Take care of problem and keep walking

I easily conjure up lofty ideals about what it means to walk a spiritual path. These fantasies are nurtured by a spiritual industry that offers tantalizing retreats and other products promising happiness and liberation. These marketed commodities interface with my constructed ideas of a successful spiritual life, perhaps one characterized by "daily practice" or an unwavering awareness of "big ideas" such as transformation...consciousness...non-duality...In terms of an authentic spiritual life, these notions are delusions. They are bull shit.

Zen teachings offer the reminder that practice is action in daily life: Taking care of what needs attention when it needs attention. Taking action fully without expecting a particular result or reward. Tending to problems as they arise without attaching to a preferred outcome.
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So how can we know the state of "the self prior to our parents' birth," or thusness or what-is-just-is-of-itself? This is a big question, a big project for us to research. The best way to do this research is just to sit down and do zazen, and let the flower of life force bloom in thusness. That is all we can do. Nothing else. In other words, whatever problem we have, we have to take care of it and constantly keep walking. (Katagiri, 1988, p. 54. From Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life)

How much is enough: Consumer

The second awakening is to know how much is enough...If you want to be free from suffering, you should contemplate knowing how much is enough.  (From Dogen's Eight Awakening of Great Beings)

Immersed in a culture of acquisition and consumption, capitalism turns everything into commodities that can be acquired, bought and sold. In this context, humans are primarily defined as Consumers, valued for what we produce and consume. Billions of dollars are spent on ads to manipulate desires and fears with the promise of satisfaction if we just buy this item, or attain this symbol of success.

Living out how much is enough is radical in any place and time: It's always going against the grain of dissatisfaction that's inherent in the human condition. However, in a context where everything is translated into objects of consumption, the teaching itself is easily perverted: It too becomes a commodity. Thus, the challenge to enact how much is enough in these conditions should not be underestimated. 

Covid-19: Pause

In the book Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach says the first step in this practice is learning to pause. She defines pause as a "suspension of activity, a time of temporary disengagement when we are no longer moving toward any goal." (p. 51.)  This, she explains, allows us to be fully present, attentive, and listen.

Covid-19, with its disruption to our culture of consumerism and frantic activity, provides an opportunity to pause. I am grateful for the space to pay more attention to areas of life that matter most, even as I navigate the pandemic's stress and uncertainty while trying to keep up with my job and other responsibilities. I'm biking with my 17-year-old son. Sitting zazen with practitioners in Anchorage and Portland in the early morning hours via Zoom. Taking daily walks through the neighborhood and woods behind our house, sometimes accompanied by my wife or one of the children. Playing guitar and singing with my daughter as she learns to sing alto on old Southern Gospel hymns that I sang as a child...

Pause.