• SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Yes! No! Sometimes! NEVER!



    A friend wrote today confessing that he skips or misses Zazen some days, and finds it easier sometimes to let the Precepts be his guide. He said:

    I may not be able to settle my mind enough to do zazen, but my troubled mind does well working through my vows and precepts. And in that process I often find some sort of answer as to how to be a better Buddhist in my interactions with the world. Often, once I've settled things a bit with the vows and precepts I can get back to doing zazen.
    Wonderful! I have a confession too:

    Do you think I never miss a day of Zazen?? Well, if you mean seated Zazen on the Zafu, yes I miss when life comes up. Just this week, I was getting ready to sit and my wife rushed in with our daughter, shaking with a high fever. I was off to the emergency room in a minute, the Zafu forgotten. Of course, as best I can, I seek to never miss a day ... seeking Such what cannot be sought, each day that is Timeless, never missing What cannot be missed ... the consistently inconsistent, Changeless right though all change ... seeking beyond and right through all seeking, yet seeking nonetheless ...

    ... but sometimes I get called away, or have someplace to be, or just fall asleep, or forget, or just take a day or week off (even monks do that), go to the movies instead or just am too darn lazy. Do I miss many a day? Yes!, (although I seek not to do so, and try not to miss, and resume again the next) I miss MANY a day of seeking Such Not Sought Which Is Never Missing!

    But do you think that I ever miss a day of Zazen?? NEVER! Not a one! Sitting in the emergency room, on the edge of life, I "sat Zazen" even if without the funny round cushion, no sacred mudra, legs straight on the floor comforting my scared and just as sacred daughter. It may not be cross legged facing the wall, but there is not a day, not an hour, when I do not "sit Shikantaza" in life. Allowing life to be even as something cannot be easily allowed ... afraid yet simultaneously living Such Beyond Fear, body shaking as That Unshaken ... hoping for a good outcome, yet simultaneously embodying Such In Which All Comes And Goes, All Outcome Good.

    The Precepts are fundamental, and I seek to live them each day ... but do you think we never miss? Yes!, I miss sometimes ... so many times each day. Well, I usually do not miss too bad (no bank robberies, assaults or murders to my name), but yesterday I did find myself getting too angry about a stupid bookkeeping error in our small translation office! All I could do was realize and release ... let the anger go before the fires burned too hot. Honestly, I got a little burned this time, but soon the fires were out.

    The Precepts are fundamental, but they can never be broken! NEVER! In a moment of Shikantaza ... seeking Such what cannot be sought, each day that is Timeless, never missing What cannot be missed ... the Precepts are all kept, no Precept ever broken in Such Ever Unbroken. Nonetheless, rising from the cushion ... out in the world ... one does as one can never to break a Precept. (In fact, when the mind is filled with excess greed, anger and divisive thoughts of ignorance, darn hard to "sit Shikantaza" and know Such Which Can Never Be Broken!).

    Did Dogen ever miss a day of Zazen? Did Dogen ever break the Precepts? (I would ask the same of all the Ancestors, even the historical Buddha himself ... although the biographies have all been polished up and the misses erased). I would say, in my guess knowing what a human being is ...

    ... sometimes (when life came up) YES! and (for certainly there was not a day in which thy did not apply the Buddhist Teachings) NO! and (seeking Such what cannot be sought, each day that is Timeless, never missing What cannot be missed. NEVER!

    Yes! No! Sometimes! NEVER! This is our sincere Zen Way of Practice-Enlightenment. Is that clear??


    Gassho, Jundo
    This article was originally published in forum thread: SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Yes! No! Sometimes! NEVER! started by Jundo View original post
    Comments 35 Comments
    1. Matt's Avatar
      Matt -
      Thank you for this teaching, Jundo.

      Deep bows,
      Matt J
    1. Kaiku's Avatar
      Kaiku -
      Thank you

      Gassho
      Bobby
    1. Risho's Avatar
      Risho -
      Thank you Jundo.

      Nonattachment. I just mastered it. hahahahhhhha


      Gassho,

      Risho
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo -
      But .... during times of concentrated Practice such as during our current Washington Retreat, there are times to sit intently and long, not missing or slacking off. One sits morning to night, just sitting grappling with the "me myself i" ... sitting hard and long all to attain "nothing to attain".

      This week is such a time. I sometimes write this ...

      While here we encourage daily sitting of but a few minutes a day if ... ... meeting each instant of sitting as an expression of All-Time and Being ...


      http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...%28Part-XXI%29


      ... we also request, if at all possible, that folks join in with a group one longer residential "Sesshin" per year of from 3 to 7 days eacy year ...


