Buddhism<\/a> as a substitute for therapy. I wonder if something gets obscured when zen practice and psychotherapy get blurred together.\u201d<\/p>\nHere\u2019s part of my response: \u201cAs I see it, our practice enlightenment project is, of course, to focus on now, radically accepting ourselves and the 10,000 things. When we practice Buddhism to make ourselves okay, well, that\u2019s okay \u2026 and in the heat of the zazen furnace, that view will surely melt away and we will dance a little jig of joy \u2013 perfect and complete from the beginning!<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter all, the buddhadharma is vast and wide. It includes kindness and anger, right and wrong speech, wholeheartedness\/aspiration and half-assedness. And from the big heart of bodhisattva love, we can devote ourselves to carrying the myriad beings across, knowing all the while that this shore is the other shore and that there is truly no coming, no going \u2013 not as philosophy but as something we\u2019ve personally verified.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we kick out our psychological selves from the zendo of our lives, we miss the chance to live congruently with ourselves, our friends and our neighbors. In addition, I\u2019m afraid we might create a club devoted to spiritual by-passing. I\u2019ve seen it and it ain\u2019t pretty \u2013 a board-carrying community, 1\/2 blind and whacking each other unknowingly.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo pick up one inescapable thing, for some of us a psychological thing, and devote ourselves to engaging the world, is certainly the buddhadharma, is certainly Zen, a Zen informed by modernity and rooted in the deeply settled heart of the Soto school. As Dogen says in Bendowa, \u2018The<\/span>\u00a0endeavor to negotiate the Way, as I teach now, consists in discerning\u00a0all things\u00a0in view of enlightenment, and putting such a\u00a0unitive awareness\u00a0into practice\u00a0in the midst\u00a0of the revaluated world.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe Vine of Obstacles is still pretty new, about 18 months along. The process of developing the courses for the study component (\u201cGuidelines for Studying the Way,\u201d \u201cThe Heart Sutra,\u201d \u201cGenjokoan,\u201d \u201cBuddha Nature,\u201d \u201cThe Healing Point of Zazen,\u201d and soon, \u201cA Bodhisattva\u2019s Four Methods of Guidance\u201d) continues to be an energizing activity for me, pulling together various threads of my background and sharing the buddhadharma in a way that I hadn\u2019t imagined possible just a few years ago.<\/p>\n
And doing practice meetings with earnest students of the way from all over the world, from South Africa to Sweden to Alabama to Washington, is a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
So I can report to you today, dear blog reader, that online practice can be authentic Zen. Thanks to the Vine community, I no longer have doubt about it.<\/p>\n
Warm regards,<\/p>\n
Dosho, aka,\u00a0Low Tide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 We\u2019re in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training\u00a0and are having some conflict \u2013 a very good sign, imv, of practitioners digging in and taking this work personally. And then learning what needs to be dropped and how not […]<\/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":[51],"class_list":["post-2711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-online-zen-training"],"yoast_head":"\n
On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen\" \/>\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\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-01T18:35:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-01T19:47:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2014\/11\/Vine-of-Obstacles-300x180.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html\",\"name\":\"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-01T18:35:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-01T19:47:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \\\"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\\\" \\\"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\\\" and \\\"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\\\"\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community","description":" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community","og_description":" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html","og_site_name":"Wild Fox Zen","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port","article_published_time":"2014-11-01T18:35:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-11-01T19:47:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/files\/2014\/11\/Vine-of-Obstacles-300x180.jpg"}],"author":"Dosho Port","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dosho Port","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html","name":"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-11-01T18:35:17+00:00","dateModified":"2014-11-01T19:47:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd"},"description":" We're in the middle of a twelve-week practice period in the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2014\/11\/on-putting-unitive-awareness-to-work-in-an-online-community.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On Putting Unitive Awareness to Work in an Online Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/","name":"Wild Fox Zen","description":"Living the Dream","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd","name":"Dosho Port","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dosho Port"},"description":"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. Dosho received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri Roshi and inka shomei from James Myoun Ford Roshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is the author of \"Keep Me In Your Heart Awhile: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri,\" \"The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,\" and \"Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions.\"","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.vineobstacleszen.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/author\/doshoport"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Vine](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2014\/11\/Vine-of-Obstacles-300x180.jpg\")
<\/p>\n