As readers of this blog know I belong to several listservs. Among these I belong to two listservs for Zen teachers. One is \u201cschool specific,\u201d and is therefore somewhat more parochial. Although I hasten to add I really appreciate it. The other, however, includes teachers from all the well-known lineages of all schools, as well as most of the less-well known, which are represented on this continent. And, it is the one I have to admit I often find most interesting.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a lot of action on that list recently regarding the fires in California, where there are so many Zen centers and temples and monasteries. Right now Tassajara, Mt Baldy, Ring of Bone and Shasta Abbey all have had brushes with fire.<\/p>\n
In addition to this one of the senior teachers in North America was recently diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the response to these events that generate this reflection.<\/p>\n
Those responses have been expressions of concern and specifically, assurances of chanting and other forms of petition to the deeper forces of the universe (can I say God in this context?).<\/p>\n
Out of that, a couple of thoughts. First something from the west. And then a little on that \u201cchanting\u201d thing. And woven into it all, some reflection on the mystery of causal relationships.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m deeply moved by the Serenity Prayer which most of us know through the work of Alcoholics Anonymous. Its deep origins are probably the collective insight of the human condition. The sentiment appears first in English, best we can tell, as a seventeenth century Mother Goose Nursery rhyme.<\/p>\n
For every ailment under the sun
There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try to find it;
If there be none, never mind it.<\/p>\n
The Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr acknowledges, how it \u201cmight have been spooking about for years, perhaps centuries, but I don\u2019t think so. I honestly believe that I wrote it myself.\u201d I\u2019m confident both statements are true. It is ancient wisdom. And Niebuhr put it to the words we mostly think of when we think of the need to walk a harmonious middle way between action and surrender in the face of what is.<\/p>\n
God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
courage to change the things that should be changed,
and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course the AA version we mostly know, the one that people in all sorts of situations have found to provide comfort and guidance is:<\/p>\n
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure whether I like serenity or grace best. A worthy reflection all by itself, I\u2019m sure. Whatever, I find these words very helpful, a serious pointer to sorting things out, to seeing what can and what cannot be done, and going a long way to both taking action and letting be.<\/p>\n
And I find myself thinking about the specifics of these various events, including raging forest fires and the harsh reality of cancer. And where our decisions about what to do or not fit in here. My Zen clergy friends, in the face of these things, many of them, offer up chanting. Specifically the chant verses associated with the Bodhisattva Guanyin, in Japanese pronunciation, Kanzeon.<\/p>\n
This is an old favorite for Zen types, chanting an appeal to Kanzeon in times of distress. I\u2019ve not always liked this chant, it smacks a little too much of my childhood appeals to Jesus to have my fat pulled out of various fires. But, in recent years I\u2019ve mellowed a bit, and take some atavistic comfort in the practices. In fact, we do a version of it at most all our regular Zen group meetings.<\/p>\n
In our Boundless Way sanghas the version we use goes like this:<\/p>\n
Enmei Jikku Kannon Gyo
(The Eight-Line Kanzeon Sutra)<\/p>\n
(In Sino-Japanese)<\/p>\n
Kan ze on
na mu butsu
yo butsu u en
yo butsu u en
buppo so en
jo raku ga jo
cho nen kan ze on
bo nen kan ze on
nen nen ju shin ki
Nen nen fu ri shin<\/p>\n
(Followed by an English \u201crendering.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Kanzeon!
One with the Buddha,
Directly Buddha,
Indirectly Buddha.
One with Buddha, Dharma<\/a>, Sangha.
Joyful, pure, eternal being!
Morning mind, Kanzeon.
Evening mind, Kanzeon.
Mind of this moment, Kanzeon.
There is nothing but this.<\/p>\n
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