Retreat
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The two women lifted the eight pound maul over their heads one at a time. Their target was a piece of cedar in need of being split in half. Down came the maul with a delicate, but forceful slice. From the Refuge building I heard an occasional, but then more frequent, cadence of shouts, "Yes!!!" as the wood fell in pieces under the blade.
We do not know ourselves until we experience ourselves.
Sesshin ( a Zen Buddhist retreat) is a moment in time. We deliberately take ourselves away from our comfort zone and step into the complete unknown: ourselves.
We think we know ourselves. Successful sesshin teaches us otherwise.
Yet, here is the knot of this koan, what is it to know ourselves when we are taught there is no self to know?
My comfort zone is myself in the sense of being alone. I am most comfortable answering to my inner voice. The voices of others are a bother. I do not know how to answer them.
Over the years, however, I have learned to listen.
Leading a sesshin deep in the mountains, off the grid, and in relative silence, where I am cast as the "Leader" is far out of my comfort zone. Yet, in the seven years since I first became a priest, I have taken this step pretty much every three months.
In this time I have learned that
My universe
is an eternal,
infinite, present
and I am itself.
Awesome, as my kiddos are prone to say, but I mean it quite literally.
It is not enough to discover such things. We already know this even if we have not actually experienced it, what is essential in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, however, is the next step. It may be feeding the cat, going to the bathroom, or pouring a cup of coffee or tea. But this step, whatever it is, is accomplished as completely as God creating the universe, perhaps in a giant, but mindful sneeze.
Awesome.
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
The two women lifted the eight pound maul over their heads one at a time. Their target was a piece of cedar in need of being split in half. Down came the maul with a delicate, but forceful slice. From the Refuge building I heard an occasional, but then more frequent, cadence of shouts, "Yes!!!" as the wood fell in pieces under the blade.
We do not know ourselves until we experience ourselves.
Sesshin ( a Zen Buddhist retreat) is a moment in time. We deliberately take ourselves away from our comfort zone and step into the complete unknown: ourselves.
We think we know ourselves. Successful sesshin teaches us otherwise.
Yet, here is the knot of this koan, what is it to know ourselves when we are taught there is no self to know?
My comfort zone is myself in the sense of being alone. I am most comfortable answering to my inner voice. The voices of others are a bother. I do not know how to answer them.
Over the years, however, I have learned to listen.
Leading a sesshin deep in the mountains, off the grid, and in relative silence, where I am cast as the "Leader" is far out of my comfort zone. Yet, in the seven years since I first became a priest, I have taken this step pretty much every three months.
In this time I have learned that
My universe
is an eternal,
infinite, present
and I am itself.
Awesome, as my kiddos are prone to say, but I mean it quite literally.
It is not enough to discover such things. We already know this even if we have not actually experienced it, what is essential in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, however, is the next step. It may be feeding the cat, going to the bathroom, or pouring a cup of coffee or tea. But this step, whatever it is, is accomplished as completely as God creating the universe, perhaps in a giant, but mindful sneeze.
Awesome.
Be well.