Zen Pioneer<\/em> really is an important contribution to the history of Zen\u2019s foundations in the West. I hope people read it.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s now a tad shy of six thirty in the morning and I\u2019m trying to take care of those last minute (literally) things I\u2019m now thinking of before I drive off for Chicago and the real beginning of my sabbatical. I\u2019d considered three routes, one through Montreal & Toronto, another just through Toronto and the third sticking to route 90 all the way from Boston. My back is acting up (I have a triple diagnosis: an inclination to herniation, degenerative disk disease & if it weren\u2019t for arthritis I would barely have a spine\u2026) so alternative one is now official off the table. I\u2019ll decide late this afternoon whether I\u2019ll be driving through Toronto or not.<\/p>\n
As to the title of this rumination. Gone, gone\u2026 is the usual translation of the mantra that ends Zen\u2019s fave chant the Heart Sutra<\/a>, Gate (pronounced got teh), gate, para gate. Parasam gate. Bodhi svaha: Gone, gone, gone beyond. Gone completely beyond. Hurray (or maybe that\u2019s Amen)! My old teacher Jiyu Kennett was fond of saying the tense isn\u2019t at all clear and it could just as easily be translated as going, going, always going on beyond. Going beyond. Hurray (or perhaps Amen)!<\/p>\nWhile the Boundless Way Zen groups use the more conventional translation of gone, I always remember that dynamic view. <\/p>\n
Here we are on our way.<\/p>\n
On our way.<\/p>\n
Hurray!<\/p>\n
Or, perhaps that\u2019s Amen\u2026<\/p>\n
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