Chanting for People of Haiti

We send our deepest concern for the People of Haiti as we chant for them in the midst of their suffering.

We Call on Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, the One Who Observes The Sounds Of The World

Kanzeon in Japan, the name means “watchful listening.” She is the Goddess of Mercy who embodies compassion and who witnesses and listens to the prayers of those in difficulty on the earthly realm in order to deliver them from suffering and distress.

Anytime the people of Haiti come to mind, chant this short mantra


On arorikya sowaka (Japanese)

Om Unstained One svâhâ 

(English)

Please chant this longer Sutra at least three times each day during this difficult crisis.

Myohorengekyo Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumonbonge

World-Honored One, fully endowed with subtle signs!

Now again I ask about that

Son of the Buddha for what reason

He is named the One Who Observes the Sounds of the World.

The Buddha replied:

Listen you to the conduct of the Sound-Observer,

The one who responds well to all places in all directions!

His broad vows as deep as the ocean,

Throughout kalpas beyond reckoning or discussion

He has served many thousands of millions of Buddhas,

• Uttering great and pure vows.

I will tell it to you in brief.

The hearing of his name, the sight of his body,

And the recollection of him in thought do no pass away in vain,

For he can extinguish the woes of existence.

Even if someone whose thoughts are malicious

Should push one into a great pit of fire,

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

The pit of fire would turn into a pool.

Or, one might be afloat in a great sea,

In which are dragons, fish, and sundry ghosts.

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

The waves could not drown one.

Or, being on the peak of Sumeru,

One might by another be pushed off.

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

Like the sun itself one would dwell in space.

Or, one might by an evil man be chased

Down from a diamond mountain.

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

He could not harm a single hair on one's head.

Or, one might be surrounded by enemies,

Each carrying a knife and intending to inflict harm.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

All would straightway produce thoughts of good will.

Or, one might encounter royally ordained woes,

Facing execution and the imminent end of one’s life.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

The knives would thereupon break in pieces.

Or, one might be confined in a pillory,

One’s hands and one’s feet in stocks.

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

One would freely gain release.

When either by spells, or by curses, or by poisonous herbs,

Someone wishes to harm his body, the victim,

By virtue of his constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

Shall send them all back to plague their authors.

Or one might encounter evil raksasas,

Poisonous dragons, ghosts, and the like.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

They would no dare to do one harm.

Or, one may be surrounded by malicious beasts,

Sharp of tooth and with claws to be dreaded.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

They shall quickly run off to immeasurable distance

There may be poisonous snakes and noxious insects,

Their breath deadly, smoking and flaming with fire.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

At the sound of one’s voice they will go away of themselves.

The clouds, rolling the thunder drums and dispatching the lightning.

Send down the hail and pour forth the great rains.

By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,

At that very moment one can dry up and dissipate them.

The beings suffer embarrassment and discomfort;

Incalculable woes press in upon them.

The Sound-Observer, by his unblemished knowledge

Can rescue the world from its woes.

He is fully endowed with supernatural penetration

And broadly cultivates wisdom and expedient devices;

In the lands of all ten quarters

There is no ksetra where he does not display his body.

The various evil destinies,

Those of hell, ghosts, and beasts,

As well as the pains of birth, old age, sickness, and death,

All little by little are extinguished.

O you of the true gaze, of the pure gaze,

Of the gaze of broad and great wisdom,

Of the compassionate gaze and the gaze of good will!

We constantly desire, constantly look up to,

The spotlessly pure ray of light,

The sun of wisdom that banishes all darkness,

That can subdue the winds and flames of misfortune

And everywhere give bright light to the world.

The thunder of the monastic prohibitions, whose

essence is good will,

And the great and subtle cloud, which is the sense of

compassion,

Pour forth the Dharma-rain of sweet dew,

Extinguishing and removing the flames of agony.

When disputes go through civil offices,

When they terrify military campus,

By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer

• The multitude of enemies shall all withdraw and scatter.

The delicate-voiced one who observes

the sounds of the world

And the Brahma-voiced sound of the tide

Are superior to the sounds of the world.

Therefore one must ever be mindful of them.

From moment to moment conceive no doubts,

For the pure saint who observes the sounds of the world

In the discomforts of pain, agony, and death

Can be a point of reliance.

Fully endowed with all the merits,

His benevolent eye beholding the beings.

He is happiness accumulated, a sea-incalculable.

For this reason one must bow one’s head to him.

