{"id":2286,"date":"2014-01-26T12:54:28","date_gmt":"2014-01-26T18:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=2286"},"modified":"2014-01-26T12:54:43","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T18:54:43","slug":"2286","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/01\/2286.html","title":{"rendered":"Cold as Hell!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Cold as hell!<\/p>\n

And just to be clear, for Buddhists using \u201ccold\u201d to describe \u201chell\u201d is not a contradiction. We Buddhists, you see, have cold hells too. Lots of \u2019em.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve got that going for us too.<\/p>\n

As I was saying, though, now it\u2019s -15 wind chill in White Bear, MN, and getting colder. -45 or so by morning so the schools will probably be closed.<\/p>\n

It is so cold that if you walk into the wind for about 3 seconds, your eyebrows will hurt like hell. That\u2019s how cold it is.<\/p>\n

By the way, did you know that the buddhadharma has the mystical power to keep you warm in whatever conditions you might find yourself in?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Well \u2026 first, some background. Thanks! to Vine student Tim for raising this issue.<\/p>\n

In the Genjokoan<\/em> course in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training (click here for more<\/a> \u2013 email me at vineofobstacleszen@gmail.com if you are interested in this training) we unpack this more fully but for now I\u2019ll keep it short.<\/p>\n

In Genjokoan<\/em>, Dogen uses the word \u201ckoan\u201d that is and was common in Zen. \u201cKoan\u201d normally means \u201cpublic case.\u201d\u00a0 But Dogen uses a different character than is usually used for \u201can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dogen\u2019s \u201can\u201d means\u00a0 \u201ckeeping one\u2019s lot.\u201d As the second player in the compound \u201cko-an\u201d it really brings the point home.<\/p>\n

\u201cKo\u201d (or public) is about equalizing inequality, emptying what was thought to be nonempty. That\u2019s one foci.<\/p>\n

By itself, equalizing inequality has a large woo-woo propensity and we might get a bad case of Zen sickness \u2013 using the practice to efface the myriad things, like our own greed, anger, and ignorance and the suffering of the world.<\/p>\n

Without \u201can,\u201d \u201cko\u201d leads to a pernicious view of emptiness, repressing or belittling our direct experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn\u201d \u2013 keeping ones lot \u2013 dynamically balances the practice and points to just how close this<\/em> is, like to this very person, this very thing.<\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t one side and then the other, first equalizing and then keeping ones lot, first emptiness and then form.<\/p>\n

\u201cKoan\u201d is total dynamic working.<\/p>\n

\u201cKoan\u201d is actualizing life and death.<\/p>\n

I remember the story about when Dongshan left Yunyan. \u201cWhat can I tell people to describe you?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Yunyan said, \u201cJust this person.\u201d<\/p>\n

This phrase was used in Chinese courts when the defendant plead guilty. So the dialogue might be rendered,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your true (equalizing the unequal) likeness (keeping one\u2019s lot)?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuilty as charged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because this life, this practice, this koan equalizes inequality, we keep our lot.<\/p>\n

Just this person.<\/p>\n

Guilty as charged.<\/p>\n

How to keep warm on a cold night?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cold as hell!\u201d<\/p>\n

Or like a poet said,<\/p>\n

Though I thought I had cast away the world<\/em>
\n And was without self<\/em>
\n Snowy days are all the colder.<\/em> <\/strong>
\n\u2013 from Yasutani\u2019s\u00a0Flowers Fall<\/em>\u00a0 pp 68, appropriately attributed to \u201cAnonymous\u201d (thanks! to Vine student Janet for pointing this out)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cold as hell! And just to be clear, for Buddhists using \u201ccold\u201d to describe \u201chell\u201d is not a contradiction. We Buddhists, you see, have cold hells too. Lots of \u2019em. So we\u2019ve got that going for us too. As I was saying, though, now it\u2019s -15 wind chill in White Bear, MN, and getting colder. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,12,54],"class_list":["post-2286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dogen","tag-genjokoan","tag-vine-of-obstacles-support-for-online-zen-training"],"yoast_head":"\nCold as Hell!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cold as hell! And just to be clear, for Buddhists using "cold" to describe "hell" is not a contradiction. We Buddhists, you see, have cold hells too. 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