If we are to live a meaningful life, we each need to understand and acknowledge what we have “strewn along our path” good, bad, or indifferent–actions, words, and deeds.
Ikkyu wrote yet another profound poem when he said:
Bliss and sorrow; love and hate; light and shadow;
heat and cold; happiness and anger; self and other.
The enjoyment of poetic beauty may well lead to hell.
But look what we find strewn along our path:
Plum blossoms and peach flowers (page49)!
I resonate with his idea of poetic hell sometimes, for sure! Although I was an English Lit major in college, I was never good at writing poetry. I always felt like I was working on an assignment that was undoable, unmanageable, and frankly really bad writing! So, I avoided it at all costs… until I became a Buddhist and starting writing poems for each of my friends as a gift for their Jukai ceremony.
Each person gets a Zen name during the Jukai ceremony that embodies them as a student and practitioner of Buddhism. That’s why you see Shokai on my writings. Shokai means “inviting the world.” You can all guess why I was given that name! I’m always inviting my friends and family to meditate or read a great Buddhist book, or read my blog, or come sit with us at the Zendo.
Some students want to go even further on their path with additional studies to move into even higher positions like a monk or a teacher.
In your life you’ve created many paths from careers to families and more. Some of the paths have been easy and smooth as the ice on a lake in January or some may have been as unexpected as a summer storm. Sometimes others have strewn things on your path that may make you stumble or pause or even force you to rise to the occasion.
What have you “strewn” along your path today? What has been strewn along your path by others? How did you handle it? Like “Plum blossoms and peach flowers?” Or not…
Footnote: J. Stevens (1999) Zen Masters A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan Kodansha International: New York
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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