Som
e years ago, I came across a wonderful little book entitled Zen Masters, a Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet by John Stevens. Immediately I began to think about myself and my work and my studies as a Buddhist priest, teacher, and blogger. Would my friends and students place me in any of these areas? Do I place myself in any of them? If so, how has my self-image affected my life? How has it given meaning to my life?
Everyone has had questions about their life while growing up. They may not have been thought of as questions because the ideas may have started with an experience or a book or a teacher where a seed was planted. For me I found myself at the age of 4 setting up some chairs in the garage and inviting my little girl friends to play school. I, of course, had to be the teacher and they were the students! I have no idea what I was teaching them but I do know I enjoyed the job!
The author chose to write about three famous teachers of Buddhism Ikkyu (1394-1481), Hakuin (1686-1768), and Ryokan (1758-1831). Each one was unique and impactful in their own way just as you are—even when you don’t know it. Your words, deeds, ideas, emotions, and thoughts affect not only you but everyone around you from your family and friends, to your co-workers, and everyone you meet in your daily life.
Do you open the door for the mom or dad with a baby carriage, do you carry a bundle for the elderly person who lives next door, and do you support your coworker when they need a lift on a very stressful day? Or are you the one who would not even notice the goings on in the three scenarios above?
What is your idea of a meaningful life and how do you express it? Are you the maverick, the master of masters, or a wandering poet? No judgment here, no grading one against the other as all three of the great men written about were all unique and special in their own way, and thus are remembered and written about hundreds of years later.
What will people remember about you? I hope this blog series will help you dig deep into yourself to find the maverick, the master, and the wandering poet as Ikkyu, Hakuin, and Ryokan did all those many years ago!
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]
There are so many kinds of meditation from the simple Zen method of clearing your mind and counting your breath 1 on the in breath and 2 on the out breath. Then there is the wonderful description by Frances W. Foulks in her iconic book Effectual Prayer where she writes: “To meditate on a subject is to give it attentive, earnest thought with the idea of having all its meaning revealed; that is, all the meaning that one is capable of receiving at the time (page 65).”
Dr. Jan Chozen Bays author of How to Train a Wild Elephant & Other Adventures in Mindfulness (2011), has a great exercise that I recommend for everyone who feels limited in health of mind, body, and/or spirit. She is a physician and Zen teacher who has written this great book filled with easy exercises to invite mindfulness, meditation, and concentration into our lives in a fun and playful way!
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life! Part 1: Introduction Thoughts are Things!
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I saw a wonderful book on my bookshelf by Kazuaki Tanahashi e
ntitled Zen Chants, Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. It made me think of all the affirmations, vows, and chants that I use on a regular basis and how powerful and fulfilling my life has become by using them. Thus, the theme of the new blog series and workbook!
Each chapter will provide you with all you need to know about affirmations, vows, and chants and how– when used consistently and persistently– they can change your life for the better. We will work with some created by others and learn how to create our own.
Napoleon Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich wrote: Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that…(page 19).[1] Thoughts and things have weight and measure. That’s crazy you say! Yet true it is. Much research has been done on the mind and the affect that our thoughts have on our body.
One of the initial simple studies done was to place some college students (all men at the time) on a seesaw. The participant balanced himself on it, so his body was flat and stable. Then they asked him to think of a very difficult math problem and try to work it out in his mind. Oddly enough the seesaw began to move lower and lower on the end where his head was. Next, they asked him to see himself running in a race with a friend and guess what? The seesaw began to move lower and lower at the end by his feet!
Thus, thoughts have weight and measure! So, when you affirm that you can not do something for sure you can’t! But with time, effort, and persistence and these techniques you will be able to do most anything! I’m not saying you can jump over a mountain or a hill in one leap like Superman and Superwoman, but you can hike to the top that’s for sure.
And so, people have written chants, poems, prayers, affirmations, and songs to help lift us up, to help us think positive, and to help us create a more fulfilling life.
Here are some words of wisdom to start off on our adventure from Yongjia Xuanjiao’s Song of Realizing the Way (page 78).
Thus, with your mind you can encounter the infinite world and create a reality filled with all the good you desire for yourself and others! As Captain Jean-Luc Picard said in Star Trek: Make it so!
[1] Hill, N. (1960) Think and Grow Rich. Fawcett World Library: Greenwich, Conn
[2] Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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