Saturday, August 05, 2006

Life is in the Details

With palms together,
Good Morning All,
 
We are sitting in the Ft. Lauderdale airport and I thought I would post my morning note while waiting for the aircraft to board. I have been reading closely the Eight Gates of Zen by Daido Loori.  It is a rich text, well worth the study.
 
He said something about liturgy being a method we have in Zen of connecting or actualizing the spiritual with the everyday.  He argues that Master Dogen did this when he re-invented the Zen liturgy back in the 13Th century.
 
By liturgy is meant not just the morning and evening services, the sutras, and the vows.  But in a much larger sense, the gathas we recite upon opening a sutra, washing our face, shaving our heads, ea ting, brushing our teeth.  Even wider, the mindful attention we place on our every move, thought, feeling, through the day.
 
To live a Zen life is to live a life awake to the details of the everyday.  We know the Universe in in those details. And each detail is an opportunity for complete, unexcelled awakening.
 
Be well.
 


Harvey So Daiho Hilbert, Ph.D. 
May All Beings Be Free From Suffering
On the web at:
 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

No comments:

Featured Post

The First Bodhisattva Vow

With palms together, On the First Bodhisattva Vow: "Being are numberless, I vow to free them." The Budd...