Hello Everyone,

Welcome to our reading of ZEN SEEDS, REFLECTIONS OF A FEMALE PRIEST by Rev. Shundo Aoyama.

I am to make an "INTRODUCTION" here. Since my copy of the book does not have a section called "INTRODUCTION", I guess that means I should just say something!

Rev. Aoyama is well known in the Zen Buddhist world in Japan. She is the Chief Priest of the Aichi Semmon Niso-do, one of the main (and few) training monasteries for women in Soto Zen in Japan. She was a student of Kodo Sawaki Roshi and Uchiyama Roshi, who are each very cherished in our corner of the Soto world. If you would like to see a little video about Aoyama Roshi's life and work at her monastery, here it is (soundtrack in French and Japanese) ...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg70tq ... 2-2_webcam

Now, folks will be taking turns each week to start off the discussions. Here is what I suggest you do:

Just write a paragraph or two, or more or less, about something in the essay that actually had relevance to your life and practice. Maybe toss out a couple of questions to get the discussion rolling. Folks can then talk about that, or anything they want regarding the essay though.

Let me try to do that today with the first two essays:

P. 11

Imagine this big river constantly flowing flowing flowing ... river of life ...

I once crashed into an alligator in the Everglades in Florida while paddling a canoe (true story). I wrote this:

True Story. Visiting Florida last week, in a canoe on the Loxahatchee river, my wife at the front, me in back paddling, wind comes up suddenly and blows us sideways toward the muddy bank ... right into the backside of a sleeping 4-foot alligator. (Now, it's not so easy to hit a gator, even in the Everglades with lots scattered about. Just, I suppose, where chance brought all of us) Gator is none too pleased, you know. Bangs the little boat with his tail a couple of times, lets out a mean roar, shows some teeth, scampers away into the tall grass.

Shaken, but still afloat, we steer the canoe back to the center of the channel and proceed with our journey ... rather glad he was not a 5-foot gator, rather glad we hit the backside and not the front.

Suddenly, whole meaning of this Zen thing is clear. (For those not picking up the literary symbolism, gator represents the problems of life, river is life, the wind is fate, a balanced canoe - equanimity of body and mind, a disturbed vessel a disturbed mind, the paddling is just moving forward. My wife represents my wife.) Here goes:

In the canoe of life, you, your wife, the canoe, the paddle, the river, the alligator, the grass, the mosquitoes and the whole damn Everglades are just One Great Swamp. Accept all alligators, and seek to embrace their existence, for they -- and you too -- are the life of the river. But, at the moment your canoe crashes into the alligator's backside, try explaining that to the alligator ... or to yourself (or to your wife in the front of the boat, also baring her teeth). It is okay to paddle furiously to get away, if that is possible.

(If not possible, practice famous Zen parable about plucking a strawberry when chased over cliff by hungry tiger)
...

In the canoe of life, you may not know who (if any "who") made the canoe, the river, you, your wife, the gator, etc. etc., the Whole Darn Swamp. But, here you find yourself, in life's canoe, with a paddle, heading down that river. River runs before you, seems like you came from behind. You do not know why (if any "why"). What to do?

.... Just paddle paddle, sometimes drift drift, try to stay in the middle of the channel.

Oh, and where possible, avoid gators.
QUESTION: MAYBE DESCRIBE A TIME IN YOUR LIFE YOU FLOWED WITH LIFE'S EVENTS LIKE A RIVER. MAYBE A TIME YOU FELT LIKE YOU WERE SWIMMING AGAINST THE CURRENT.

P. 13

Although we should not judge a book by its cover, we can tell much from a face ... peaceful face ...



... stressed face ...



... angry face ...



QUESTION: LOOK AT YOUR OWN FACE IN THE MIRROR FOR A MINUTE. DESCRIBE THE KIND(S) OF FACE YOU SEE.

ALSO, CAN YOU FIND THE FACE BEFORE YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER WERE BORN?

Gassho, J