{"id":231,"date":"2009-12-14T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/12\/on-minding-your-own-business-or-not\/"},"modified":"2009-12-14T15:58:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-14T15:58:00","slug":"on-minding-your-own-business-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/12\/on-minding-your-own-business-or-not.html","title":{"rendered":"On Minding Your Own Business … or Not"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

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Sometimes students here are kinda picky. For example, they want consistency! In this last sesshin, I got caught speaking out of both sides of my mouth.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
Our focus during the sesshin was this passage from Genjokoan the great \u201cone doing!\u201d lion\u2019s roar of Soto Zen:<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u2026When a person does practice-enlightenment in the buddha way, as the person realizes one dharma<\/a>, the person permeates that dharma; as the person encountersone practice,the person practicesthat practice.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I summarized this with Katagiri Roshi\u2019s frequent admonition, \u201cProgress in practice is not your business. It is other\u2019s business.\u201d \u00a0 <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
That is, in zazen, surrender yourself to the form of zazen. In kinhin, surrender yourself to the form of kinhin. When chanting sutras\u2026you get the idea.<\/span><\/div>\n
In other words, don\u2019t constantly worry about whether the bread is done, constantly opening the oven door. Just let the bread bake. Otherwise, we\u2019re always getting in our own way.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
However, it seems to me that this overstates the case. In order to throw ourselves into one thing, a gentle, loving, introspective voice is important. Distinguish this from the harsh critic or swirling in self obsession that I think Roshi was referring too. Sometimes (like with the nine stages for calm abiding) this quality of mind is likened to a spy, peaking at what\u2019s going on. The by stander, witness consciousness, must also be included in the one thing or it isn\u2019t one. Becoming \u201cone thing\u201d isn\u2019t a like winning a battle.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Now, what about the \u201cIt is other\u2019s business\u201d part? This refers to the value of feedback from our friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
For example, once during a practice period at Hokyoji in the olden days, I left the zendo in a very quiet state of mind and went to kitchen to coordinate serving. As I opened the kitchen door, a scene of utter chaos struck my oh-so quiet mind. The noodles weren\u2019t done and the tenzo and kitchen crew were panicking, literally running around trying to get the meal together at the last second. As I looked on judgmentally, a friend suddenly charged up to me, looked me in the eyes and said, \u201cWisdom but no compassion\u201d and charged away.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Zing! I was holding back when the practice of the moment would have been to jump in and help out. My practice was my friend\u2019s business and she let me know about it straightforwardly.<\/span><\/div>\n
Now for the other side of my mouth. I often used to say to students, \u201cDon\u2019t look around.\u201d Just do your practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
During sesshin, one student noticed that incongruence. \u201cSo are you saying that other\u2019s practice is our business or should we not look around?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Well \u2026 just like the first practice suggestion, this one only makes sense in context. When a practice group gets all into what others are doing so their own only-one-doing gets off-centered, then \u201cdon\u2019t look around.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Even when we\u2019re not looking around, of course, we tend to know what others are up too. Like the first case too, what\u2019s important is that we don\u2019t obsess about it and make watching others the central organizing principle of our practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Here\u2019s an example that a student who studied with Katagiri Roshi told me recently. He had been struggling with his paid work because he didn\u2019t think it was very helpful to people. Roshi encouraged him to stay with it. The student said, \u201cI suppose that it is helpful for people to work with someone who is a practitioner.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Roshi responded, \u201cDon\u2019t put yourself above others.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

And that, me thinks, brings this post all together. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes students here are kinda picky. For example, they want consistency! In this last sesshin, I got caught speaking out of both sides of my mouth.\u00a0 Our focus during the sesshin was this passage from Genjokoan the great \u201cone doing!\u201d lion\u2019s roar of Soto Zen: \u00a0\u2026When a person does practice-enlightenment in the buddha way, as […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Minding Your Own Business ... or Not<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes students here are kinda picky. For example, they want consistency! 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