What is the meaning of the Buddhadharma? The cyprus tree in the yard.
—Book of Serenity, Case 47
Zen Fields is an open inclusive space for exploration of the body, mind, spirit, and world in the tradition of Soto Zen. We strive to address the suffering that exists in multiple layers:
Zen practice works like concentric circles, beginning with the self at the center, and spreading outward to family, community, society and ecology.
from Zen Fields
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Topics include Buddhist philosophy, mindfulness meditation, parenting, interfaith, ecological and social justice, and science. Readers are welcome to post comments, to ask questions, and to reflect on these posts to see if they ring true or not. The heart of Zen is verification of truth not by an authority, but through one’s direct experience.
Just quietly sit down and notice what’s right in front of your eyes. It’s simple. No need to go somewhere. Dogen Zenji says, “The Way is basically perfect and all pervading. What good does it do to travel around to practice?” Wake up with the circumstances present in your life right now. Don’t wait for some future time when things will be “better.” That future time may never arrive.
We are constantly judging and comparing ourselves with our previous self, the self we want to become, or the selves of other people, wanting to become something other than what we are today. However, Enlightenment in the Soto school is impossible to attain by self-improvement. While practice never precludes continual refinement of our actions and following the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts, it’s about accepting where and who we are in this moment, because in the next moment the strong winds of life change us, just as the cloud transforms into a different shape, second after second. Like the cloud, it is not us (=ego self) that changes ourselves, but life that transforms us.
“Even people in the secular world must concentrate on one thing and learn it thoroughly enough to be able to do it in front of others rather than learn many things at the same time, without truly accomplishing any of them.”
What if we were to accept that our view of the world is almost always concealed, limited, and incomplete? What if we were to accept that what we are seeing is never the full picture?
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