• At that time the bodhisattva Earth-Holder

(Dharanimdhara) straightway rose from his seat

and, coming forward, addressed the Buddha, saying,

“O World-Honored One! If there is a living being

who shall hear this Chapter of the Bodhisattva He

Who Observes the Sounds of the World, the deeds

of self-mastery, the manifestation of the gateway

to everywhere, the powers of supernatural penetration,

be it known that that person’s merit shall not be slight.”

When the Buddha preached this Chapter of the

Gateway to Everywhere • within the multitude were

eighty-four thousand living beings all of whom opened

up their thoughts to unequaled • anuttarasamyaksambodhi.

POETRY NIGHT, JANUARY 6, 2010

For many years now at Olympia Zen Center, we've celebrated the New Year with a reading of our own poems on the first meeting when we come together after New Year's Day. This evolved because of several influences. Ryokan is our virtuous model, and he speaks to us through poetry. Ryokan's Death Day is January 6th and the proximity to this date is a way to honor and celebrate his life. Dogen Zenji was also a poet. Zen practitioners typically take up an art as part of their practice. It is customary in some Zen temples for the practitioners to offer a poem once a year to give expression to their practice and to the Dharma. But, it isn't necessary to justify writing poems or to give reasons for writing them, we simply do it because it is what we do.

I'm including a few poems here for some of you who cannot get to Olympia Zen Center and participate and for those who have asked to see some of the poems. It was a wonderful evening together, rich in spirit and insight, and this year it happened to fall on the anniversary of Ryokan's Death Day. With deepest gratitude to all who came and participated.

Open Window

I.

In Wyeth's painting, the grey-framed window pushes

open to the settled field. Nothing moves.

Only fragrance of grass.

There is no sense that even the painter is here.

Only a rustle of water making its crawl through the mill.

Wyeth calls this, "Love in the Afternoon."

II.

I could stare out the window all day

different from sitting out of doors.

Cave-like it seems to have darkness

within, slant of light over the sill

the only speech.

III.

A shafted flicker crashes into the window and lands

on stone, its head limp. Later, miraculously, the bird

is gone. Left behind: a dot of bright blood

like the perfect red circle at the center of its eye.

IV.

From the window I saw you come this way,

stop on the path before you reached the gate,

silent in the shadow of cedar. You drifted on the ten

thousand trails that led through snow, the lamp

unseen, no footprint or trace.

V.

And what are windows in the night when

all the world looks back at us, huddled

in the common roots of grief, when all

we are is nowhere to be found. If we turn

on light we see ourselves reflected back

in glass, the storehouse of goods

surrounding us as if marching forward

to envelop us. Too lonely,

we draw the shades.

VI.

Everything must be opened like

Wyeth's window that invites

the soul beyond the threshold

of some imagined safety. As if

the in or out held a protective

measure to guard against change.

Why do we put in windows if not

to let the world come in as well

as all go out?

VII.

My window faces east where I watch

my bones wither in the grace and color

of moonrise and morning light.

At night, ghosts pass through

these panes and dance in space

above my bed while I curl

in the ancient cocoon of sleep

the transparent universe that

cradles the ten thousand things.

VIII.

Soon I will look up and see

my own body turned to light

passing through the transomed

frame into the mixture of daylight

of moonlight of passing years.

Perhaps that's all we are, a single

body of illumination, a wavelength

equal to something visible

a reflection of a bright dawning

a look of recognition

on the Buddha's face.

Eido Frances Carney

Suddenly

at the end of the line—that's you and me

just before gunshot or car crash or

just lying in bed, we step over the line

now revealed as radical fiction.

Moments before the light of the blast

crushing impact or breathlessness

we are laughing or worried, angry

preoccupied by what we will never remember

and now

there is less than a second to notice

through shock's leaden embrace

how quiet the world has become

and relieved of our burdens

see

all that lies underneath.

You and I, we thought we were safe; we did

everything we could to be safe.

Look at us now.

Allyson Essen

Sewing the Robe of Buddha

Sewing the robe of Buddha,

stitch by stitch, an upright life,

with each refuge a new commitment

to live the Eightfold Path.

Sewing the Eightfold Path,

step by step a noble life,

with each life a fresh intention

to become the Buddha Way.

Sewing the Buddha Way,

gate by gate, a compassionate life,

with each gate a deeper urge

to share the Buddha's Truth.

Sewing the Noble Truths,

vow by vow, a virtuous life,

with each vow unwavering will

to wear the robe of Buddha.

