Thursday, August 04, 2016

Questions, Part One

With respect to all,

Today I had two different discussions with two of my students.  In the first case, I asked the student what her expectations of having a formal teacher were.  In the second case, a discussion about why practice zazen if nothing is to be gained. Both intriging and thought provoking questions.

Just what are the expectations of a student of a teacher?I suppose, and my experience bears this out, they are as varied as are students to have.  Each of us comes to the teacher with some idea as to what that teacher can or will do forth.Some see a teacher as a guru.  I don't believe this is a good idea.  Zen is about self falling away in order to be completely present with whatever is.Its not about guru worship, in fact, to have a guru misses the point of practice entirely, in my opinion. Besides, it diminishes the student's willingness to rely on him or her self to deal with their own lives.Others see a teacher as a friend.  Equally a bad idea.  A teacher is not a friend, a teacher is a teacher. Clarification of roles and role boundaries are, therefore, critical.

Why sit?  Master Dogen addresses this rather serious koan in his essay, Bendowa, in his Shobogenzo. so I won't go into his answer here. The student asks if there is no idea of gain and nothing happens, then why sit? We sit because that's whats in front of us to do. Lets not make it complicated.  Just sit.
The practice of "just sitting" is a practice that teaches us something about ourselves: it teaches us to simply be present with no agenda. We learn that there can be direct experience of ourselves with no sense that we must do something with it. When we achieve or develop the ability to just be present then all things become clear in the sense that we are able to "see" the things that take us away from ourselves and our actual experience and directly experience what is there..

These are beginning questions, to be sure, but incredibly important ones at that.  Beginning question, like all questions, require a "beginner's mind."  Our practice is to maintain that mind in each and every situation.  In part Two I will address the how of this.

Be well,
Daiho

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