      Now, someone might ask too, "if each moment is all time and space, what is the purpose of an intensive Sesshin?" Well, I often say that, sometimes, we need to practice a bit long and hard, morning to night ... sitting and wrestling with 'me, my self and I' ... all to attain Nothing to Attain! Going to Retreats, Sesshin and such is a powerful facet of this Practice and not to be missed.
      Gassho, Jundo
    1. Byokan's Avatar
      Byokan -
      Thank you Jundo

      Gassho
      Lisa
      sat today
    1. Jakuden's Avatar
      Jakuden -
      Another treasure dug up by Lisa Thank you!

      Gassho,
      Sierra
      SatToday
    1. Jika's Avatar
      Jika -
    1. GregJanL's Avatar
      GregJanL -
      Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
      A cartoon from the great "Dharma the Cat" series. (Google it if you don't know) ...



      a couple more ...







      Gassho, J
      Jundo,

      Is the last one a playful stab from the cat to the monk about 'up' or is my disenchantment towards human centric bias in some buddhism actually recognized as legitimate?

      I'm going to have a honest moment and say I roll my eyes silently when people harp 'Precious human birth' as if we're the entitled snowflake species and then follow with compassion for all sentient beings..but always with the tinge we are a exxxtra special and more worthy of compassion bit of interbeing.

      I like buddhism, most of it and this is one of the things I just never really bought and don't discuss because of not willing to cause 'rifts' in people that may or may not get it and I may win the debate but not be right because the counterpoint to prove me wrong might not have been made.

      Read somewhere that all beings can reach enlightenment but only humans are most positioned to do so. "all roads lead to the capital but everyone won't take the trip". I can't directly communicate in a deep way with a kitty for example to determine if some of their actions aren't nonsense but bodhisattva practices I don't have the sense to get or if the cat completely suffers from the three poisons.

      I'm not one of those antihuman people but I did see and was the recipent of more kindness from animals at times then humans.

      Metta,
      Greg

      SatToday

      Sent from my SCH-R530M using Tapatalk
    1. Myosha's Avatar
      Myosha -
      Hello,

      All in/with Buddha-nature are enlightened. Just realize it.

      No charge.^^


      Gassho
      Myosha sat today
    1. Onka's Avatar
      Onka -
      Before I started sitting Zazen and reading more than just bits and pieces about Buddhism I tended to (and continue) to attract and be attracted to misfits and rebels. Listening to, talking with and supporting others has always come easy to me, even before my university qualifications. I've often been known to use the phrase perfectly imperfect to describe friends who live with the challenges associated with mental illness or brains that aren't neuro-typical. I fit into the categories above myself but for some reason am less likely to be accepting of my own perceived failings. Jundo and my Sisters and Brothers here at Treeleaf remind me that I'm perfectly imperfect and that's ok. I do what I can when I can how I can.
      Be kind to each other and look after yourselves.
      Thanks Jundo.
      Anna.

      Sat today
      Lent a hand
    1. Shōnin Risa Bear's Avatar
      Shōnin Risa Bear -
      "Be kind to each other and look after yourselves."

      _()_ _()_ _()_

      gassho
      doyu sat today
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo -
      Quote Originally Posted by Anna View Post
      Before I started sitting Zazen and reading more than just bits and pieces about Buddhism I tended to (and continue) to attract and be attracted to misfits and rebels. Listening to, talking with and supporting others has always come easy to me, even before my university qualifications. I've often been known to use the phrase perfectly imperfect to describe friends who live with the challenges associated with mental illness or brains that aren't neuro-typical. I fit into the categories above myself but for some reason am less likely to be accepting of my own perceived failings. Jundo and my Sisters and Brothers here at Treeleaf remind me that I'm perfectly imperfect and that's ok. I do what I can when I can how I can.
      Be kind to each other and look after yourselves.
      Thanks Jundo.
      Anna.

      Sat today
      Lent a hand
      Oh, thank you for letting me revisit this old talk. Apparently, I am a broken record, repeating the same messages these days as long ago.

      Gassho, Jundo

      STLah
    1. Tai Do's Avatar
      Tai Do -
      Quote Originally Posted by Anna View Post
      Before I started sitting Zazen and reading more than just bits and pieces about Buddhism I tended to (and continue) to attract and be attracted to misfits and rebels. Listening to, talking with and supporting others has always come easy to me, even before my university qualifications. I've often been known to use the phrase perfectly imperfect to describe friends who live with the challenges associated with mental illness or brains that aren't neuro-typical. I fit into the categories above myself but for some reason am less likely to be accepting of my own perceived failings. Jundo and my Sisters and Brothers here at Treeleaf remind me that I'm perfectly imperfect and that's ok. I do what I can when I can how I can.
      Be kind to each other and look after yourselves.
      Thanks Jundo.
      Anna.

      Sat today
      Lent a hand

      Mateus
      Sat today
    1. Tairin's Avatar
      Tairin -

      Tairin
      Sat today and lah
    1. Chikyou's Avatar
      Chikyou -


      Gassho
      SatLah
      Kelly