{"id":279,"date":"2009-09-07T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-07T08:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always\/"},"modified":"2009-09-07T08:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-07T08:50:00","slug":"last-call-for-practice-always","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html","title":{"rendered":"Last Call for Practice (Always)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than you can handle \u2013 zazen, Heart Sutra, study, webinar, capping phrases (<\/span>click here for more detail<\/span><\/a>) \u2013 and if you think so, it might be just right.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that in the important practice of working our edge, most of us shy back from the edge and so don\u2019t find the full aliveness that is possible when we really throw ourselves into what we are doing.<\/p>\n

Anyway, there is still a seat open for you in the virtual practice zendo. If you want to jump in, shoot me an email (wildfoxzen@gmail.com) or register via Facebook (click here<\/span><\/a>) by Wednesday. No previous practice period experience necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the practice period, we\u2019ll be focusing on zazen, study and application. I often go on and on about zazen so today I\u2019ll just smile and wave and move to the second point \u2013 study.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been diversifying during the summer, reading a few non-Dogen books, like Norman Waddell\u2019s wonderful Hakuin\u2019s Precious Mirror Cave<\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/span>where I found this:<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span> Zen Master Po-yun stated: \u201cIt was because I was acquainted with a great many of the words and deeds of former teachers that I was able to complete my religious quest.\u201d An utterance of truly incalculable worth!\u201d<\/span><\/span>\n

A very interesting statement in our tradition that isn\u2019t based on words but on direct pointing, no?<\/p>\n

Simply put, our zazen is transformed by our understanding and we without a hairsbreadth gap are transformed in the process.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s a little problem with those of us who are thinking types and use study simply to get more into our heads and talk the talk of zen, creating more divisions in the world.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no good but it points to the need for a teacher and community, not for throwing out study.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s application. Zazen and study that don\u2019t pass through the gates of \u201cSo what?\u201d and \u201cNow what?\u201d is also good for nothing or worse.<\/p>\n

Hakuin (and yes, Dogen and Katagiri and Buddha\u2026) all seem to agree on that point. And to really be thoroughgoing and not all hung up on our little attainments but determined to be congruent all the way through, well \u2026 it\u2019s rather daunting and I certainly fall short a lot.<\/p>\n

But it is heartening to see that it isn\u2019t only we lame moderns who have difficulty walking the walk.<\/p>\n

Hakuin once had a dream while visited by a friend (while \u201c\u2026opening up his heart as they talked and exchanged views about matters past and present\u201d) where Jizo Bodhisattva appeared.<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/span>The master sat in attendance at the Bodhisattva\u2019s side and asked him, \u201cHow do I incorporate the attainment I\u2019ve achieved into my everyday life?\u201d The Bodhisattva looked around at him and said, \u201cAs if sitting inside a thicket of razor-sharp thorns and briars.\u201d Cold shivers passed up and down the master\u2019s spine. His hair stood on end.<\/span><\/span>\n

Setting aside for the moment what hair it was that stood on end for the shave pate, I invite you to hear the cry of all beings and practice as if your hair were on fire.<\/p><\/span><\/div>\n

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

The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than you can handle \u2013 zazen, Heart Sutra, study, webinar, capping phrases (click here for more detail) \u2013 and if you think so, it might be just right. I\u2019ve found […]<\/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-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLast Call for Practice (Always)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than\" \/>\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\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Last Call for Practice (Always)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.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=\"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0uPSljNE9f4\/SqUP1es_G4I\/AAAAAAAAAlI\/M5cjqYZssqo\/s320\/101_1043.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=\"3 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\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html\",\"name\":\"Last Call for Practice (Always)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Last Call for Practice (Always)\"}]},{\"@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":"Last Call for Practice (Always)","description":"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than","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\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Last Call for Practice (Always)","og_description":"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html","og_site_name":"Wild Fox Zen","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port","article_published_time":"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0uPSljNE9f4\/SqUP1es_G4I\/AAAAAAAAAlI\/M5cjqYZssqo\/s320\/101_1043.JPG"}],"author":"Dosho Port","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dosho Port","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html","name":"Last Call for Practice (Always)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-07T08:50:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd"},"description":"The Moon Reflected in the Water: 100 Day Practice Period begins on Saturday for those practicing from afar. The expectations might seem a bit more than","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/09\/last-call-for-practice-always.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Last Call for Practice (Always)"}]},{"@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\/279","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=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}