I've been exploring life on and off the zafu - trying to carry the attitude and comportment of zazen beyond thirty or forty minutes of formal sitting into my daily life, so that ultimately, it is all practice. I am particularly sensitive to this as a priest-in-training. My practice has a newness to it, like a newborn opening its eyes for the first time.
Is there a point where the attitude of zazen is not limited to the cushion? Nanao Sakaki was once asked how long per day he sat, and answered "I used to do zazen three to four hours per day - and then while I was brushing my teeth I realized that was zazen too..."
This is not to say that we stop doing "formal" zazen, but at some point life becomes zazen and zazen is life.
As part of my Engaged Projects work, I have been volunteering at a nonprofit art project for adults with disabilities. Through our artistic expression, the (dis) drops away from 'ability' and we discover our common humanity - the only differences we have are the ones we impose with our discriminating minds. This place has become a zendo, a place of practice for me. The walls of my zendo are expanding to include my life's activities and interactions.
I was picking my son up from school today, and I stopped to say hello to the crossing guard. I asked her how she was doing and she did me the privilege of being honest and saying "not so good." When I asked why, she told me her sciatica had been acting up for over a month and walking was painful. Despite this, she has been showing up for crossing guard duty morning and afternoon each day, walking back and forth in the crosswalk, in pain, because "these are my kids."
The gifts and lessons of practice are available to us at all times - not just on the zafu - life living itself. Despite the pain, maybe because of the pain, we find the essential truth. Sometimes we just keep going because that's all we can do.
My Zendo is boundless and wide, like the ocean, like the Dharma.
Deep bows
Yugen
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Originally Posted by Yugen
