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Thread: Darkness is asking to be loved

  1. #1

    Darkness is asking to be loved

    Dear all

    Some words on the situation in the USA from one of our few western Zen priests who is a person of colour, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel: https://www.lionsroar.com/darkness-i...g-to-be-loved/

    If you are still holding up trying to meditate, I invite you to fall down. Fall down on the earth. Come down here and smell the sweat of terror on your skin, overpowering the scent of agarwood. Come down on all fours and greet the darkness that reeks of death, reaches out its desperate hand and asks to be loved as much as we love the light it gives.

    Come down here on this earth and breathe for those gasping for air. Hear each scream as a bell that never stops ringing. Bury your face in the mud of this intimate place, in this shared disease and tragedy.

    Of course, she is not literally saying that we should not be sitting at this time but pointing out that there is a time for practice and a time to grieve. For many in the African-American and wider community, this is a time for intense grief and she is calling us to join them and feel what they are feeling.

    Our practice is not in ignoring the hard stuff, and the death of George Floyd should be hard for all us, whether we are among those who see our likeness reflected in George's face, or in the face of the police officers and the system of power that supports them.

    Thich Nhat Hanh said that the lotus of compassion will not grow without the mud of life, and the first step in that is to get down amongst the dark and the dirt and become intimate with it.

    Zenju is the author of The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality and Gender. Maybe we should invite her to talk on this?


    Gassho
    Kokuu
    -sattoday/lah-
    Last edited by Kokuu; 06-03-2020 at 04:51 PM.

  2. #2
    Absolutely beautiful, thank you for sharing.

    Gassho,

    Joshua
    SatToday/LaH

    Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

  3. #3


    Gassho, Shinshi

    SaT-LaH
    空道 心志 Kudo Shinshi
    I am just a priest-in-training, any resemblance between what I post and actual teachings is purely coincidental.
    E84I - JAJ

  4. #4
    How wonderful, Kokuu! This piece hit me like nothing else has in long time. I'm at a loss for words and I'm grateful for that.

    If you have nothing to say, now is the time for the deeper silence honed that does not apologize or seeks something kind to say. And yet the deeper silence is not quiet. It whispers in the dark and wakes you from the nightmare.
    I feel this in my bones. I don't know what to say about the injustices being highlighted, I am stunned into silence and that silence is not quiet - it is deafening, it cannot be ignored. While others are inspired to speak out and act out, I am inspired to stare the world in the face and let words fail.

    I was reading the Diamond Sutra again this morning and in it the Buddha says:

    “Subhuti, if you think that the Tathagata realizes the highest, most fulfilled, awakened mind and does not need to have all the marks, you are wrong. Subhuti, do not think in that way. Do not think that when one gives rise to the highest, most fulfilled, awakened mind, one needs to see all objects of mind as nonexistent, cut off from life. Do not think in that way. One who gives rise to the highest, most fulfilled, awakened mind does not say that all objects of mind are nonexistent and cut off from life.”
    To me, this is saying that whatever appears in the mind is just as natural as anything else, and an awakened mind doesn't reject or ignore any of it. When pain, horror, darkness, and misery appear in the mind - those things belong in this world just as much as trees or clouds or stars. The thing is, we don't really spend a lot of time obsessing about trees or clouds or stars and that seems to be the right attitude to also approach the darkness. Neither holding on nor rejecting, just being with it, whatever it is. It's okay to not be okay. Or, as Zenju so beautifully puts it: "Come down here, where the only lullaby tonight will be the sound of your heart drumming the songs you were born with."

    Gassho
    Kyōsen
    Sat|LAH
    橋川
    kyō (bridge) | sen (river)

  5. #5
    Member Yokai's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Location
    Havelock North, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
    Thank you Kokuu

    Gassho, Chris stlah

    Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Member Onka's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Rural Queensland, so-called Australia
    Boom! goes the truth bomb.
    Thanks Kokuu. Powerful stuff.
    Solidarity with anyone anywhere currently challenging oppression in any way it manifests itself. I refuse to sit in judgement on how anyone anywhere chooses to challenge oppression, despite being willing to critique the effectiveness of certain actions.
    Gassho
    Onka
    Sat today
    穏 On (Calm)
    火 Ka (Fires)
    They/She.

  7. #7
    Beautiful. Thank you.

    Krista
    st/lah

  8. #8


    Gassho
    Washin
    st-lah
    Kaidō (皆道) Every Way
    Washin (和信) Harmony Trust
    ----
    I am a novice priest-in-training. Anything that I say must not be considered as teaching
    and should be taken with a 'grain of salt'.

  9. #9
    That's painfully beautiful, thank you Kokuu.

    Gassho
    Heiso
    StLah

    Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

  10. #10


    Gassho/SatToday
    流道
    Ryū Dou

  11. #11
    Thank you.

    Kotei sat/lah today.

    義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.
    Being a novice priest doesn't mean my writing about the Dharma is more substantial than yours. Actually, it might well be the other way round.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Kokuu View Post
    the lotus of compassion will not grow without the mud of life, and the first step in that is to get down amongst the dark and the dirt and become intimate with it.
    Gassho
    Van
    Satlah

    Sent from my HD1913 using Tapatalk

  13. #13


    krissy
    sat
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  14. #14
    Thank you

    ST

  15. #15
    Thank you, Kokuu. I'm glad you brought this up on the forum.

    Gassho,
    Onkai
    Sat/LAH
    美道 Bidou Beautiful Way
    恩海 Onkai Merciful/Kind Ocean

    I have a lot to learn; take anything I say that sounds like teaching with a grain of salt.

  16. #16
    Thank you for this Kokuu- both articles make the situation clear.
    Tai Shi
    sat/ lah
    Gassho
    Peaceful Poet, Tai Shi. Ubasoku; calm, supportive, limited to positive 優婆塞 台 婆

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