{"id":525,"date":"2008-08-28T14:14:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-28T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living\/"},"modified":"2008-08-28T14:14:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-28T14:14:00","slug":"on-working-for-a-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html","title":{"rendered":"On Working for a Living"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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I\u2019m\u00a0back at work full time so its been a while since my last post.<\/span>\n
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There\u00a0are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full time working grunt.\n

On the plus side, there\u2019s really knowing how it is to work full time in something that isn\u2019t so-called \u201cdharma\u201d work. How is it? Well, let me remind those of you who haven\u2019t done it for a while,\u00a0it is damn hard. I\u2019d like to know whose flippin\u2019 idea was the five-day work week?\u00a0<\/p><\/span>\n


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Anyway, from here it seems like enough sometimes to just keep it all going, let alone practice and volunteer \u2013 expectations at a lot of Zen Centers. That is expecting a whole lot that probably isn\u2019t so apparent to those running the show.<\/span>\n

Another plus is in not depending on dharma work for support. This is certainly freeing. These days, supporting myself and my kids is not dependent on what I offer at my place and how I teach and practice. There\u2019s so little temptation to curry favor for donations or beat the drum to increase participation in classes and sesshin in order to increase income that even a scoundrel like myself can deal with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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And in my line of work I get to see people that are in really tough situations and sometimes dealing with it to the best of their ability with considerable dignity despite repeated failure over many years. That\u2019s inspiring.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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Compared to the young people I see, the common middle class Zen student with terminal affluenza really appears to be an incredible whiner.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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That said, the negatives that I had in mind disclose how I myself am a middle class Zen student whiner.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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So I\u2019ll shut up and take the dog for a walk on this clear, cool night with a setting sun with my best friend. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

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What do I really have to complain about?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m\u00a0back at work full time so its been a while since my last post. There\u00a0are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full time working grunt. On the plus side, there\u2019s really knowing how it is to work full time in something that isn\u2019t so-called \u201cdharma\u201d work. How is it? Well, […]<\/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-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Working for a Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm\u00a0back at work full time so its been a while since my last post.There\u00a0are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full\" \/>\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\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Working for a Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I'm\u00a0back at work full time so its been a while since my last post.There\u00a0are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.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=\"2008-08-28T14:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/tbn0.google.com\/images?q=tbn:lRbf88JL4AxpoM:http:\/\/blueroof.files.wordpress.com\/2006\/10\/tantrum.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=\"2 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\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html\",\"name\":\"On Working for a Living\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-08-28T14:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-08-28T14:14:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"I'm\u00a0back at work full time so its been a while since my last post.There\u00a0are advantages and disadvantages of being a Zen practitioner and a regular full\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/08\/on-working-for-a-living.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On Working for a Living\"}]},{\"@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. 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