{"id":11757,"date":"2023-03-27T08:14:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T14:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=11757"},"modified":"2023-03-27T10:55:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T16:55:33","slug":"intimate-knowing-how-to-work-with-thinking-in-zazen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2023\/03\/intimate-knowing-how-to-work-with-thinking-in-zazen.html","title":{"rendered":"Intimate Knowing: How To Work With Thinking In Zazen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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In our ongoing <\/span>Vine of Obstacles Zen<\/span><\/a> practice period focussing on the teaching of Keizan Jokin Zenji (1261-1325), a fourth generation master in Japan, we see that a great deal of his teaching simply points to how to do <\/span>it<\/span> \u2013 Zen practice-awakening. <\/span>And Keizan also exudes a particular tone, like a radio frequency, that we are also steeping ourselves in \u2013 provisionally, I\u2019d describe it as \u201cfriendly luminosity.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For example, how should a practitioner work most skilly with thinking? Keizan (as translated by William M. Bodiford) says,<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cSimply know [your thoughts] intimately, analyze them intimately, then temporarily cut them off, sit for a while, and look!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cIntimately\u201d is such an important element of our Zen way. Here it means closely and personally, and also it has a sense of occurring in the context of family, friends, dharma<\/a> friends, and all the so-called things of the world.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cAnalyze\u201d might seem surprising. In this context it <\/span>doesn\u2019t<\/span> mean to sit and think about what\u2019s coming up in a philosophical or psychoanalytic or dharmababblical (that\u2019s a new word \ud83d\ude42 manner. With this \u201canalyze\u201d translation, you might think that old Keizan is recommending that you wash mud with mud. Or it might just be the analytical scholarly mind of the translator that\u2019s making that recommendation.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Click here<\/a> to support my Zen teaching practice at Patreon of which translations and writings like this are one facet. You will also find an advertisement free version of this post there.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Indeed, the primary meaning of the character used here for \u201canalyze,\u201d \u89e3, is \u201cto liberate\u201d and also \u201cto loosen, unfasten, untie.\u201d As in,\u00a0untying karmic knots. So rather than analyzing thoughts, intimately unravel them.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cTemporarily,\u201d or \u201cfor the time being,\u201d is also an important detail in these instructions. Thoughts are not the enemy. They are truly also an expression of the one bright pearl. However, thoughts certainly can cloud the heart mind, making a whole and open-hearted embodiment of luminosity unlikely. So for now, cut thoughts off.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The phrase quoted above, then, could be alternately be rendered, \u201cIntimately know, intimately loosen thoughts, and for now cut them off, sit, and look!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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D\u014dsh\u014d Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teaches with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach Sensei, with Vine of Obstacles Zen<\/a>, an online training group. D\u014dsh\u014d received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri R\u014dshi and inka sh\u014dmei from James My\u014dun Ford R\u014dshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is also the author of Keep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri<\/a><\/i>. D\u014dsh\u014d\u2019s translation and commentary on The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,<\/em><\/a> was published in 2021 (Shambhala). His\u00a0third book, Going Through the Mystery\u2019s One Hundred Questions<\/em><\/a>, is now available. Click here<\/a> to support the teaching practice of D\u014dsh\u014d R\u014dshi.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Intimately know, intimately loosen thoughts, and for now cut them off, sit, and look!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":11760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,516,75],"class_list":["post-11757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-keizan","tag-thinking-in-meditation","tag-zazen"],"yoast_head":"\nIntimate Knowing: How To Work With Thinking In Zazen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Intimately know, intimately loosen thoughts, and for now cut them off, sit, and look!"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2023\/03\/intimate-knowing-how-to-work-with-thinking-in-zazen.html\" \/>\n<meta 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