It Is Hard To Speak Of The Depth Of Soto Practice In A
Few Lines Typed On A Cell Phone. I Can Only Say It Has
Worked In My Life In Some Astounding Ways. I Would
Guess The Same Is True For Your Friend. That Does Not
Mean It Is Your Cup Of Tea. If You Find Yourself Drawn
To Something There Then By All Means Persue It. If The
Place Turns You Off Then Move On. Often What Happens
Is More Often That One Dislikes Much Of The
Strangeness But Keeps Going Back Or At Least Thinks
Often Of Going Back. Only You Can Know If This Is True
For You. If This Happens There Begins A Sort Of
Courting Dance. Do You Play Hard To Get? Or Blurt Out
The L Word On The First Meeting? There Is No Rule No
Right Or Wrong Way To Be In This. I Would Suggest You
Be Yourself, If A Teacher Thinks You Are Not
Compatable They Will Use Their Contacts To Help You
Find A Better Match..... As To Putting Down A
Goose..... If When You Open Your Hand If It Does Not
Fall Free, Then It Is Attached To You Somehow. Sit
Down And See If You Can Unhook It.
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], kyukyo
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > If Standing By While Other Beings Needlessly
Suffer
> > Because They Are Not Ready To Leave Is Not Hell I
Do
> > Not Know What Is....
>
> I'd be grateful if you could give me a comment about
putting down a
> bloody goose...
>
> i've been a few times to see a Soto teacher who
lives some distance
> north of me - not because i was looking for a
teacher so much as the
> circumstances arose. a woman in my town opened a
zendo in her home &
> i sat at there for a number of years & was (am) very
grateful that
> she created that opportunity for me to actually
'practice' instead of
> just read about zen. i learned alot from her & felt
indebted to her
> generosity & at the same time grew to feel that her
home was not a
> helpful place for me to be any longer (i currently
sit with another
> group using Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching). over the
time with her, i
> met her teacher, both at local zazenkai's & a couple
of times up at
> the teacher's monastery.
>
> i don't know that i believe in 'enlightenment' - it
just seems that
> given all the pain in the world, that the buddhist
practice seemed to
> offer a good model for how to live (in some sense
studying buddhism
> isn't much different than studying non-violent
methodologies, except
> that there are many more accomplished 'teachers' in
the buddhist
> path).
>
> as accidental as i've made this all out to be - i
guess what i'm
> really stuck on is that i _would_ like to ask her
(or someone) to
> help me with this path. however, i'm embarrassed to
be honest about
> it. while she is a compassionate woman who has had
extensive
> training - i can't seem to get past this sense that
this entire
> practice may be nothing more than just 'pipe-dream'.
i'm not
> grasping Dogen's answer to "if our inherent nature
is so
> compassionate, why are we such mean sob's?" & are
all the 'rigors'
> of the Soto training nothing more than enforcing a
delusion of
> something that isn't really there - like the 'king
with no clothes'.
>
> this seems much too rude to actually say to her - &
very arrogant
> that some old fart who's been sitting a couple of
times a week for a
> few years would question a life time of
study/practice. i suppose if
> i were really ready to seriously learn from this, i
wouldn't have
> these doubts... this entire ramble seems a bit
silly now...
>
> i would still appreciate your thoughts,
> j
>
>
>
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