Wild Goose Sangha Action
At recent meetings of the Sangha at the Ashcroft Centre and at the recent weekend sesshin at the Ammerdown Centre we begun to realise that we are now well enough established with some good all round support from many people so we can now begin to look at ways in which we can further our commitment to helping people discover the value of Zen practice whatever their faith belief. As a result these are some of decisions that have been made.
1. The Flyer rather than being an occasional newsletter will from this issue become quarterly with an issue each November, February, May and August.
2. We are hoping to apply for charitable status registration which will mean that it will be possible for any donations to be gift aided. The board will be made up of those members who regularly attend the meetings at the Ashcroft centre plus maybe some others. We have yet to find however someone who will act as treasurer.
3. We intend to produce a tri-fold brochure detailing the aims and activities of the sangha. We will use this and other means to advertise the Sangha and its objectives.
4. We are planning to have a “Zen Taster day” somewhere in Swindon sometime in the New Year. Please let us know if you and anyone you know might be interested.
5. We are going to appeal for financial donations either large or small towards our work by those who are willing to become “Friends of the Wild Goose Sangha.” Readers can already start to make contributions either by cheque or by direct debit. For further information call 01793 759452 or email Patrick@northwall.plus.com
Readers may have other suggestions so please feel free to contact us on anything you think would be helpful.
Just recently for my annual retreat which is required as a Catholic priest I attended a week-long sesshin with the Stonewater Zen sangha at Crosby Hall, Liverpool. It was a wonderful experience and it gave me some welcome time for some solid sitting and reflection without having to hold a position of responsibility. I was especially helped by their teacher Keizan Sensei and one of the sehior students Ron Bell. They have even since spent some time helping me by email and I am hoping that a group from Stonewater will be able to come to one of our Zazenkai or Sessins at the Ammerdown Centre.
During my time at the sesshin I spent some of the time in deepening my study of the great thirteenth century Japanese Zen master Eithei Dogen. His Shobogenzo is rated as being amongst some of the best religious writings ever. He has so much depth that even a short piece can give much food for thought and can be deeply challenging. (I have especially been helped by a book by Francis Dojun Cook "How to raise an Ox" - people who saw me reading it thought I was taking up farming but it's an outline of Zen practice at taught by Master Dogen in his Shobogenzo - I recommend it to you as well if you are interested in Dogen or Zen practice.) This study though did make me stop and ask myself though why on earth should I as a Catholic priest of many years want to spend time studying a thirteenth century Buddhist writer. It was surely because if the Vatican II document on other faiths was serious in saying that we should accept and learn from “all that is good and true” in other faith traditions then it would surely be found in the writings of some of their greatest teachers. My study soon began to challenge me about my role as a Catholic priest. After all the whole of Christian orientation in the west seems to be orientated towards “Salvation” which simply put is the awareness of human sinfulness and the fact that “Jesus Christ died upon the Cross in order to save us from our sins.” Buddhism however is primarily orientated towards the liberation that comes from awakening to one’s own true inner nature which in turn is an awareness of the Oneness of all reality which incidentally equates well with the teaching of the Christian scriptures of all being one with God in Christ. The question however was still whether these two objectives were able to be reconciled in some way. My thoughts first went to the writings of some great modern women theologians like Mary Grey in England and Rosemary Radford Ruether who examine the whole concept of salvation starting with the fact that the word itself means “healing or “making whole.” In this way it is very close to the idea of liberation or setting free – in the case of Buddhism it is a freedom from the false idea of a totally separate self that causes us to be self centred and lacking compassion. Further reflection brought me to realise that the central teaching in the Eastern traditions in Christianity that tend more towards the Incarnation rather than the crucifixion. It is also worth noting that most of Jesus teaching was about how to live life. This seems much like the Zen masters who teach that “Zen is about life.” For Christians then our identity is made clear by the Incarnation and ratified in our baptism. The death of Christ and the resurrection are the positive assurances that nothing can annihilate who we truly are. In this way we are set free/liberated/saved from any need to achieve an identity but to live a life of compassion. I was able now to relax confidently not only into the Zen of Dogen which is the “Zen of practice” or the “Zen of Life” but into the practice of the early Christian Apophatic tradition of prayer. I was able in this way to enter fully, without question, into my Zazen and, like so many Catholics, Jews and Sufis as described by Kennedy Roshi; I found it not just a way of deepening my prayer life but of sitting in contemplation with people of other beliefs.
