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by Fred Rossini — June 20, 2006
It’s spring 2006. ZenSpace has existed for over five years. I am preparing to move on both physically and in my Zen practice. I recently reread my "Notes on Contemporary Zen" notes written in the fall of 2000 at a time of organizational and personal upheaval in my Zen practice. I am comfortable with these notes, and believe they fairly represent much of what I learned practicing Zen up to that time.
Here I’m going to provide some fresh material for practicing in the midst of ordinary living that I have found helpful in the last few years. These include a few new insights and developing the themes I used in "Notes on Contemporary Zen" - practicing, learning, facilitating practicing/learning.
We are doing what Gautama did. His practicing was extremely simple, as opposed to complex, sitting under the tree until he was understanding, and then getting up and living in the world being understanding and compassionate. Instead of a doing one after the other as he was doing, we are tacking back and forth between practicing practicing and practicing living. Our enlightening is our own, not Gautama’s.
Practicing practicing is being fully present by remaining stable, open, relaxed, and aware with as much energy as possible being here and now without judging or opining. We can be nowhere else, yet we never stop trying. We are neither grasping nor rejecting the thinking, feeling, sensing that are arising, developing, receding.. We are treating the usual default position of the mind, the empirically constructed self or frame of reference, just as any thought or feeling. As mind-body spasms are drawing attention from the present, we are quietly and calmly returning to experiencing the present just as it is. The body and breath are always present, and thus make an excellent return. Our practicing practicing is analogous to Gautama’s tree time.
Practicing living is calmly, patiently, and without stress, moving the awareness developed in practicing practicing to the situations, interactions, and challenges of everyday living. It is being present in the midst of our chaotic contemporary lives, and dealing with what is present as it is present. When driving, we are driving, not cursing other drivers for cutting in. When eating, we are eating, when listening to music, we are listening to music, etc. Practicing living is, for myself and others I know, far, far more challenging than practicing practicing. In fact all practicing is difficult for me and those with whom I am practicing. Practicing living is analogous to the Gautama’s living after he rose from his seat under the tree.
Dogen said that practice is enlightenment. He might have added that life is practice. If, as the common bumper sticker says, "life’s a beach," then, for us at least, "living is practicing." In what is for me a clearer formulation of Dogen’s words, "living is practicing is enlightening." There is no practicing apart from the one practicing.
I am finding that our using of the English language is impeding understanding/practicing. Nouns are implying a fixed, stable entity, a frozen picture in a frame. While nouns are great approximations for every day living, they are not helpful for our practicing, since there is nothing like a fixed, stable entity in our experiencing. Experiencing is flowing; nouns are not. The noun-verb duo, our standard sentence format from which it is difficult to escape, indicates a definable actor and an action, separate from the actor, being performed by the actor. Our experiencing shows no definable actor and no separate action. I suggest we use gerunds instead of nouns and verbs. Thus "practicing" instead of "I practice." Gerunds like "awaring" and "selfing" can be quite descriptive without creating concept-like unexperienced entities.
Studying the self leads to forgetting the self. Just being present is not returning by reflex to the self or frame of reference. The self or frame of reference represents the place we are going when we are judging, opining, analyzing, reflecting, as our default way of being, and thus not being present. The self or frame of reference is where we are being when we are dealing with something as totally apart from who we are. We are not suppressing or attaching to the self or frame of reference. We are using it in our everyday living as we need to. Every moment in our living is presenting an opportunity for beginning anew being present. Each moment is here and now, but it is containing what has happened and the potential of what is coming. Defaulting to being present instead of to the self or frame of reference is beginning to forget the self. "Be here and now" and "let it be" are reflecting this way of being.
Zen practicing is learning, not being taught; being active, not being passive. Zen cannot be taught; it can be learned. Why? It is not a “thing” independent of the learner. Thus there is no “thing” to teach that can be shown equally to many learners by a “teacher.” Yet there are many who say they are “Zen teachers.” Why should something that can be learned, but cannot be taught, require a “teacher” to learn? Why should one accept as a “teacher” one who is learning just as we are? It sounds good to say that a teacher models enlightening as a “fully enlightened being”? However I have never met such a being, nor have I heard any credible reports of such a one alive at this time. Indeed one image of our ongoing enlightening I find helpful is that each one of us is manifesting part of the spectrum of our true nature, not the entire spectrum.
Learning is Teaching; Learning is a Group Process
However, I am learning. How am I learning? I am learning from practicing. I am learning from experiencing life, an important component of which is others practicing. They are manifesting their learning which is different from my learning. I am learning also from reading the words of others who are dead or absent. As we are learning we are incidentally teaching by manifesting our practicing. Others are observing us just as we are observing them. We are learning from them; they are learning from us. There is often an asymmetry based on where each one’s learning is. Teaching is a byproduct of learning that helps learning. We are all teaching Zen in the process of learning. No explicit teaching is occurring besides answering questions, especially from those who want to know how to begin practicing. Explaining how we practice is the most important explaining. Our explaining of practicing changes as our practicing changes. If we are explaining practicing the same more than once, we may wonder about our learning.
Facilitating Group Practicing/Learning
Dropping Drama
Drama is distracting from being present. Hierarchy, form, and resources may be producing drama in learning Zen. All are present in some degree in any group process of learning Zen. Hierarchy means that some are more and differently experienced in practicing than others. Form means that there is some structure in the group learning process. Resources are needed for a place for a group to meet and practice together. So how do these obvious necessities draw us away from being present? By positioning the self in a fixed order relative to other selves we reinforce our attaching to a fixed self. By making form and structure matters of great, rather than minimal, concern, and attaching to specific form and structure, we are leaving the present and entertaining ourselves with fixed things. Respecting Gautama is practicing as he did, not dressing as he did. Practicing practicing is being present, not having a "perfect" posture or following specific procedures. Ceremonies are learning opportunities, not fixed tableaux. Resources are necessary for group practice, not driving forces. Use the resources that are easily provided by the group, knowing what is necessary to continue the group. What else is needed?
Minimizing
Resources in the form of a place to sit comfortably are necessary. But this place could be someone’s basement, a yoga studio, or a room in a church. Ownership of real estate carries with it a complex set of burdens that are not necessary, as a place to sit is a vehicle, not a permanent establishment. Since nothing is permanent, neither are organization and place. No one or no entity has ownership. Helping an organization work well is an act of compassionate stewardship, not of ownership. Organizational form is also subject to minimization. Focus on what is important – a practicing group, and leave it at that. Have just enough structure and organization to facilitate the group’s practicing together.
Open Leaderful Groups with Rotating Roles
Nothing about a group is permanent. Attaching to fixed roles in a practice group is not helpful. No one owns a role any more than a permanent self. Everyone can lead in their own way. Build the organization around the capabilities and interests of the members, and let it develop as these develop. Growth and change will occur. Forms will evolve, but these changes do not affect the fundamental. Changing roles is a vehicle for growth. Everyone has a role; everyone is a leader.
Finally
ENJOYING PRACTICING! BEING PRESENT!
(c) 2006 Frederick A. Rossini.
| Revised for www.ZenSpace.org June 20, 2006. | Return to Commentary Page > |