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<\/a>Feeling fortunate today for this life.<\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m also in the midst of packing for a trip to northern Minnesota\u2019s Boundary Waters Canoe Area (chains of lakes and rivers, far from the din and bustle of cell phones and computers and my upcoming work year\u2026) where a day can go by without seeing another person and then maybe only far off on the other side of the lake. My son and I will canoe, portage, camp and play through Thursday.<\/p>\n
Three rather disparate things are on my mind today \u2013 well, in addition to getting everything together and remembering \u201cdetails\u201d like packing the toilet paper\u2026.<\/p>\n
First is a Norman Fisher piece <\/span><\/a>in the <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/span>. Amazing that right there on the opinion page is a sesshin summary and talk of Dogen\u2019s BeingTime.<\/span><\/p>\n Norman wraps up with this:<\/p>\n We want enjoyment, we want to avoid pain and discomfort. But it is impossible that things will always work out, impossible to avoid pain and discomfort. So to be happy, with a happiness that doesn\u2019t blow away with every wind, we need to be able to make use of what happens to us \u2014 all of it \u2014 whether we find ourselves at the top of a mountain or at the bottom of the sea.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Second, here\u2019s my two cents on Zen and work (a mini installment in the mini-series).<\/p>\n In the early \u201990\u2019s, after Katagiri Roshi died, Sekkei Harada Roshi <\/span><\/a>was invited to lead sesshin at Hokyoji. He was asked something about how to apply Zen in daily life and he said something like, \u201cDon\u2019t do that. When you are practicing zazen, completely practice zazen. When you go to work, just completely work without dragging an idea of Zen into something else, with no stink of Zen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s one way to apply Zen to work.<\/p>\n Third, at Taigen Leighton\u2019s suggestion, I\u2019ve been reading How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute Over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism<\/a> in the Song-Dynasty China<\/span><\/span><\/a> by Morten Schlutter. It is really good. I\u2019ve added it to the list of Zen Study Resources aimed at shattering ideas about Zen over there on the right sidebar.<\/span><\/p>\n Schlutter presents a very detailed look at dharma transmission and how dang political it was in the Sung Dynasty. If you weren\u2019t the head of a public monastery, you couldn\u2019t even transmit and a monk usually didn\u2019t get one of those spots because he was bucking the status-quo. So the lineage we chant is not just the succession of enlightened sages but those who were savy enough to navigate the political waters. Explains a bit about how Dogen often rails against fame and gain.<\/p>\n One exception and great story is that of Fuyo Dokai who refused the emperor\u2019s gift of a purple robe and was banished and defrocked as a result.<\/p>\n