Right after I returned from this sesshin I lead a weekend Sesshin at The Ammerdown Centre for 20 people. It was a mixture of beginners and those who had been before. It was a solid time of practice and it seems to have done a lot to give The Wild Goose Sangha a real sense of identity and solidarity. It's true that there were some wjho found it very challenging though whcih made me remeber the difficulties that I had to start with way back in 1990 with Dr. Ruben Habito Roshi - and now I am a Sensei (teacher) myself!
Today I have my good friend Fr. Cyprian Consiglio, a Camaldolese Benedictiine Monk from Big Sur CA ( where I am an Oblate) to visit for a couple of days. He is a great admirer of Fr Bede Griffiths so I will take him to Prinknash Abbey tomorrow to visit where Fr. Bede began his monastic life before setting up his Ashram in India. Then in the evening he will do an evening of music, meditation and teaching at my church in Tetbury under the title "The Universal Call to Contemplation."
Here's something I got from Friends of Silence recently: When you think of the concept of "time" what comes to mind? Usually it is schedules and deadlines and rushing around! But there's another perspective...think of mountains, oceans rivers, ancient trees, those things of this world that suggest words like "eternal" and "everlasting". For we know that the concept of time is our idea, not our Creator's and there's no such artificial construct in eternity. Even if we have to schedule it by this world's idea of time, we can step into that stream of eternity by going within, entering the Great Silence. There we become part of it, and while we are there time no longer exists. Turning inward, becoming part of no-time, being just present to THIS MOMENT , refreshes us and often colours our perceptions so that when we return to this world of deadlines and time constraints, we are more able to "go with the flow" and view our world with new vision.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Michaelfest
Life has been very hectic in the parish and in my life. We have just finished our second annual Michaelfest at Tetbury Catholic Church. We had a good musical recital on Friday evening (September 24) but the attendance was sparse and the art exhibition was on Saturday with Tetbury Art Society contributing much of the artwork. In church we had an exhibition of the wonderful art of a parishioner Pat Sampson. The festive masses went well with Fr. Paul Lyons from the seminary at Wonersh preaching his theme was on the discipleship that stems from our baptism. The conclusion was an ecumenical Vesper service which included all the churches in Tetbury including St. Mary's Anglican church choir that contributed a psalm and an anthem. Fr. John Wright the vicar preached and without any previous consultation he also preached on discipleship and our common baptism which unites us all. I feel that my Zen work has taken a bit of a back burner with all the time I put in preparing for and at Tetbury for the Festival. My health doesn't seem to have been too good either what with sciatica and the a very heavy cold. But life goes on relentlessly. The Pope's visit went much better than expected and he did well to play to the crowds. However I personally still feel somewhat concerned that there is still the lack of implementation of the Vatican II teaching on collegiality and the power structure of the church to the diminishment of the authority of local bishops. I still feel that the Pope and the bishops have not really taken responsibility for their share in the child abuse scandal or done enough to help the victims. I also feel for all those theologians who have been so censured by the Curia without due process. There still seems so much injustice when we are supposed to be the champions of justice.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
OUR DAILY BREAD
Here is something Iwrote for the monthly magazine that goes to all the 4100 homes in Tetbury. I thought you might enjoy? it.
This is the season when we customarily celebrate our harvest thanksgiving. This year perhaps important than ever I am so conscious of the great gifts we receive from all those who work hard to provide us with our food. From my youth I remember that in our village church in rural north Devon we always had some sheaves of corn and a large loaf of bread fashioned in the shape of a sheaf of corn. Bread is such a basic part of food the world over and this year I am especially concerned for those many countries and regions in the world where the food crops have either been destroyed or at least diminished by either droughts or floods or, as in the case of Niger, both. So many people throughout the world simply do not have the necessary food to sustain life and the malnutrition is simply horrendous. It is these people that have come to my mind each time I say those words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” For Christians in those counties that are suffering food shortages this must be particularly poignant with a heartfelt plea that their lives will have enough to sustain them and their children. This has been the case of course right from those earliest biblical days when the prayer was written in the Gospels. But for those early Christians the mention of “Bread” also carried the meaning of the bread that they would receive in Holy Communion at the Eucharist. This gives a fuller meaning of course to the phrase “We become what we eat.” For them and for us “Bread” not only means their food but all that sustains our life. We realise that our all the elements of our lives, including the spiritual dimension, are nourished not only by the food we eat but in so many other ways as well.
