We feed our mind with many things and what we feed it with can determine who we are, how we treat others, and what will manifest in our lives. Words can be sweet like the taste of a ripe apple in Spring or sour like a pickle that has been soaked in brine for many weeks or months. But it is always up to us which we will eat and which we will share with others. And how we share it…
While I was going through my mail from the prison ministry the news of the bloody massacre of the Muslims in a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand came on the news. As I listened I opened an eight-page letter from one of my pen pals “behind the fence.”
My pen pal had a lot of words rolling around in his head about the principles of Zen until he got confused. I quickly came upon two poems that I thought he could use in his time of contemplation of Zen principles and how he uses them in his life.
Asukai Masatsune (1170-1221)
I walked among stones
Through mountains of mountains,
Paying no mind
Until the flower-trail behind
Turned into drifting white clouds (page 117).[1]
Dogen Kigen (1200-1253)
Cast away all speech.
Our words may express it,
But cannot hold it.
The way of letters leaves no trace,
Yet the teaching is revealed (page 119)[2].
Had the killer paid no mind to his thoughts and the writings he was reading about hate for others of a different faith and had he cast away his hate filled words and left no trace of it and replaced it with peace and love for all human life those people would be alive today.
Be aware of your thoughts and words as being “food for the mind” they can give life or take it away. How many times has someone said to you “you’re going to eat those words someday?” Simply use your words of peace, love, and compassion for all and the complexity of life will winnow down to simply loving life and all humanity. And you’ll never have to eat your words again because they will have turned into “drifting white clouds.”
[1] Hamill, S. and Seaton, J.P. The Poetry of Zen. Shambhala Boston & London 2007
[2] Ibid.
Cleary titles a section in the book “The Great Task.” “We are swept away by memorizing sayings and living inside conceptual consciousness. Has it not been said, ‘Concepts act as robbers, consciousness becomes waves’? If you have not mastered the great task, nothing compares to stopping, in the sense of quiet cessation, the purifying and quieting of the body and mind. At all times avoid dwelling obsessively on things, and it will be easy to unveil this (page 42).” [1]
This last chapter will totally debunk the 9 chapters before it! What a fabulous way to end my story…
Kaz Tanahashi writes about it so clearly. What an “original face” he has! Filled with joy for sure!
Many of us may remember the wonderful play and movie “Oliver! the Musical” with warmth and laughter. There is a song in it that is so powerful and yet sad if you really listen to the words. Watched by his fellow orphans, Mark Lester, as Oliver Twist, dares to ask for more, in the film “Oliver!” (Columbia Pictures). [1]
She represents the feminine energy of the world as the “holy spirit” represents the feminine energy in the Christian triad of the “father, son, and the holy spirit.” She represents the fundamental aspect of Buddhahood: Great compassion. In China she is named Kuan-yin, in Japan Kannon (or Kanzeon or Kwannon), and in Tibet Chenresi. In some cultures, Avalokiteshvara is a man not a woman so which ever pronoun you prefer to use for Avalokiteshvara is perfectly divine!
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life: Part 5 Atonement
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Atonement has been defined in many ways such as reparation for a wrong doing or making amends for your actions, words, and/or deeds. Or even read as “at one meant.” In, Buddhism we have a gatha or chant that we recite at the end of our sitting period. It is simple yet powerful.
All harmful karma ever committed by me since of old
On account of my beginingless greed, anger, and ignorance,
Born of my body, mouth, and thought,
Now I atone for it all…
Kaz Tanahashi in his book Zen Chants reminds us that “We are in the midst of changeable and unchangeable karma in each moment. We are bound by cause and effect, but at the same time we are partly free of cause and effect. This is the case during meditation, when we can be completely free from the chain of causation. At this time, we can be anybody and anywhere. We are what we meditate. We are also the source of cause and effect (page 146).[1]
Each time I recite this chant I feel like I’ve been given a new life, and a new opportunity to get something right! To have a “do over” as we might say today. I may not be able to have a “do over” with someone who has passed away or no longer will take my calls, texts, or emails, but atone I must—to forgive myself for my behavior or words or deeds that harmed or hurt another. Regardless of whether the person is someone you know or a total stranger if we have harmed then atonement is the best action to take. If we decide not to take that action it doesn’t mean that we’re done with it anyway!
I once worked with a congregant of mine who had a very bad relationship with his brother. Upon his brother’s untimely death, he went into a great depression for how he had left their relationship. It came to me when we were together one day for him to simply meditate on the love that he had held back from his brother and ask an imaginary angel to deliver him a message of repentance, love, and compassion. Not long after he said that his brother had come to him in a dream and they hugged and forgave each other, and his pain and suffering was relieved. His love for his brother was evident in his countenance he was smiling joyfully.
He was freed from the chain of causation through atonement! How chained are you? What will you do about it? Will you atone and be released from those thoughts and emotions? Or do you choose to live with the pain, anger, and animosity? The choice is yours—which will it be.
[1]Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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