dharma<\/a> name, at work I go by \u201cMike.\u201d Sometimes I wish that I\u2019d also introduced myself as \u201cMike\u201d when I moved here a few years ago rather than have my neighbors struggle with \u201cDoshu,\u201d \u201cDusho,\u201d and \u201cDush-ho\u201d<\/p>\nListening to my small group of students, I know I\u2019m not alone in sometimes feeling my life is cut in two \u2013 Zen and daily life. Everybody knows that practice and daily life are not two. In all honesty though, monastic\/sesshin\/escape nostalgia packs a whollop in the midst of navigating the rocky road of making money, raising kids, and paying the mortgage (while health care costs soar, home values plummet, etc.). The assault on the middle class, as Lou Dobbs would put it (sorry, too much CNN).<\/p>\n
Enter the earthworm koan. In the assembly of Chang-sha, Minister Chu asked, \u201cAn earthworm is cut in two pieces; the two pieces are both moving. In which piece do you think Buddha-nature exists?\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the topic of the Thursday night study group. There\u2019s more to it but I\u2019ll limit myself to this bit for now.<\/p>\n
In living a divided life, like an earthworm cut in two, are we assuming that it was just one piece prior to its being cut? \u201cSuch expressions as \u2018one\u2019 and \u2018two\u2019 should be thoroughly investigated through practice,\u201d says old Dogen-z.<\/p>\n
Now don\u2019t blow this off as some kind of mind-game Zen thing. That isn\u2019t what it is.<\/p>\n
If you can pick up this one, I\u2019m confident that you\u2019ll find that it is really good Zen. Doesn\u2019t matter if you be really smart or really stupid, you can still work with \u201cone\u201d and \u201ctwo.\u201d It is more basic than elementary school.<\/p>\n
One.<\/p>\n
Two.<\/p>\n
Like a good friend, Dogen is trying to help us direct our inquiry to play freely in the one and the two. Moping around trying to discern if our daily life is sacred or if we\u2019re in spiritual crisis, fretting about the sacredness of our stinky spiritual life \u2026 those are mind roads that just leave us spinning.<\/p>\n
Really, was your life \u201cone\u201d before it became \u201ctwo\u201d?<\/p>\n
Or is it for you like it is for a student who said, \u201cI\u2019ve never felt that my life was one. That\u2019s why I practice Zen.\u201d<\/p>\n
If so, for you too, then, what is the one<\/span> that you are trying to piece together from this divided life?<\/p>\nAlong these lines, over tea this morning, we read aloud parts of Barry Magid\u2019s new book Ending the Pursuit of Happiness: A Zen Guide<\/span> (what I heard sounds really good) about our \u201csecret practice:\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cWe imagine, \u2018If only I could get rid of those bad parts of my self, everything would be OK.\u2019 Or maybe I have to get rid of my \u2018self\u2019 entirely! Then \u2018I\u2019 get entangled in the paradox of me wanting to get rid of \u2018me.\u2019 \u2026How many of us are there, and which side am I on? How did I end up in so many pieces? The fundamental dualism we face on the cushion is not some metaphysical abstraction, it is the all too down-to-earth experience of a person divided against herself in pursuit of a curative fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dogen\u2019s simple advice is to make it our practice to investigate the basics: \u201cone\u201d and \u201ctwo.\u201d The curative fantasy too becomes the field of inquiry.<\/p>\n
What do we have to lose?<\/p>\n
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