Sewing the robe of Buddha,

thread by thread

engaging the past

creating the future...

Namu kie Butsu...

Namu kie Butsu...

Namu kie Butsu...

C.J. Jikyo Wolfer

Resolution and Resolve

This talk was given at Olympia Zen Center on December 30, 2009. With thanks to Josepha Vermote for transcribing it.

Resolution and Resolve

We come back to practice after a short holiday and we have New Year the day after tomorrow. It is much colder this year in Olympia, I don't remember it so cold, very invigorating actually. We are at the time of the year when is is traditional to think about the matter of resolutions, a chance to start again, a chance to resolve.

For tonight’s talk on the question of resolve and resolution I’m taking a lesson from Dogen Zenji’s, “One Bright Pearl” a chapter in SHOBOGENZO. In this chapter, Shibi is a simple fisherman, and for thirty years there is nothing extraordinary about his life. As Dogen says, without any warning and expectation, a Golden Fish jumps into his boat. Now, we can guess what that means, can't we! Immediately, something moves Shibi to change his life. He puts away his fishing career and he goes up into the mountain. Going up into the mountain and the boat in this story are both metaphors. Certainly the going up into the mountain refers to his entering deep Zen practice, entering the monastic way and putting behind him, worldly ways. The matter of the fishing boat could represent floating around in the world without any purpose. So he gives up his floating way and goes up to the mountain to root himself. He has heard of Zen Master Seppo, high up the mountain.

After quite a number of years, he decides that he's going to go to a another place, he's going to find another teacher. Now, it was customary in China to go and visit different teachers. So Shibi packs up his things, and as he is going down the mountain he stubs his toe quite badly. He shrieks in pain, and immediately has a deep realization. Dogen Zenji writes:

“Thereupon,” Shibi said, “ This body has no independent existence, so where is the pain coming from?” So he goes back up the mountain to Seppo and he tells Seppo what happened. Seppo asks him: “Is this Shibi the Austere Monk?”

Shibi responded: “I have never dared to deceive anyone about that!”

So delighted by this response Seppo says: “Who could fail to cherish this response. Who could have expressed the Great Matter, more fully!”

On another occasion Seppo called out to him : “O Shibi my Austere Monk, why haven't you gone out on pilgrimage to seek a master to train with?”

And Shibi answered :” Bodhidharma did not come east to China for that, nor did the Second Ancestor go west to India for that!” Seppo highly praised what he had said.

Shibi had been devoted to fishing for so much of his life, that he had never set eyes on the voluminous body of Buddhist Scriptures and spiritual writings, even in his dreams. Nevertheless when he put the depth of his resolve to realize the truth above all else, a true determination emerged which surpassed that of the other monks around him. Seppo realized that Shibi excelled all others and praised him above Seppo's other disciples.

Dogen goes on to explain that Shibi had very few garments, very few clothes. That's why they called him the Austere Monk. He wore paper underwear and a course hemp cloth. He made clothes out of mugwort leaves. It seems he wore a hemp cloth of a hundred patches because his clothes were always falling apart and he had to sew them together.

Apart for working under Seppo, he did not seek out any other Master to train with. Even though he kept to just one Master he certainly found within himself the spiritual strength to become the heir to his Master's Dharma.

So Dogen Zenji is pointing out that the deep matter of practice lies within ourselves, not in going around to find what other teachers might think. Dogen himself did not necessarily promote going around and studying with other teachers. Dogen Zenji says that students should find the question of resolve within themselves. And through that resolve they will understand the Dharma of the teacher they are with, and resolve to be a great student to succeed their own teacher.

We talk about the question of resolve and resolution tonight, because this comes every year as a special time to consider our lives. New Year's Eve I spend quietly and I think about my life and resolution and I consider things that I think would be important to my life, a way of taking up some aspect of practice to focus on, because New Year is an opportunity to exercise a resolution. And the matter of resolution and resolve, I think, is about exercise.

I don't know about you, but I so dislike to hear the word exercise. I myself do not like to go out and exercise. That is not to say that I don't think I should be fit, or that I shouldn't take care of my body, but the matter of “exercise” seems so distasteful. In times past, we weren't so sedentary and many people had jobs that required them to be physically active. We have generally become sedentary, our children have become sedentary, they do not play out of doors any longer. So our bodies are showing the result of no exercise and even with that I'm not keen on the word exercise. When you go to the doctor, that's one of the first questions asked these days: “Do you exercise?” And of course I fib, a little bit, I mean I do exercise, I'm very active, there are stairs in the house, and I'm up and down the stairs maybe thirty times a day, not to mention other physical work.

