Wild Fox Zen
That’s the first of the four reliances, along with these: rely on the spirit, not the letter; rely on the definitive meaning not the interpretive meaning; and rely on nondual wisdom, not discriminating consciousness.
All of the latter three depend on the first one – rely on the teaching. The personality and body of any teacher is unreliable. We’re all bozos on the bus and we’re all going to get sick and die. What any student must do is to digest the teaching of their teacher so that the buddhadharma can continue. No excuses matter in that.
And when the teacher is sick or unavailable or when the relationship changes as all relationships do, that’s when the rubber hits the road. With minimal time spent moaning and groaning about your loss, pick up your practice and your life and get going. You know who I’m talking to.
Knowing that there’s nowhere to go, of course.
That’s my take-away from Omaha in a nut shell.
And a little more … I really like the group of practitioners that Nonin has gathered in Omaha. They are a generous and devoted group. I deeply enjoy working with them in formal dharma settings and I especially like going out for dinner and staying up and talking. Okay, I confess, with beverages.
Nonin, pictured above next to the ugly guy, is mending – more slowly than he’d like, but he’s mending. He has been an enormously important person in my life for almost 30 years and I hope that he and his community know that they can call on me any time.
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