I never tire of reading the beautiful poetry of the Buddhist monks and Ikkyu is no exception to the rule. Living a meaningful life also requires us to enjoy the beauty of spring, the sound of music, the laughter of our teachers, friends, and families, the words of our favorite writers, and poets—past and present.
The Center for Spiritual Living in Boca Raton, Florida, gives out little cards with words of wisdom on them. I found this one today when I opened up the book. “We reap whatever we plant…enough to share and to spare.”
Ikkyu planted so many wonderful thoughts and teachings through his writing and the way he lived his life. You can as well. Even if you don’t think you are able to write poetry or prose simply living life as if spring was in the air every day just may inspire someone around you to write a poem with you as their muse. You never can tell…
The rest of Ikkyu’s verse goes like this:
“But everyone else is afraid to drain its cup.
Heaven is achieved, hell disappears.
I spend the day amid falling blossoms and wind-blown fluff (page 26).”[1]
When was the last time you spent the day amid flowers with your hair blowing in the wind? Or having to chase down your hat as it blows off your head! When was the last time you “drained your cup” of something or someone who was not helping you move forward in your life with meaning, peace, love, and compassion?
There is another story told about some farmers who were being “bled dry by excessive taxation and corrupt officials (page 30). To stand by them in principal Ikkyu wrote:
Over and over,
Taking and taking
From this village;
Starve them
And how will you live (page 30)?
It sounds like the corrupt officials were NOT living a meaningful life as I see it! It reminds me of some of the things we are seeing today in our modern world…taking from the poor to make the rich richer. That is definitely not the way to “live a meaningful life” unless of course your only meaning in life is to get richer and greedier.
Definitely not Ikkyu’s way for sure, not my way, how about you? I never tire of springs great pleasure and it doesn’t cost me a dime!
[1] J. Stevens (1999) Zen Masters A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan Kodansha International: New York
(2) picture by Mitch Doshin Cantor http://www.listeningwiththeeye.squarespace.com
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?
In Zen Buddhism there are so many wonderful teachers and writers that you could spend the rest of your life reading their original books and their translations of the ancient writers. Plus, we have the current teachers and writers taking a particular point of view or sutra or teaching and creating a blog or a book or a lecture from the information. I, of course, happen to be one of them.
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…
Haiku for you all to enjoy from one of our Zen students studying “behind the fence.”
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).”
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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