Nevertheless, on a spiritual level, spiritual life is exercise -- exercising for strength within ourselves to change, to take up aspects in our character that need to be polished. To polish the character requires exercise. Clearly, I know that when I talk about physical exercise, I can disappoint myself if I don't get exercise, and I disappoint myself if I resolve to do something and I don't exercise the resolve. Our character becomes quite weak when we don't exercise ourselves very truly. So resolution and resolve which bring about determination, require us to do something. The meaning of the word “resolution,” is to loosen and to release. Most interesting! Because the word to resolve means that we have to loosen some hold or thinking in some way or some manner of identity that we have about ourselves, or some kind of constriction that is keeping us from doing something. That has to be loosened, it has to let go for us to be able to resolve to do something. To loosen the grip of identity or thought, whatever it is, that has to be loosened for us to go forward. Most interesting and very subtle. It's a very subtle matter. So to resolve means to release ourselves to find an answer, to release ourselves to begin to do something. And that little piece is extremely subtle in us, the piece that prevents us from the resolve to do something, and to continue it, and to allow determination to take us over the long haul. So many people, most people make a resolution and without ten days it's gone. Ten days, it's forgotten! And of course sometimes we have really fancy notions about ourselves and we're going to go for the moon, we're going to do something extraordinary that we're not prepared for.

But spiritual practice is subtle work. We make great spiritual strides in subtle work in subtle understanding. Understanding the matter of that gripping machine and to loosen and to release. At some point it's necessary if we wish to advance, to go forward. All the little pieces in spiritual work are things that turn out to be big things, pieces that are the underpinnings that are the platform of spiritual growth. Nobody sees them, they are just subtle pieces within ourselves that allow our character to be polished.

So, with Shibi, this depth of resolve to realize the truth above all else, a true determination emerged. I'm not suggesting by the way, in reading this story about Shibi that we throw everything down, and go to the mountain for monastic practice. Monastic practice life is in us, it is not in external things even though we have temples that make it look that way. Monastic practice is clearly a way that we pick up within ourselves. And I know very often, I say I'm not a monastic, and yet I live within myself as a monastic, yet I may not look like a monastic in my daily life. Of course I sit Zazen and of course I'm practicing here, but it is more than that. It is truly about our resolving to live a particular way in which throughout our whole life, we determine that we will progress and we will live fully in search and resolution of a spiritual foundation, which requires continual exercise. Practice must be exercised. There's nothing that makes us happier than to be that...to grow that eternal monastic light, into caring for ourselves continuously and once again forming the teacher within ourselves.

Dogen Zenji says that Shibi's determination and his resolve was so deep, and this is the aspect that has to do with receiving the Transmission of the Buddha. Even if we do not wear Okesa, the robe of the monk, we still receive the Transmission of Buddha. We receive it by life practice, this practice which is the Transmission. There is no separation whatsoever. Just to sit in the posture of the Buddha, is to receive the Transmission, is to be in the posture of Awakening. If we continue to sit Zazen, there is resolve behind it, there is resolve in the underpinning, the determination to continue, the determination to experience that Awakening and a real understanding of ourselves, a real confidence in the root of the true Self.

So this is the New Year, this is the wonderful opportunity to look at something. Something that we can really make happen, that we can really change, a very small thing, it has not to be huge at all. You know, the important aspect to sitting Zazen, is to sit at the moment that we have the intuition to sit, it doesn't matter how long we sit. The important thing is to respond to the intuition to sit, the call to sit, to respond and to actually sit at that moment. This is the same as The Golden Fish jumping into the boat. If we have the urge to sit and we don't respond to it, we turn away, we're not exercising our resolve.

I hope you can sit quietly with yourself and consider the question of resolve and the question of loosening something that needs to be loosened to allow ourselves to open to resolution. I love New Year’s Eve, the quiet of it. And do you know, we have a Blue Moon tomorrow night.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year one and all!

May we receive and share life blessings in 2010!

On New Year Day we ring the bells 108 times to remove our transgressions and to celebrate the New Year with clarity and resonant good will. There is much focus this year on Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion. I've spoken about it here and I emphasize it again as Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, "She Brings Light," the One Who Listens to the suffering of the world with compassion, is foremost in our practice. There is much in our daily happenings around the world that calls us to be aware of the condition of the suffering earth and its peoples. Hardly a day goes by without some heartrending news of environmental stress and cultural, racial, gender, religious, or territorial conflict. We are called to work within ourselves to see the presence of the Compassionate One in the midst of turmoil and pain.

