When we give ourselves to our situation we're letting go of preferences and habits and trusting what's in front of us, with faith that it will provide the wisdom we need.  To truly be responsible is to recognize that reality is smarter than we are.

-- from Taking Our Places, by Norman Fischer p. 28

Cutting Loose

Cutting Loose

by William Stafford

 

Sometimes from sorrow, for no reason,
you sing. For no reason,
you accept
the way of being lost, cutting loose
from all else and electing
a world
where you go where you want to.

Arbitrary, a sound comes, a
reminder
that a steady center is holding
all else. If you listen, that
sound
will tell you where it is and you
can slide your way past
trouble.

Certain twisted monsters
always bar the path — but that’s
when
you get going best, glad to be lost,
learning how real it is
here
on earth, again and again.

"Today" by Mary Oliver

Today I'm flying low and I'm
not saying a word.
I'm letting all of the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.

But I'm taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I'm traveling
a terrific distance.

Stillness.  One of the doors
into the temple.

-- Mary Oliver, from A Thousand Mornings

Hanna Somatics

 A relaxed muscle has absolutely no electrical activity in it.  Full voluntary control of  a muscle is the ability both to contract the entire span of the muscle and to relax it fully to its entire length.

The chronically contracted muscle is like a motor that one cannot turn off.  It continues to run and burn up energy.

This is why muscles with a high tonus are always sore.

-- from Somatics, by Thomas Hanna p.13

No preparation for something else

Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature.  That is our practice.

If you want to express yourself, your true nature, there should be some natural and appropriate way of expression.  Even swaying right and left as you sit down or get up from zazen is an expression of yourself.  It is not preparation for practice, or relaxation after practice; it is part of the practice.  So we should not do it as if we were preparing for something else.  This should be true in your everyday life.  To cook, or to fix some food, is not preparation, according to Dogen; it is practice.

We should appreciate what we are doing.  There is no preparation for something else.

There is no need to remember what I say; there is no need to understand what I say.  You understand; you have full understanding within yourself.  There is no problem.

-- from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind p. 53-55

Calmness in activity

Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity.  Real calmness should be found in activity itself.  We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness."

I do not feel like speaking after zazen.  I feel the practice of zazen is enough.  But if I must say something I think I would like to talk about how wonderful it is to practice zazen.  Our practice is just to keep this practice forever.  This practice started from beginningless time, and it will continue into an endless future.  Strictly speaking, for a human being there is no other practice than this practice.  There is no other way of life than this way of life.  Zen practice is the direct expression of our true nature.

-- from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki p. 46-47

Unexciting way of practice

Zen is not something to get excited about.  Some people start to practice Zen just out of curiosity, and they only make themselves busier.  If your practice makes you worse, it is ridiculous.

Our unexciting way of practice may appear to be very negative.  This is not so.  It is a wise and effective way to work on ourselves.  It is just very plain.

When your mind is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment.

-- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind p. 58-59