Emerson: Live, let live and help live.
Zen: Evening Gatha [Prayer]
Let me respectfully remind you.
Birth and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes and opportunity is lost.
We should all strive to awaken.
Awaken! Take Heed!
Do not squander your life!
Both of these quotes are profound in so many ways. Each tests us to live our lives fully every day and make a difference in the world in which we live. Notice that each asks us to go beyond our “self” and to help others. To live life fully, to let others lead their lives fully, and to help those who need help so they too can live life fully.
How have you done that today? How about this week, month, or year? Every time you open the door for someone with their arms full of packages, or let someone in front of you in a traffic jam, or bring a meal to a sick neighbor you are “awake.” Awake to the needs of another. You have taken the opportunity to think of someone other than yourself, to identify a need, no matter how small it may seem—you have helped meet that need for another.
When you are walking through life looking down at your cellphone checking your Facebook page or texting someone—you are missing life at its fullest. You may have missed an opportunity to help a stranger or a friend. When you are focused on self only you miss many opportunities to live.
Just the other day I was teaching at the college on the 11th floor when we had a fire scare and everyone was told to immediately exit the building. So all 16 of my students and I walked those 11 floors down to the street. One of them needed extra attention as she was pregnant. I rushed ahead so that I could make sure all of my students were out of the building and safe. As one of them walked through the door I was holding for them he said, “Oh, you don’t have to do that. Why are you holding the door for all of us and the others?” The question had never come into my mind. “Live, let live and help live” I guess.
Think of the fireman who runs into the fire, not away from it. To the policeman or security guard who runs toward the shooter in a mall. Or a teacher who stands in front of the children to protect them from the bullets being sprayed in his or her classroom.
Awaken, Take Heed! Do not squander your life! Find your purpose each and every day because time swiftly passes by and you do not want to lose the opportunity to be of service to others to go beyond yourself wherever and whenever you can. Even if it’s simply to hold the door for another. Let me know how that goes!
In gassho, Shokai
(1) Floris, O. Inspiration & Wisdom from the pen of Ralph Waldo Emerson. www.odeliafloris.com (page 9)
(2) Southern Palm Zen Group Service Handbook, Mitch Doshin Cantor.
Meet Your Good Today… Part 13 Liberation
Posted in attachment, BUddhism, cause and effect, clinging, fears, happiness, Kazuaki Tanahashi, love, meditation, Mindfulness, self-help, sickness, suffering, The Four Sufferings, Uncategorized, wisdom, Zen, Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary, tagged "Setting Out the Bowls", anger, anxiety, boundlessness, Buddah, Buddha, Buddhism, challenges, compassion, contemplation, fear, goals, happiness, health, joy, Kazuaki Tanahashi, liberation, life, love, meditation, mind, mindfulness, monasteries, oryoki, patience, peace, sitting, stinkin thinkin, suffering, Tathagata, Zazen, Zen, Zen Buddhism on August 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »
I opened up one of my favorite books by Kazuaki Tanahashi, Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary, looking for some sage advice today and sure enough I got it!
In Buddhist monasteries you may sit and eat in oryoki style which is sitting on the floor with your bowls of food in front of you. The word oryoki roughly means “that which contains just enough.”[1] When you are ordained you receive these three bowls nested together with chopsticks and wrapped in a napkin. Additionally, you carry these with you wherever you travel. This allows you to dine sitting anywhere.
When was the last time you took a meal where you focused your time and energy on the eating. Where you did not fill the plate to over flowing and eat way too much—but just enough to be satisfied. If you focus your attention on the food and savor the textures and the flavors and the smells your food will taste better, it will satisfy you more, and the process will ultimately have you eating less.
You will be liberated from indigestion that is caused by the ruminations controlling your mind from the day or the week of that nasty boss, or the bills, or the fears and anxieties of everyday living. You can focus on the boundlessness of that liberation and know that through silence comes liberation, whether the silence is during a meal, during your meditation, walking the dog, or at break during your workday.
Our lives are filled with noise from the TV, radio, cellphone, traffic, people talking, children crying, or the chatter inside our heads. Silence is a “utensil” that you can use to clear your mind and body of irritations, “stinkin thinkin,” and more. Silence can bring you liberation from the self-talk and exaggerations that we create about our life and its circumstances. Liberate yourself from hyperbole, and critical thinking, and see how peaceful your life can be. See how filled with gratitude, love, and compassion it can be. Then watch your physical ails slowly disappear into nothingness.
Remember you are boundless and limitless only if you think you are! Create your own “three wheels” of peace, love, and compassion in your body, mind, and spirit then watch what happens in your life—liberation!
Let me know how it goes!
Shokai
[1] The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen (1991) Shambhala Press:Boston
[2] The three wheels of boundlessness:
The Four Noble Truths
Emptiness
Buddha Nature
[3] Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambala: Boston & London
Read Full Post »