The Essence of Zazen - and Life

     "Zazen is the practice and realization of manifesting our body as Bodhi, as enlightenment. It is both the practice and the realization, for when we truly do zazen, there is no distinction between practice and realization. It is wisdom as is, as things are. This zazen, the practice of the Buddha Way, is none other than the practice of one's life.
     The best way to practice is to forget the self. By forgetting the self, we can appreciate our life not in the narrow, restricted, isolated way that we usually live but rather as a life of unity, a life that is unsurpassable. Another way to explain what we mean by forgetting the self is that we are transcending the subject-object relationship or the I-Other relationship. We are transcending duality."

       Adapted from "Appreciate Your Life: The Essence of Zen Practice" by Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Shambhala, 2002.
       Shambhala Sun, May 2015                      www.lionsroar.com/category/shambhala-sun/

Yeow Kwang Yeo FRPS   www.dpreview.com

Patterns, Momentum ... & Beyond

     It's such a relief & joy to climb out of the swamp of self-concern, if only periodically. So refreshing to see the recurrent patterns of one's own (& to some extent others') life from a bit of an objective distance. No longer to be continuously sucked along without choice in the momentum of one's small individual life, but released from the gravitational force of the tiresome planet "me".
     Our only freedom of choice is really to see clearly the recurrent pattern, and break free of repeating automatically, slave-like, our habitual reactions to repetitive inputs - endless re-runs of "Groundhog Day".
     Personal evolution of consciousness is much like the human race learning to fly by repeatedly crashing to the ground, yet persevering - trying more & more reasonable ways of flying free of earth's gravity. We transcend our limitations, we evolve, despite repeated failures, our trajectory is well beyond our present ability to imagine ...
     Precisely what Goldstein was saying: http://www.johnlovas.com/2014/01/seeing-clearly.html

Girl with Flowers by Odilon Redon

Porousness, Heart Opening, Stepping into Emptiness ...

     "To the degree that you relax more into uncertainty and groundlessness, you find your heart opening. Your heart opens to the degree that you can allow difficult situations and step into them. ...
     Meditation is a process of transformation ... as we get older it's very common to become increasingly fixed in our habits. But ... some become more and more flexible and open as they age. Which kind of person do you want to be?
     Often the powerful moment of the spiritual journey is the moment when pain is getting very strong, and we feel we've met our edge and there's no way to pretty it up. ... So at that moment, we can do something different. And by doing something different we can liberate ourselves."

       Pema Chodron, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly, Summer 2013

Richard Lalonde   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/

 

Transcending the Duality of Agency & Communion

     "Agency is about getting ahead, dispositions that individuate and advance the self; communion is about getting along, dispositions that contribute to a social collective. ... “The villain is unmitigated agency. The moral imperative is to try to mitigate agency with communion."

     "agency and communion are, for most people, modular — psychologically, one is active at any given time; their integration is the exception. What the virtuous have done that other leaders have not is reconciled the duality of human existence."
        Frimer JA et al. Hierarchical Integration of Agency and Communion: A Study of Influential Moral Figures. J Pers 2012; DOI 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00764.x

     “Agentic heroes separate to fight the dragon; only heroes on the higher, mythological level, integrating agency and communion . . . raise their swords to battle the real dragon within.” 

        Nasby W, Reed NW. The inner and outer voyages of a solo circumnavigator: An integrative case study. Journal of Personality 1997; 65: 757–1111.

Fall in Nova Scotia