Good Morning Everyone,
Yesterday at the El Paso Sangha, I offered at teiso on everyday life. I used a portion of Master Dogen's Tenzo Kyokun (Instructions for the Cook), translated by Uchiyama-roshi of the Soto tradition,.and a portion of the book, Novice to Master by Morinaga-roshi of the Rinzai tradition. One of the fundamental tenets of our practice -- Soto or Rinzai-- is this: there is no trash. The second fundamental derives as,: everything is sacred, but nothing is special. This means we should honor the everyday, finding in the everyday everything we need.
Yet, we human beings go around marking things as special. We invest things with meaning.
This is why we suffer so: Everything, special or ordinary, dissolves over time and returns to the Source.
So, on the one hand, we should recognize the sacred is the everyday, and on the other hand, we should not endeavour to hold onto it. We should practice with the knowledge that everything is transitory. Everything.
How do we do this practice? By opening ourself up. Or, as Uchiyama-roshi suggests, opening the hand of thought.
Its rather like scrubbing out a pot caked with pudding residue. We just scrub, noticing the transformational nature of the process. Or like holding out our finger at a hummingbird feeder, generating warm and loving thoughts, and remaining very still. A hummingbird will perch on the finger offered. We can only witness this; feel the tiny, lovely body on our finger, but we cannot grasp it.
So, as we add "lovely" and "warm" to our experience of the hummingbird, it is fleeting and no more special than cleaning a pot. Both are in the moment experiences both are transitory, both are special, and both are everyday..
Be well.
.
Rev. Dr. So Daiho Hilbert-roshi
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