A small step in the right direction can have a long lasting impact. Over eight-hundred years ago Dogen wrote about the practice of chewing on a plant to clean your teeth not only for the clean teeth, but also for the meditation on wishing others well. Is it possible for us, too, to wish others well as we brush our teeth? What do you think about when you brush your teeth? Can you focus your thoughts on the cleaning? Can you clean the world?
Kensho
顕 照
Do we need institutions? Did we need institutions. I think of the Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, who spent his whole life builing the Plum Village Sangha. His personality carried the Sangha, but he spent time and effort to build an institution and now it is a huge machine that rolls on after him. Were his teachings enough? Were his books enough? What forced him to build more and more?
The answer is yes. We need institutions, rules, and belonging. If not for legitimacy in our own communities, then for our continuation.
Gassho
Kensho
顕 照
In Soto Zen, aspirants will wait outside the gates of a monastery in a tradition known as “Tangaryo” (旦過寮).
Prospective monks sit in meditation outside the gates for an undefined period of time that can last up to a week or more. This demonstrates commitment and sincerity before entering into training. Perhaps this seems like hazing or worse in our current world, but it isn’t too different from the traditions we have.
In junior sports, we make young athletes attend practices for many years and sit and wait before they have their chance to play.
In academics, we make young scholars send out rejected manuscript after rejected manuscript and application after application just to be ignored.
What is your Tangaryo? Are you sitting resolutely waiting for something, or do you just give in and move to the next thing when things get tough? Does the waiting add to the experience? Is it cruel?
Gassho
Kensho
顕 照
This is the story of the Desert Yamabushi. An experimental journal and investigation into the writing process and application of Zen across three human experiences of time: past, present, and future.
For the next year, I will write and reflect on different concepts that go into the creation of a retelling of an account of personal transformation in ungraspable times – the medieval world in a foreign land and the future world in an imaginary one.
I hope to write at least twice a week for the next fifty-two weeks of the year 2025. I can write in addition to those two designated writing times, but I will stick to at least one-hundred writing sessions and record them here.
I may reflect, here, on the idea, build the “brand”, and explore other themes of interest, but this is mostly personal. Public, only because everything is. Thank you for following.
Gassho
Kensho
顕 照