{"id":413,"date":"2009-01-18T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/01\/wasp-nests-and-zen-groups\/"},"modified":"2009-01-18T15:48:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-18T15:48:00","slug":"wasp-nests-and-zen-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/01\/wasp-nests-and-zen-groups.html","title":{"rendered":"Wasp Nests and Zen Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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I think we might just be getting somewhere on this blog \u2013 not sure where exactly but its got my interest and it seems promising. People speaking their minds and hearts is a good thing,\u00a0imv.\u00a0
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During our last sesshin, as usual,\u00a0following afternoon zazen\u00a0we\u00a0intoned\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>Great Compassion Dharani<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and the chant leader sang (in part):<\/span><\/div>\n

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<\/span><\/span><\/span>May our dharma<\/a> community and all communities realize<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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The Buddha Way in peace and harmony together.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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For the first time, I felt deeply that \u201cour dharma community\u201d included the people who read this blog and especially those I\u2019ve gotten to know through their comments.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Granted, \u201cpeace and harmony\u201d can sometimes be like striking a wasp nest with a ball. As mama p. pointed out in her comment to the comments to the \u201cSheep, Wild Fox, and Zen Groups\u201d post:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Sometimes I think it is designed to be inharmonious, simply because it\u2019s reflections of the whole of human existence, of mind itself: joy, fear, pain, exultation, happiness, loss, confusion\u2026etc, etc, etc. The precepts are nice, but I have rather given up on a living ideal.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>
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Here are a few things I learned from my last post and the comments. First, some readers really don\u2019t like animal metaphors, grouping people, \u201cprofiling,\u201d or stages. I\u2019m not that type.\u00a0I have long been interested in such undertakings (Myers Briggs, Ten\u00a0Oxherding\u00a0Pictures, the stages I write about in the book, etc.). I often find these helpful when I\u2019m not taking them real seriously. I do understand that some people find them offensive, especially those types \u2026 (just kidding\u2026).<\/span><\/div>\n

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Second, some things I say sound like \u201cresentful aggression,\u201d for example, when none is felt. Not that I don\u2019t sometimes experience such but I really wasn\u2019t feeling either or both while writing the post \u2013 just ruminating on Zen group dynamics based on what I\u2019ve seen. I thought I was pretty kind to sheep, after all. And holy sheep-shit, I\u2019ve been a sheep and a fox and a pig and a clown, etc., and I suspect that most everyone is some of the time (like\u00a0Uku\u00a0said). And like I also said, I hope that some people might find the reflections helpful.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Third, I\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span><\/span>\u00a0protective of Mike Cross. I relate to what I know about his experience and I think I understand something about his perspective (btw, thanks Anonymous for your last comment).<\/span><\/div>\n

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And, yes, I\u2019m a work in progress and sometimes a complete mess. Nothing here is definitive. Nothing. I mean that definitively.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Really, and quite obviously, what I throw out there is offered so that it might be tested from the reader\u2019s seat. And it\u2019s really cool when that happens.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Okay. Now\u00a0blog reader beware:\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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You might find more of such buzzing here. This is one of my creative endeavors. I\u2019m blogging, as I said, to play with ideas, mostly about Soto Zen practice, and see how they strike a variety of people. The medium itself invites a certain roughness, don\u2019t you think?<\/span><\/div>\n

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So although I often find the comments helpful and important and I do consider what people have to say, that isn\u2019t the only factor by any means in determining what I put out there.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Just so you know.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I think we might just be getting somewhere on this blog \u2013 not sure where exactly but its got my interest and it seems promising. People speaking their minds and hearts is a good thing,\u00a0imv.\u00a0 During our last sesshin, as usual,\u00a0following afternoon zazen\u00a0we\u00a0intoned\u00a0the\u00a0Great Compassion Dharani\u00a0and the chant leader sang (in part): May our dharma community […]<\/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-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWasp Nests and Zen Groups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I think we might just be getting somewhere on this blog - not sure where exactly but its got my interest and it seems promising. 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