William, I know you addressed this to Joe but I've done a lot of thinking about this very subject since it's come up before and would like to share my conclusions.
At first you think that 'practice' has two meanings: 1. To perform an activity over and over to get better (as in I practice golf on the driving range) 2. To perform a skill (as in I practice law or medicine) After some thought I think meaning #1 is okay for both and certainly applicable to zen practice. I do perform activities over and over to 'get better' (as in more fully integrate) zen (Buddha Nature) into my daily life. I think both the 'repetitive' aspect and the 'get better' aspect is applicable to both usages of the word. ...Bill! --- In [email protected], William Rintala <brintala@...> wrote: > > Joe: > >      You've mentioned many times the word Practice and you often end > your > messages with the phrase Strong Practice. Would you please define for me > what > you mean by that? To me the word practice means the repetition of something > with > a goal of achieving something. A Tai Chi form or a musical piece or a > dance. > Physicians Practice Medicine and it is a series of functions involving > intellect, intuition, creativity, memory and so forth. When you say that > Shikantaza is your practice, I fall down since no concept of the word > practice > that I have, seems to fit with what we have been saying. When you say > "Strong > Practice" I imagine an extreme effort being given to this task of practicing > and > I again I fall down since effort or someone making the effort needs to be > involved. I'm not trying to be difficult but much of what has been > discussed > here is lost to me by its being obtuse and obscure. > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Joe <desert_woodworker@...> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Fri, April 19, 2013 12:06:26 AM > Subject: [Zen] Re: Hello > >  > Edgar, > > Shikantaza is my practice; 34 years, since. > > I drop *discussion* of the koan so people here can make progress. ;-) > > --Joe > > > Edgar Owen <edgarowen@> wrote: > > > > You avoid the koan! Unless the koan is engaged, progress is not possible... > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
