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<\/span>Just after I posted the announcement of the second 100-day training on-line practice focusing on the <\/span><\/span>Genjokoan<\/span><\/span> beginning March 5, I received a notice that Tricycle was going to offer a 90-day practice period focusing on the <\/span><\/span>Genjokoan, <\/span><\/span>beginning February 23. Kinda funny, no?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nSome suspect that imitation, the highest form of flattery, is at work. Anyway, as a friend once said, \u201cWe all work for Buddha Incarnated., so no problem.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nWhat I\u2019m doing <\/span><\/span>is<\/span><\/span> a bit different from the Big Sit in that I\u2019m working with a small group (8) and including a weekly journal activity and once-a-month video practice meetings. I\u2019m interested in seeing if it\u2019s possible to do deep work via the internet. We\u2019ll use this public blog for our interactions, kinda like dharma<\/a> encounter at a temple.\u00a0<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nOver at the Tricycle Big Sit, 750+ people are already on board! And one ugly Dosho Port is teaching there too. I\u2019ll be editing and re-posting the <\/span><\/span>Genjokoan<\/span><\/span> essays that first went up here on the title and first paragraph so I think I\u2019ll have enough time for it all \u2013 this online practice, my in-the-flesh students, kids, adult human relationship(s), dog, zazen, excercise, etc. (not in any order). Oh, and work too\u2026.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nOne thought for now about the \u201chow\u201d of practicing on blogs. There have been some comments on various Zen blogs of late about how we relate to each other on blogs. Is it practice to just let the shit fly, hiding behind our computers in the security of our little homes? Or should we repress our hostilities and pretend to be \u201cspiritual?\u201d<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nOne word: FOCI.\nThe above is my rough-ish way of putting the extremes, the two sides that can be in intimate dialogue and from which dialogue a dynamic \u201cmiddle way\u201d expression can emerge. A middle way featuring real communication.\u00a0<\/p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nIt\u2019s a dialogue which best happens within each practitioner. If we as individuals take positions around one extreme or the other and make the case for it, surely there will be one damaged.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/div>\nHere\u2019s the pointer to Sansheng\u2019s Golden Fish from The Book of Serenity (Cleary translation p. 147), a Chinese Soto koan collection that I see as guiding and challenging our interactions:<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nMeeting the strong, be weak; meeting the soft, be hard. If both are hard and hit each other, there will surely be one damaged. But tell me, how do you interchange?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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