A man's inclination is the root of the tree of his life. - Hazrat Inayat Khan | |
Commentary by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan: The real inclination of every life is to attain to something which can not be touched or comprehended or understood. The hidden blessing of this knowledge is the first step to perfection. Once awake to this fact, man sees there is something in life that will make him really happy and give him his heart's desire. He can say, 'Though there are many things in life which I need for the moment, and for which I shall certainly work, yet there is only that one thing, around which life centers, that will satisfy me: the spiritual attainment, the religious attainment, or, as one may even call it, the attainment of God.' | |
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Water Dissolves Water: Good Advice
Water Dissolves Water: Good Advice:
One day a visiting monk asked Zen Master Dogen, “These days, the way of practicing in a monastery is to prepare food and other necessities for oneself beforehand so as not to have to worry about them later. This is a trivial matter, yet it supports the practice of the Way. If it is lacking, our practice will be disturbed. According to what I have heard about how you practice, you make no such preparation and leave everything up to fate. If this is really so, you will have trouble later on, won’t you? What do you think?”
One day a visiting monk asked Zen Master Dogen, “These days, the way of practicing in a monastery is to prepare food and other necessities for oneself beforehand so as not to have to worry about them later. This is a trivial matter, yet it supports the practice of the Way. If it is lacking, our practice will be disturbed. According to what I have heard about how you practice, you make no such preparation and leave everything up to fate. If this is really so, you will have trouble later on, won’t you? What do you think?”
Dogen replied, “Everything I do has precedents. I don’t rely on my personal views. All the buddhas and patriarchs in India and China lived in this way. The blessings of the Buddha-Way will never be exhausted. Why should we make personal plans for our livelihood? Besides, it is impossible to know what will happen tomorrow. This is not my personal opinion but what all the buddhas and patriarchs have carried out. If we run out of food and have nothing to eat, only then should we look for a means to gain something. We should not think about these things in advance” (Shobogenzo Zuimonki, 4-15).
This exchange between monk and master takes some time to understand. Is Dogen saying that we shouldn't prepare for the future at all and that there's no point in planning, as we never know what's going on happen in the future?
Yes. That is however (and this is a big "however"), if you happen to live in a monastery, like the monk he was addressing. Dogen is maintaining that those who have retreated from the world should not trouble their minds with the affairs of the world. The Buddha wore rags and relied upon the hand-outs of others for food, as did the Buddhists patriarchs down the line of succession from him. Dogen is here maintaining that it should be no different for the monks in his order. This is the way of the monastic.
If Dogen were addressing a gathering of farmers, he would not advise them to not plant seeds in the spring and wait instead until they wanted to harvest their crops. If we were addressing householders, he would not have advised them to not store grain for the winter or to not save money for their old age. Throughout his writings, and in Zuimonki in particular, Dogen had great praise for many laypersons, including both government officials and Emperors, and often looked to their actions for inspiration.
But the way of the monastic is different than the way of the farmer, the householder, the bureaucrat, and the Emperor. Zen Master Eisai, who founded the monastery at which Dogen trained early in his career, often admonished, "Monks, do not think that I give you the clothing, food, and other provisions you use. They are all offered by various heavenly beings. I merely play the role of distributor. Also, each one of you is fully endowed with the necessities for your lifetime. Do not run around seeking after them. Do not think that I feed you or that you have to be grateful to me.”
As 21st Century laypersons, it is appropriate for us to prepare food and other necessities for ourselves beforehand. It is the way of the western world. But we don't have to worry about these things either. We should set money aside when it is time to set money aside, and plan for our future when it is time to plan, but we don't need to obsess over those plans and investments, as it really is impossible to know what will happen tomorrow. The Middle Way is to prudently prepare for the future, but not try to control it. What will happen will happen despite our delusion of control.