I'm recalling a Psalm I wrote a number of years ago for the invocation for the opening of the meetings of Buddhism, Christianity, and Global Healing: The Nonviolent Struggle for Economic and Social Justice, held at Pacific Lutheran University. I'm inclined to reprint it here for New Year 2010. With blessings to all!

Psalm

We have come in faith and good will, peace and

integrity, to answer the cries of suffering,

the mistaken voice of consumption,

greed, anger and delusion.

We have tasted the bitter water of pollution, of toxic

and hazardous waste and swallowed poisons

from the deep places of the earth.

We have heard the silence of children stitching

seams of the very garments we wear,

have seen the eyes of women taught

political lessons through sexual violence.

We have seen the broken untouchables denied a

place in the classroom, killed or abused

at the hands of force.

We have inhaled the industry of prisons,

the cold, racial walls of fear

that penalize by lethal injection.

We have touched the poor in the barrios,

gripped the ragged bones of economy

with the frayed hem of the mother's skirt.

We have been made to face ourselves in the great

long-standing suffering mirrors of humanity,

and we are bowed down at the altar of

repentance melted like wax

in the earth's cradle.

Let us come then to polish the mirror in the light of

grace, freeing ourselves from the rusty views

of despair and complacency.

Let the bright, divine reflection breathe a language

of truth and truthfulness, openness and

receptivity in all our proceedings.

Let us persevere in our personal practice, making

ourselves tabernacles of light that we may

teach with insight and clarity and we may

learn with gratitude and humility.

Let all beings in our interconnectedness signify their

original natural spiritual illumination

in a nonviolent unfolding

of peaceful repair and progress.

Let the mercy and light of global healing sing in the

reflective capacity of every heart.

O let us give thanks that we are lifted here to

begin this New Year of practice and peace.

Nine Bows

Eido Frances Carney

Ryoko-an, Olympia Zen Center

New Year Wishes, Resolutions, Effort

Each year at this time, I prepare a New Year package to send to my teacher, Niho Roshi. The package contains some gifts for the family, treats from Washington State, and perhaps chocolates. Then I assemble an offering of rice, wrapped in a traditional way, to express my wish for the health of my teacher. Later, the rice is cooked along with any other rice offerings from students and Niho Roshi consumes the sacred grain as a gesture of good will and support of his students to sustain him through the year.

New Year is also about bell ringing. We have adopted some of the celebratory traditions of Zen temples in Japan and we have our bell ringing too. Traditionally, bell ringing begins at midnight and lasts as long as there are people to ring the bell. The gesture of ringing the bell is a metaphor for clearing ourselves of any transgressions we might have committed during the past year. The sound of the bell clears the air and we are free to begin the New Year afresh. Some people ring the bell quite loudly making sure the bell captures any extra transgressions that may be stored in the heart.

In Olympia, we ring the bell on New Year Day after we've sat Zazen in the morning. We each take a turn allowing the resonance to complete itself and wash the air with the vibration. During our chanting of Hannya Shingyo, The Heart Sutra, we listen to the reading of the names of all those who have donated to Olympia Zen Center or who have come to sit Zazen during the year. The names and the Sutra completely merge. It seems as if the names ride on the healing wave of the music and burst forth into solace.

Thank goodness we have such a thing as the New Year to give us a fresh start. The matter of making resolutions is a good one even though most people don't keep them for very long. Resolutions give us a chance to recognize areas where we can do better in our lives and admit we are not perfect. They speak to the aspiration to unfold a new person within. It's best though if we don't disappoint ourselves by giving up too easily in making changes in habit and behavior. Any of this requires work, attention, and commitment. Yet there is nothing more fulfilling than to know we have the fortitude to truly carry out a resolution. If we make a resolution, we should put strong effort into whatever change we are making.

Today I was at my exercise place and I was the only one there. The trainer began to work out with me because she thought I might feel too lonely. We both laughed at the thought that next week, after New Year, the place will be packed with everyone having decided to turn over a new leaf and drop some of the weight accumulated over the holidays. Even a little effort for a short time is good. I'll be one of the ones resolving to do better; the rewards of making the effort are beyond calculation.

