should look at it with new eyes in order to experience what we are! Enlightening!
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
FS: Yes. Now, please forget about 'enlightening'!

See ya!
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
LW, thank you. I am with you here. Sometimes speed and efficiency are useful, as it is true, I would like to go swim or run, or even meditate. I guess the point is that the more these thoughts enter our heads as we are doing things, the less effective we may be and the less enjoyment we may have in doing them.

When it really gets wacko is when we Zen guys insist that in essense everything we do is the same, so we should enjoy it all.



Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
The dishes are especially pointless. You know, I think we should do the dishes before meals. It will save washing-up time after.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Also, while you ARE doing the dishes, you might as well enjoy what's there to enjoy... the suds, the feel of water and dishpan hands... but as quickly as possible. Think to yourself, "I'm going to enjoy this as fast as possible."

That's how I eat. Now all I have to do is apply that to things I don't like to do.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
LW and Jythier, this whole notion of pointlessness is bothersome. What makes something pointless is, what? The fact that it must be done over and over? I don't know. I think enjoyment is enjoyment, sadness is sadness, etc. Each for itself. LW, your 'fattie' sounds good. I cannot do such things, well, I've chosen not to do such things, but then, my shrink gives me all sorts of drugs to keep me in my place and my Zen settles it.

Jythier, I think the suds are grand. As are bubbles being blown from the deck of our mountain refuge, the smile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the gentle teachings of your Jesus, and the power of God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. I truly hold them all to be the same, perhaps a bit of a difference in magnitude


See ya!
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
I like to think of Jesus when he stormed through the Temple. Reminds me it's okay to fight for God.