An acute awareness of this intimate connection between the physical and the spiritual surely engenders a sense of compassion for those who are suffering any way. Just as receiving the Bread in Holy Communion demonstrates our oneness in Christ so we are at one with those who suffer. We are indeed also one with them and we too suffer with those who are suffering from the lack of the bread in both the physical and the spiritual sense. As we pray the Lord’s prayer we can particularly hold them in our hearts as at this is a time we can give thanks for all of that is truly nourishing enabling us to live the fullness of life. A few years ago I came across an interesting poem called “Bread” by the Irish poet Brendan Keneally which will perhaps point us in the right direction.
Bread
Someone else cut off my head
In a golden field.
Now I am re-created
By her fingers. This
Moulding is more delicate
Than a first kiss,
More deliberate than her own
Rising up
And lying down.
Even at my weakest, I am
Finer than anything
In this legendary garden.
Yet I am nothing till
She runs her fingers through me
And shapes me with her skill.
New & Selected Poems 1960-2004, Bloodaxe Books 2004
This is the season when we customarily celebrate our harvest thanksgiving. This year perhaps important than ever I am so conscious of the great gifts we receive from all those who work hard to provide us with our food. From my youth I remember that in our village church in rural north Devon we always had some sheaves of corn and a large loaf of bread fashioned in the shape of a sheaf of corn. Bread is such a basic part of food the world over and this year I am especially concerned for those many countries and regions in the world where the food crops have either been destroyed or at least diminished by either droughts or floods or, as in the case of Niger, both. So many people throughout the world simply do not have the necessary food to sustain life and the malnutrition is simply horrendous. It is these people that have come to my mind each time I say those words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” For Christians in those counties that are suffering food shortages this must be particularly poignant with a heartfelt plea that their lives will have enough to sustain them and their children. This has been the case of course right from those earliest biblical days when the prayer was written in the Gospels. But for those early Christians the mention of “Bread” also carried the meaning of the bread that they would receive in Holy Communion at the Eucharist. This gives a fuller meaning of course to the phrase “We become what we eat.” For them and for us “Bread” not only means their food but all that sustains our life. We realise that our all the elements of our lives, including the spiritual dimension, are nourished not only by the food we eat but in so many other ways as well.
An acute awareness of this intimate connection between the physical and the spiritual surely engenders a sense of compassion for those who are suffering any way. Just as receiving the Bread in Holy Communion demonstrates our oneness in Christ so we are at one with those who suffer. We are indeed also one with them and we too suffer with those who are suffering from the lack of the bread in both the physical and the spiritual sense. As we pray the Lord’s prayer we can particularly hold them in our hearts as at this is a time we can give thanks for all of that is truly nourishing enabling us to live the fullness of life. A few years ago I came across an interesting poem called “Bread” by the Irish poet Brendan Keneally which will perhaps point us in the right direction.
Bread
Someone else cut off my head
In a golden field.
Now I am re-created
By her fingers. This
Moulding is more delicate
Than a first kiss,
More deliberate than her own
Rising up
And lying down.
Even at my weakest, I am
Finer than anything
In this legendary garden.
Yet I am nothing till
She runs her fingers through me
And shapes me with her skill.
New & Selected Poems 1960-2004, Bloodaxe Books 2004
Thursday, September 2, 2010
September Already
Yes I can hardly believe that it is September already and for me it has brought a rather unpleasant "S" as well. I am suffering with a rather painful bout of sciatica which is quite de-energising!
Recently I watched an old film " The Man for All Seasons" - the story of St. Thomas More. I was particularly struck by the way that he remained faithful in his allegiance to the Catholic Church while at the same time so critical of many of the details of the institution. I guess that It where so many people are today particularly those who like me are committed to the central teachings of the Second Vatican Council which appear to be being undermined. I am especially speaking about the nature of the church and most notably the real implementation of collegiality with the Bishops really given authority to lead their own diocese rather than being controlled by out of touch figures in the Vatican curia. My dear friend Cardinal Hume had many a tussle with them and i take him as a model with his understanding of the church as "Communion" This is particularly evidenced today in the Vatican's control of local churches and their liturgy. I think the Bishops need to just simply say as a Body we are not going to do this. I think that there is a little precedent on this with the Catholic Bishops in Canada who decided to use the Catholic version of the NRSV translation for their liturgy. It was approved by the Cngregation for worship in the Vatican so they went ahead only to be told later by the CDF that they were not to use it as it had doctrinal flaws! The bishops simply said well they have the books all printed and they are using it already so they weren't going to stop! i think the Bishop's conferences should all take a similar line and just make their own decisions as that is what their ordinations define that they are capable of doing!
