The Difficulty
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I woke to thoughts of my painting, Summer. I could see the color and minimal brush strokes. I wanted a hazy sort of summer day. I went into the studio and just painted. There are times when things flow. This was one of them. While I titled the painting Summer my partner thought it could as easily be Mountains in which case, the other days post about moving mountains fits nicely.
Our first Tuesday evening Yoga session went well. We had four including me, but excluding Soku Shin (she was home not feeling well). We went through a short list of asanas and were done in about thirty minutes, concluding with a very relaxing savasana.
This was much needed after a difficult discussion regarding Zazen from the fukanzazengi. It is so hard to communicate the gestalt of Zazen. When Dogen says Zazen has nothing to do with sitting or walking, it becomes an invitation to see the Buddhas dialectic at play. Its like saying painting has nothing to do with paint, brush, canvas, or subject.
Do these things make painting? No. Does the action with them make painting? Not exactly. Painting is that, to be sure, but it is also so much more than that. What is this larger painting? Just so, show me the global Zazen! We sat down together, faced the wall, and opened our grasp.
Be well.
PS. Today at the Temple we will do Yoga at 3:00 PM, Tai Chi Chih at 6:00 PM, and Zazen at 7:00 PM. I look forward to seeing you there if you can make it.
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning I woke to thoughts of my painting, Summer. I could see the color and minimal brush strokes. I wanted a hazy sort of summer day. I went into the studio and just painted. There are times when things flow. This was one of them. While I titled the painting Summer my partner thought it could as easily be Mountains in which case, the other days post about moving mountains fits nicely.
Our first Tuesday evening Yoga session went well. We had four including me, but excluding Soku Shin (she was home not feeling well). We went through a short list of asanas and were done in about thirty minutes, concluding with a very relaxing savasana.
This was much needed after a difficult discussion regarding Zazen from the fukanzazengi. It is so hard to communicate the gestalt of Zazen. When Dogen says Zazen has nothing to do with sitting or walking, it becomes an invitation to see the Buddhas dialectic at play. Its like saying painting has nothing to do with paint, brush, canvas, or subject.
Do these things make painting? No. Does the action with them make painting? Not exactly. Painting is that, to be sure, but it is also so much more than that. What is this larger painting? Just so, show me the global Zazen! We sat down together, faced the wall, and opened our grasp.
Be well.
PS. Today at the Temple we will do Yoga at 3:00 PM, Tai Chi Chih at 6:00 PM, and Zazen at 7:00 PM. I look forward to seeing you there if you can make it.
