as an aside:
i have never been to zen mountain monastery in upstate new york, but do know some who have resided & practiced there for long periods (i.e., years). they are not vegetarians. i am told that, at each meal, they repeat this: "i vow to repay the lives i am consuming with my practice to save all beings". certainly when i've eaten with them (outside the monastery), they've repeated this vow before eating. it is an acceptance that things are the way they are. death, killing, & all. we need to eat. sometimes that means we have to kill, plants as well as animals. this is the nature of our lives. my sense is, by watching & sitting with practitioners from ZMM, that part of what practice involves is the difficult examination of ALL of our conditioning. the "shoulds", "must be"s, "couldn't possibly be"s, "that's just wrong!" -- all of those thoughts come from our conditioning. this discussion itself is an interesting exposure of our different conditionings. practice is not easy, is it. i don't find it to be. don't take my word for it, i'm not a teacher. i hardly practice, really. - elk ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WwRTUD/SOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> 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/