Frosty Sunday Morning

I had a date with my grandchildren, Julian and Esther, for a Skype visit this frosty morning. It's dinner time in Zurich and they are already in their pajamas, bathed and relaxed for a quiet evening before the school week starts tomorrow. Earlier last week, my daughter Ellen and the children cleaned out their bedrooms to let go of toys and books they no longer relate to. I can see by their poise as we sit and talk face to face via this amazing, Star Trekian magic, how quickly they are growing and growing up, how well parented they are, how blessed in their living.

One of the wishes of today's skype chat was to read to them a poem Ellen sent to me for Christmas in Japan in 1990. It's a take off on The Night Before Christmas, but in it, we discover that Buddha and Santa are actually one and the same. The (fat) Buddha and Santa are about the same size and have never been seen together in the same room, so they are obviously the same person. Eventually, Santa/Buddha winks and admits this truth. It's a charming poem, completely made up as Ellen went along, hand written on beautiful cotton torn paper. A treasure to read to the grandchildren each year.

So the frost is still with us after a week of extreme cold, and now the sky is heavy enough that snow could begin any moment. The lake is frozen solid, a few birds are out and about, prayer flags toss in the wind. Inside is the luxury of warmth, the amazement of technology to see and speak to family in Switzerland. So grateful to have a shelter. There are many downtown as I write who are having to leave some of the shelters because they are only for night sleeping. The library is closed on Sundays, the mainstay of the homeless, as are many of the shops and restaurants. I wonder, when you have nothing, no place warm to set your things down, where do you go on a morning like this?

Wonderful Rohatsu Sesshin

(You cannot tell by the greenery in the photograph that it's 7 degrees Fahrenheit just after sunrise on December 7, 2009.)

There were many around the world who were practicing Rohatsu Sesshin together. Some sat by themselves and kept a modified daily schedule with us. We could feel you right beside us - New York, Germany, Australia, Japan. In presence there is no distance.

Here in Olympia, by the time the furiously cold weather arrived, we were in the tight warmth of our circle, trusting one another with the voice of practice. It was an excellent retreat with the key word, "willingness." From the very first moment, people stepped into the vessel of the tradition and we successfully navigated the waters moment by moment. There was no questioning the nature of the tradition, the origins of bowing, the ritual of Oryoki, the way of Dokusan. No, no. It was embracing all of it with willing joy and a sense of celebration.

At the same time, we each had our own "stuff" to deal with: facing the demands of the schedule, feeling tired at times, aching knees and backs, food that might not agree, being woken at night by the movement of others, and how these things impacted the emotional body and impinged on practice. Yes, we each had our life issues, our own body of work to deal with and yet, in this retreat, this too was taken up with willingness.

This tells us something about the questioning mind which is necessary to critical development in Zen practice. Critical development means the ability to see into the nature of practice, to see into our own entanglements, to bring wisdom to bear in our progress toward polishing our character, to learn to uncover the roots of Dharma in the texts. Critical development refers to things of this nature. Critical development is different from criticism. Criticism can be a destructive bent that questions the tradition in ways that can be negative. While questions of tradition and the way of practice may enter critical thinking, if criticism overtakes the questioning mind, the tradition and those practicing suffer because the underpinnings that hold us together are peeled away. Dogen Zenji reminds us again and again that practice itself is Awakening. So, if we begin to criticize the very practice itself in destructive ways, then we are tearing at the appearance of Buddha, the manifestation of Dharma, the expression of Sangha.

It's fair to say that Zen practice is not for everyone. If we find ourselves criticizing bowing, criticizing rituals, criticizing the tradition, then we have to consider whether we have fallen into criticism as a personal or cultural habit and we need to root it out, or whether deep down at that root level, Zen practice may not be for us. Perhaps the mind is too itchy when it isn't at home. And who are we to change a tradition of 2500 years when we've only been practicing one or two years? It's best not to destroy the beauty of the tradition for others and to step aside where we can observe and examine ourselves quietly in this regard.

This sesshin demonstrated the beauty of critical development in people's practice in the zendo and in their daily lives. Because we manifested this completely as a Sangha, we were able to feel ourselves move as a single body at times even when we were moving through different tasks. Noble silence was honored and the work of 'being solitude' itself within the Sangha was willingly practiced.

To unfold the sesshin for oneself and for one another with open willingness is a gift of generosity which is the first and most necessary virtue. I'm honored to have been among the fine people who gave up their lives for the period of this sesshin, and who together, step by step, showed the Way.