{"id":27205,"date":"2020-05-08T11:10:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T18:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=27205"},"modified":"2020-05-08T11:10:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T18:10:54","slug":"zen-in-five-minutes-what-about-visions-on-the-spiritual-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2020\/05\/zen-in-five-minutes-what-about-visions-on-the-spiritual-path.html","title":{"rendered":"Zen in Five Minutes: WHAT ABOUT VISIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the cool things about her for me, anyway, is that we know almost nothing about Julian, we don\u2019t even know what her real name was. What we have is her record of a series of visions and her reflections on them, the Revelations of Divine Love.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell Julian divined three things out of those visions. One, maybe the most important was that there was a great love in the universe, something that appeared to be able to overcome even hell. Second, she saw that sin was in fact ignorance. And third was her imagery of the divine, where both God and Jesus were feminine. A totally lovely, lovely version of Christianity. A mystical expression with a cornucopia of practical possibilities following.<\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nAnd. In Zen, we are past suspicious of visions. In fact, it\u2019s Zen teacher 101, that when someone comes with a vision to say, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, they will pass.\u201d<\/p>\nThe name for visions in Zen, is makyo. Makyo literally means a ghost or a devil cave. I\u2019ve seen the term freely rendered as \u201cdiabolic interference.\u201d And some of my most important guides in the Zen way, Hakuin immediately comes to mind, had numerous visions along their way.<\/p>\nOn my own spiritual path, I\u2019ve had a number of my own visionary experiences. The one that most rises in my heart as I tell this is how many years ago during an intensive Zen meditation retreat having a vision of Jesus walking toward me, his hands, palm to palm together like the Christian prayer mudra, Hindu namaste, or Zen\u2019s gassho, and saying, \u201cI have a great gift for you.\u201d My immediate thought was of my childhood Jesus, the one with all the little children. And I felt waves of love washing over me. Then. He spreads his hands to reveal those infamous bleeding wounds. A terrible visceral fear leapt into my throat, as he then grasped my own hands with those bleeding hands.<\/p>\nAnd, with that the pain of worlds birthing and dying ran from his wounds into what are now mine. And it was over. I was back in the meditation hall. My hands hurt for weeks. Actually, I can still touch an echo of that hurt.<\/p>\nNow. I take it as makyo. Full on. With all that makyo means. And. It isn\u2019t a matter of subtraction, not this, not this, finally coming to some irreducible final hard truth. Rather it\u2019s noticing each thing that presents is partial. True. But only from one angle. And, slippery, as well. The path, our path, you know, the human one is receiving one partial truth after another. And, if we\u2019re fortunate, in the process discovering some mysterious dream reality, that at least echoes the truest true. But its less some philosophy, and way more some being with which we find ourselves wrestling. Wrestling through the night and into the dawn. All of it bringing some mysterious blessing.<\/p>\nIn my own life that encounter is now a story, now polished with the retelling. So, I don\u2019t take it seriously. Well, I do. That\u2019s not quite the right language. I take that vision deadly seriously. The wrestling match continues. But I also hold it lightly. I hold it as part of a world of experiences. It is part of who I am. And, in that part I see into something mysterious and true.<\/p>\nWhat my encounter with vision with makyo does more me more than anything is lead me into the ways of not knowing.<\/p>\nJulian\u2019s most famous words, \u201call shall be well, and all shall we well, and all manner of things shall be well\u201d reminds me of Yunmen\u2019s great koan, \u201cEvery day is a good day.\u201d As with Yunmen those words come in the midst of war and starvation. A koan, an invitation delivered in the midst of much hurt.<\/p>\nI find these true pointings. All of them.<\/p>\nSo, my small take away on encountering visions, on encountering makyo.<\/p>\nConsider your encounters in the world as one makyo after another. Remember, this too, will pass. (And, yes, as the wag says, it may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.)<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re seeking the wise heart, accept the disruption of what you might ordinarily consider \u201creal.\u201d Don\u2019t chase after it. But rather let it come to you. And when it comes, if it comes, hold it all lightly. Sincerely, passionately even. But let don\u2019t squeeze the life out of it. Hold with open hands.<\/p>\nOur Zen way.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s-sTbvkY_l4\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n(The icon of Julian of Norwich is by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trinitystores.com\/artist\/br-robert-lentz-ofm\/ecumenical-icons\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Robert Lentz<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zen in Five Minutes WHAT ABOUT VISIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH? James Ishmael Ford In the Christian calendar today is the feast of one of my favorite spiritual teachers, Julian of Norwich. One of the cool things about her for me, anyway, is that we know almost nothing about Julian, we don\u2019t even know what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1682,1679,1676,8],"class_list":["post-27205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-julian-of-norwich","tag-makyo","tag-visions","tag-zen"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Zen in Five Minutes: WHAT ABOUT VISIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zen in Five Minutes WHAT ABOUT VISIONS ON THE SPIRITUAL PATH? 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