…monasteries — see, for example, Zen is Eternal Life, Rev. Master PTNH Jiyu-Kennett, 4th Edition, (Mt Shasta: Shasta Abbey Press, 1999) pp 152-154. Continuing Practice after a Retreat 31 ↩ There are very helpful and comprehensive discussions of meditating in activity and daily life, for example, in the section on ‘Mindfulness’, in Buddhism from Within, Rev. Master Daizui MacPhillamy, (Shasta Abbey Press, 2003) pp 57-62, and in the chapter on ‘The…
…“willingness” than “will”. It is the willingness to let go of things moment-by-moment: ideas, opinions, wants, fears, ideals, judgments, … everything. It is the willingness at all times to learn, to be open to seeing new ways, as Dogen Zenji put it “to be disturbed by the Truth”. And it is the willingness to do whatever comes next. “Doing what comes next” is more a matter of honesty and courage than of will. The honesty is that of looking straight…
…of a separate self and separate others is seldom questioned amidst the day-to-day flow of events in life. These perceptions arise from the natural part of us, the functioning of which is very much concerned with preserving our physical existence. If Understanding belongs to a realm wherein the opposites of existence and non-existence are transcended, then the path of the natural self is, on its own, limited and is unlikely to lead to enlightenme…