I disagree - in my experience, its pretty clear to me when I'm with my family and when I'm lost in mental abstraction. Certainly its clear to my family.
Zen training can help sustain the presence, but it's not an esoteric paying attention; it's just ordinary paying attention; simple to say, but takes a lot of practice to do. PS My acquaintance Karen Maezen Miller, has written two books which I find to be full of the sort of wisdom one gains from paying attention to ones family, and a lot of the humor and profundity of seeing it clearly. "Momma Zen, walking the Crooked path of motherhood," written when she had a young child, and "Hand Wash Cold" written when she had a medium child and a middle aged marriage. She has another book coming out next year. But I'm curious about your family - is your whole family taking this trip into Buddhism/Zen together, or are you wishing to share it with them? If the former, that seems like your family itself would be able to come up with good ideas on what to do. If the latter, then I'll leave you with the general warning on sharing Zen: don't answer any question until it is asked three times. I sit in front of my kids, and they know what it is, and have heard the Heart Sutra a time or two, but I find it benefits them a lot more for me to master my own reactions and be a bit more aware and kind, than for me to talk about Zen to them. blah blah blah. Your milage may vary, of course, --Chris Thanks, --Chris [email protected] +1-301-270-6524 On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 8:53 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hey Bill!, > > will u please clarify what "being totally with them" means? the mind is > such that your statement could create a myriad of what "just THIS"ness is. > for a beginner or so-believed-mature seeker, your statement is cryptic at > least and false at most... > > Thank you, > TaoSheiFei > > > On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 8:43 PM, Bill! <[email protected]> wrote: > >> ** >> >> >> Amy, >> >> No reading is necessary. When you are with your family just be totally >> with them. That's all you need to do...Bill! >> >> >> --- In [email protected], Amy Lemmon <amylemmon@...> wrote: >> > >> > I am wondering if anyone has any great suggestions for reading and >> resources for a family (multi-age) learning about Zen Buddhism? Thanks >> kindly! >> > >> > >> > With peace, love and kindness, >> > Amy Lemmon >> > amylemmon@... >> > Blog: Six Flower Mom >> > >> >> > > >
