Not to shortchange Jinkan in any way, but I don't know them personally, so I cannot speak from personal experience. Deep Bows to Jinkan in honor and respect of your path and excellent example.
Kokuu has been a mentor and good friend to me for a few years, and I want to speak to the serious lack of visibility and recognition in traditional Buddhist world concerning acknowledgement of Buddhists with chronic illness and disabilities.
I told my family just last week that one of many reasons why Treeleaf is so special in my life, is because "all of this" (the physical mess that I am) is generally not an obstacle to what I do with Treeleaf. I've been extremely sick and still reclined, reclined and posted, participated in various events at all hours of the day/night/in-between. I've done lots of research and work on projects here at very strange times, and for hours at a time -- all brain work with a broken body. And also lots of sitting in the FSR and with hours of recorded Zazenkai -- because it lets me know that I am not alone, and it helps to take my mind off how I'm feeling sometimes. Then Covid hit me .... still did not stop me, not at Treeleaf.
Why do I mention this? Because if it hadn't been for Kokuu's friendship and powerful influence in my life, watching Kokuu's practice around his limitations, daily life with illness, family, etc., I would not be doing most of what I do now. I wouldn't know it was possible, allowed, even normal! Kokuu has normalized this way of life -- at least for me -- and has helped me to live the Soto Zen way of life with chronic illness in a way that my family has adjusted to also. He has set an example that I will always aspire to reach -- and I know in Soto Zen there is no reaching, no goal, no achieving. But this is the good kind, a different kind. It is so very easy, when living with incurable illness, to fall into depression, to tip over that edge, unless we can work that mindset around and understand that we are more than our physical selves and use our self/non-self (the riddle that is Zen!) for a better purpose. Then what we are "achieving" with our disability is truly the embodiment of the four vows. In refocusing our own mindset and learning to think differently -- accommodating and modifying everything we do -- we are also influencing and helping others in similar ways, and the Compassionate Way spreads.
Everything I have attempted at Treeleaf, all that I have considered, the goals I have set, what I continue to work towards -- I would not have, especially with my "complicated mess" (as my family calls it), had it not been for Kokuu's extraordinary example of what is possible. I promise I'm not turning him into a saint
, but it is very hard to find good role models, mentors, friends who are walking the same special path you are, in an environment (in Buddhism and in life) that refuses to recognize your existence or even acknowledge that you have a voice.
When organizations do not recognize the excellence, talents, and skills in priests like Jinkan and Kokuu, they are also disregarding the populations that these two priests have influenced, taught, guided, and led. This is a most serious discrimination and must be challenged.
I apologize for my very long post. I felt compelled to speak a bit, from long personal experience, and with deep gratitude and respect.
Deep Bows,
meian stlh
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Originally Posted by Meian