I am also finding Cynthia Bourgeault's book "The Wisdom Jesus" quite fascinating. it looks at Jesus in the Scriptures through a contemplative lens which is very powerful It is much like the last couple of books by Fr. Richard Rohr and also fits well with the work of Fr. Bruno Barnhart. The book is summed up well in words by Jim Marion " She invites us to follow Jesus's path of self-emptying love and she describes wisdom (contemplative) practices that we Christians can use every day to transform (Awaken) our own minds so that we too can see with the eyes of Christ" _ that seems to me to be a good description of what we who are Christians do when we practice Zen.
So what we should do now is quit reading this and sit in some form of contemplative silence for 25 minutes - RIGHT NOW!
Recently I watched an old film " The Man for All Seasons" - the story of St. Thomas More. I was particularly struck by the way that he remained faithful in his allegiance to the Catholic Church while at the same time so critical of many of the details of the institution. I guess that It where so many people are today particularly those who like me are committed to the central teachings of the Second Vatican Council which appear to be being undermined. I am especially speaking about the nature of the church and most notably the real implementation of collegiality with the Bishops really given authority to lead their own diocese rather than being controlled by out of touch figures in the Vatican curia. My dear friend Cardinal Hume had many a tussle with them and i take him as a model with his understanding of the church as "Communion" This is particularly evidenced today in the Vatican's control of local churches and their liturgy. I think the Bishops need to just simply say as a Body we are not going to do this. I think that there is a little precedent on this with the Catholic Bishops in Canada who decided to use the Catholic version of the NRSV translation for their liturgy. It was approved by the Cngregation for worship in the Vatican so they went ahead only to be told later by the CDF that they were not to use it as it had doctrinal flaws! The bishops simply said well they have the books all printed and they are using it already so they weren't going to stop! i think the Bishop's conferences should all take a similar line and just make their own decisions as that is what their ordinations define that they are capable of doing!
I am also finding Cynthia Bourgeault's book "The Wisdom Jesus" quite fascinating. it looks at Jesus in the Scriptures through a contemplative lens which is very powerful It is much like the last couple of books by Fr. Richard Rohr and also fits well with the work of Fr. Bruno Barnhart. The book is summed up well in words by Jim Marion " She invites us to follow Jesus's path of self-emptying love and she describes wisdom (contemplative) practices that we Christians can use every day to transform (Awaken) our own minds so that we too can see with the eyes of Christ" _ that seems to me to be a good description of what we who are Christians do when we practice Zen.
So what we should do now is quit reading this and sit in some form of contemplative silence for 25 minutes - RIGHT NOW!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
August 17 Stuff
Well the 26th Aniversary of my ordination as a Roman catholic priest on August 14, 1984 has come and gone! What a lot has gone on since that date. A remarkable 21 years in USA where ther was a vast enrichment of my life and ministry largely from the wonderfulk people that I encountered there and worked with. The members of the Monos Community deserve a special mention and its wonderful that after I handed over the leadership to Regina Decker it has gone from strength to strength. Osage Monastery also played a big part in it too by bringing me into contact with Bede Griffiths and through him to the Camalodese Benedictines at Big Sur where I am still an oblate. My 6 week hermitage experience under the guidance of Fr Bruno was really rather special and of course O+M also introduced me to Ruben Habito my first Zen teacher. In fact it was during last week that I went back to Ruben's book "Healing Breath" last week in my search to come to terms with all my feelings concerning the terrible human disasters occuring in our world at this time. It was of great help; so much so that my dharma talk to my Zen Sangha here in Cirencester used some thoughts I found there to enable me to give voice to my struggle as a Zen practitioner. Here are some notes from it:
Zen Master Hakuin's Song of Zazen ends with "This very body, the body of the Buddha" expresses powerfully the massge of Zen that "we need not look outside ourselves, what we seek is right here" "this is my Body" is used as a term in Christianity as well so we reognise that "This very body includes all that is in the entire universe!" The dropping off of Body and Mind called for by Master Dogen callls for a direct awareness that breaks through the Subject?object barrer created by the illusion arising from our ego- centred consciousness that makes a sharp distinction between all that is in this "skin-bag" and that which is outside. This is particlarly reeinforced by our Western culture stemming from Descartes and so many others. In the Christian tradition the whole 19th century suggestion that the natural world was there for humans to dominate also has produced an ego centricism that has clearly been extremely destructive. The findings aod modern science has undermined all of this of course and points us in the same direction of Hakuin's "This very body" A ancient Zen story recounts how we do not see a flower as it really is but only as it appears as an object. As Anais Nin wrote we only see things as WE are not as THEY are . The Zen meaning of compassion is as the word says "to suffer with" To recognise that we are ALL one body and that what happens in the universe is not seperate from us but it happens to us as well. We are to awaken from the unreality fo a dream world of the illusion that we are not all One in this very body of the great wide universe.