There are two kinds of suffering. We suffer from external causes when we encounter hunger, extreme temperatures, disease, and violence. But even when these external factors are absent, we cause still more suffering by imagining hunger, hot and cold, illness, and violence, and then worrying and obsessing over the potential for these maladies. This is internal suffering, and we bring it on ourselves even though it's unnecessary.
The great thing about a contemplative practice such as zazen is that silent meditation breaks the cycle of worry and obsession over that which is only imagined, and allows us to see the world as it actually is, free of our discriminating perceptions. Yes, there are dangers and external factors that give rise to suffering, but so much of the actual suffering that we experience is not from these factors but is self-inflicted, as we literally worry ourselves sick imagining all that might, possibly (maybe, could be, perhaps) happen.
The Middle Way is found, then, by not ignoring the future, but not thinking we can control it either. If we lean too far in the direction of ignoring the future, we suffer from external factors. If we lean too far in the direction of obsessing over the future, we suffer from internal factors. We know when we are practicing the Middle Way when the suffering from both sides is minimized, and only we can know where that balance point is for us - no one else can experience our suffering or its cessation.
If all this sounds too difficult or complicated, then you can just go off and join a monastery, and not think about such things in advance at all.
Yes. That is however (and this is a big "however"), if you happen to live in a monastery, like the monk he was addressing. Dogen is maintaining that those who have retreated from the world should not trouble their minds with the affairs of the world. The Buddha wore rags and relied upon the hand-outs of others for food, as did the Buddhists patriarchs down the line of succession from him. Dogen is here maintaining that it should be no different for the monks in his order. This is the way of the monastic.
If Dogen were addressing a gathering of farmers, he would not advise them to not plant seeds in the spring and wait instead until they wanted to harvest their crops. If we were addressing householders, he would not have advised them to not store grain for the winter or to not save money for their old age. Throughout his writings, and in Zuimonki in particular, Dogen had great praise for many laypersons, including both government officials and Emperors, and often looked to their actions for inspiration.
But the way of the monastic is different than the way of the farmer, the householder, the bureaucrat, and the Emperor. Zen Master Eisai, who founded the monastery at which Dogen trained early in his career, often admonished, "Monks, do not think that I give you the clothing, food, and other provisions you use. They are all offered by various heavenly beings. I merely play the role of distributor. Also, each one of you is fully endowed with the necessities for your lifetime. Do not run around seeking after them. Do not think that I feed you or that you have to be grateful to me.”
As 21st Century laypersons, it is appropriate for us to prepare food and other necessities for ourselves beforehand. It is the way of the western world. But we don't have to worry about these things either. We should set money aside when it is time to set money aside, and plan for our future when it is time to plan, but we don't need to obsess over those plans and investments, as it really is impossible to know what will happen tomorrow. The Middle Way is to prudently prepare for the future, but not try to control it. What will happen will happen despite our delusion of control.
There are two kinds of suffering. We suffer from external causes when we encounter hunger, extreme temperatures, disease, and violence. But even when these external factors are absent, we cause still more suffering by imagining hunger, hot and cold, illness, and violence, and then worrying and obsessing over the potential for these maladies. This is internal suffering, and we bring it on ourselves even though it's unnecessary.
The great thing about a contemplative practice such as zazen is that silent meditation breaks the cycle of worry and obsession over that which is only imagined, and allows us to see the world as it actually is, free of our discriminating perceptions. Yes, there are dangers and external factors that give rise to suffering, but so much of the actual suffering that we experience is not from these factors but is self-inflicted, as we literally worry ourselves sick imagining all that might, possibly (maybe, could be, perhaps) happen.
The Middle Way is found, then, by not ignoring the future, but not thinking we can control it either. If we lean too far in the direction of ignoring the future, we suffer from external factors. If we lean too far in the direction of obsessing over the future, we suffer from internal factors. We know when we are practicing the Middle Way when the suffering from both sides is minimized, and only we can know where that balance point is for us - no one else can experience our suffering or its cessation.
If all this sounds too difficult or complicated, then you can just go off and join a monastery, and not think about such things in advance at all.
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