NOT YOUR REGULAR SUNDAY CHICKEN

OK, I'm making some Super Bowl wings here on my faithful Green Egg smoker and grill. By the way, if you don't have one you will probably be spending a long time in purgatory trying to decide why you never made this conversion. Anyway, it's not so much about the game for me as it is being with some guys I truly love. Heck, I won't even stay for the whole game (bedtime is early for me). So what better way to show these guys how much I love them than sharing one of my culinary gifts. I will put another batch of these on around one o'clock. The grand total will be about 120 pieces of chicken, albeit little pieces of chicken.

Does this have anything to do with Practice? Well, let me share this little old story with you.


Monk: What is the essence of your practice?
Basho: Whatever is needed.


Well today's need was some wings off the Green Egg.

Bows,

Alan

BEING AN EXPLORER

Finishing up my re-reading of Living Zen, Loving God. Habito uses one of my favorite quotes about this journey. T.S. Eliot:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all exploring

Will be to arrive where we have started

And know the place for the first time

Habito, discussing the four vows of the Bodhisattva, and addressing the third vow:

THE ENLIGHTENDED WAY IS UNSURPASSABLE.

I VOW TO EMBODY IT
States, "The vow to accomplish the peerless, unsurpassable way of enlightenment is simply the vow to realize one's very own True Self. We are not in search of something out there beyond our present reach. We are not on a journey toward some place far off.
It is right before us, here, now..." 
This journey leads us back to ourselves, back to where we started. The difference is we are able to SEE.


The question for me is, "How do I actualize this SEEING?


Maybe by just being conscious of my next breath.


Bows,
Alan

THE ANGO TANGO- COME DANCE WITH US! - INSTRUCTIONS TO THE COOK

We begin another dance with Dogen in Feburary. As I think of Dosho's presentation in the previous video, Ruben Habito points to this "hands on" Zen that is right in front of us, if we pay attention.

Our lives will end in tragedy if we go astray, looking for the Truth afar, not realizing that it is right here! How unfortunate that we find it hard to see and hear the things that are so close to us.

 Let us listen to these simple facts of our daily living. Our lives come to fruition not in some glorious, idealized future, but with every fact and event right here in the midst of our day-to-day existence.

I think Dosho will be speaking to this in this next 100 day Ango. I am looking forward to the experience. Meanwhile though, I'm just paying attention to this day, this hour, this moment!

Gassho,
Alan

 

Here's An Invitation From Dosho for The Next Ango

Paying Attention to Things I Can Touch

I have been rereading Ruben Habito's Living Zen, Loving God.

In his chapter on The Song of Zazen (written by Hakuin), he makes the following observation about Hakuin:

Hakuin did not write great tomes, but he had a grasp of the intricacies of Buddhist Doctrine and occasionally wrote treatises on various Zen themes. His life, writings, and teachings occasioned a revival of Zen that made it's mark throughout the country of Japan in the succeeding centuries. And yet for all this he was a very practical and pastoral person, concerned with the well being of the people around him, with special concerns for the poor and the sick...

What caught my attention in this little paragraph was, "And yet for all this he was a very practical and pastoral person, concerned with the well being of the people around him..."


This reminded me of how important it is to be intimate with the things you are close enough to touch. This reminded me how important it is to pay attention where you are with compassion and loving kindness and maybe this practice can ripple out beyond your touch, and in some small way, change the world.

Gassho,

Alan

Looking thru Lentils

It's always recommended that you wash your lentils and look for "foreign" objects before you begin to cook. Chomping down on a nice solid little pebble is not good for these sixty year old teeth. As you can see, not so easy to distinguish the bean from the little pebble that may be hiding in there. I didn't find one in these.

It's actually fun looking for those little pebbles. It's rare that I find one but it always feels so satisfying to find one of those little rascals. Truth is, if I don't find one, it kind of leaves me with an empty feeling, like I haven't accomplished the task at hand.

My Zen is like that sometimes. I feel like I am supposed to find something and when I don't, I feel like the task is not complete. But you know, if I am always looking for that little pebble maybe I'm missing the beauty of the lentil right in front of my eyes.

Maybe that is it. Maybe it is about REALLY SEEING what is right there in front of you. Maybe I don't have to LOOK for IT, maybe I just need to SEE what is there.

Now aren't those lentils beautiful?! Pebbles and all!

Bows,

Alan

MEANING, QUALITY, SIGNIFICANCE

Dosho left us with this to ruminate about on our cushions this weekend, as he went off to the Alaska.

I'm off to Anchorage for the weekend in a little bit and am leaving you, dear reader,  something to play with - same thing in brief that we'll be investigating with delight this weekend - the koan of zazen. Here's how Katagiri Roshi put it: 

I often emphasize that zazen is a koan we have to digest in our whole life. Zazen is not the simple issue you have thought. “Simple issue you have thought” means you usually think zazen is a means to discover peace. At that time, you never have the great opportunity to digest zazen exactly in your life….If you misunderstand zazen you misunderstand Buddhism. Even though it is difficult, you have to practice zazen in the appropriate way. That’s why Dogen-zenji wrote ninety-five fascicles of Shobogenzo, explaining the meaning of zazen, the quality of zazen, the significance of zazen.

Sit down, Shut up, look at the wall!

Again, like I mentioned last night, that is the simplicity of this practice. But this simplicity must be wrapped in Meaning, Quality and Significance.

Now our normal western minds would say, "Ok, let me just try to figure this thing out, let me try to figure out what the meaning of this "looking at a wall" has for my life, let me just figure out the significance of this and then I will know it's meaning. So let me just think about this for awhile."

NO!

Sit down! Shut up! Look at the wall!

Bows,
Alan