april 2007

POINTER

Heaven and earth are narrow; sun, moon, and stars all at once
go dark. Even if blows of the staff fall like rain and shouts roll
like thunder, you still haven't lived up to the task of the fun-
damental vehicle of transcendence. Even the Buddhas of the
three times can only know it for themselves; the successive
generations of patriarchs have not been able to bring it up in its
entirety. The treasury of teachings of the whole age cannot
explain it thoroughly; clear eyed patchrobed monks cannot
save themselves completely. When you get here, how will you
ask for more instruction? To say the word “Buddha” is trailing
mud and dripping water; to say the word “Ch′an” is a face full
of shame. Superior people who have studied for a long time do
not wait for it to be said; latecoming beginners simply must
investigate and apprehend it.

∼ translated by Thomas Cleary & J.C Cleary

I guess I went into a sort of hibernation over the winter. Spring seems to be in the process of arriving, some days more than others. I was a bit busy, however.

Last week, I attended my first sesshin, Saturday to Saturday, spending a mostly silent week over at Beginner's Mind temple in San Francisco. There was lots of time spent sitting on my black cushion, staring at the wall, watching mind-movies unreel. We had formal oryoki meals in the zendo, and I got to hone both my oryoki eating skills as well as develop new ways to embarass myself serving lunch. Actually, that part went fairly well, under the watchful tutelage of our Soku and our Head Server. We made a pretty good crew, and had lots of fun together.

The sesshin ended last Saturday with a Shuso-leaving ceremony, duly documented here. And if you know who you are looking for, you might even see moi.