Zen Master Hakuin's Song of Zazen ends with "This very body, the body of the Buddha" expresses powerfully the massge of Zen that "we need not look outside ourselves, what we seek is right here" "this is my Body" is used as a term in Christianity as well so we reognise that "This very body includes all that is in the entire universe!" The dropping off of Body and Mind called for by Master Dogen callls for a direct awareness that breaks through the Subject?object barrer created by the illusion arising from our ego- centred consciousness that makes a sharp distinction between all that is in this "skin-bag" and that which is outside. This is particlarly reeinforced by our Western culture stemming from Descartes and so many others. In the Christian tradition the whole 19th century suggestion that the natural world was there for humans to dominate also has produced an ego centricism that has clearly been extremely destructive. The findings aod modern science has undermined all of this of course and points us in the same direction of Hakuin's "This very body" A ancient Zen story recounts how we do not see a flower as it really is but only as it appears as an object. As Anais Nin wrote we only see things as WE are not as THEY are . The Zen meaning of compassion is as the word says "to suffer with" To recognise that we are ALL one body and that what happens in the universe is not seperate from us but it happens to us as well. We are to awaken from the unreality fo a dream world of the illusion that we are not all One in this very body of the great wide universe.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sundry items of updating
I am sorry that I haven't been terribly reliable in writing up this blog on a regular basis. There are 2 main reasons really, one is that my life has been quite full with demand sboth from the parish that I am in charge of and also the fulfilment of my role as a Zen teacher. Aotner reason has been my doubt about whether anyone actually reads the blog. I have recently recived a couple of positive comments which have encouraged me to make the time to send a little more frequently.
A couple of months ago I wrote a simple introduction to Zen practice and a couple in the Wild Goose sangha set it up as a little booklet with the Title Let the Dragon Roar. In it I set our some very simple requirements for those who wished to be as admiited as a serious Zen student of the Wild Goose sangha. It was great that there were 9 who responded to this so we had a very moving admission ceremony to admit them on July 8th. These were all members who meet regularly at the Ashcroft Centre in Cirencester every Thursday evening. Hopefully there will be others who wish to make that more formal comittment but evrybody is welcome to join with us in our oractice and there is no need necessarily to take on the formal role of a student. However this does give some form and definition to those who wish to engage very seriously as a student.
the Catholic church in the UK is now energetically preparing for the Pope's visit. It seems to be a very costly affair with massive security as it is a State visit rather than purely a pastioral one. I must say that I ask to myself the question; "What would Jesus the Carpenter - the one who istructed Peter to put away his sword - say about all that?"
Three books ahve been brought to my attention recently and I think that you may be interested in checking them out especially f you are interested in Contemplative prayer /Zen practice.
The Essence of Zen - the teachings of Harada This is an excellant overview of Zen practice given by a great Japanese Zen Maser from the talks he gave to Western students on his trips to Europe & the USA.
The Flowing Bridge - Guidance on beginning Zen Koans This collection from Sister Elaine MacInnes is a most valuable help for those engaged in Zen practice. Studying Zeb koans of course needs to be done in conjunction with an authentic Zen teacher of course but this is helpful from an experienced Zen Master who is also a Christian Religious Sirts now in her 80's who was one of the first Christain to receive transmission. She is part of the SanboKyodan lineage.
The Wisdom Jesus Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest who darws on th Wisdom tradition of a few different religions to look once again at the teachings of Jesus in Scripture to see it in the light of the great wisdom tradition.
I have a Zazenkai (A day of Zen practice) coming up on september 4 at the Ammerdown Centre
and then we have our big weekend Michaelfest at the Parish in Tetbury on September 24 - 26 with a music recital, an art exhibition and our usual masses with Fr. Paul Lyons from St. John's seminary Wonersh as our special homilist. We end with an Ecumenical Vesper service on the Sunday evening led by the choir of St. Mary's Anglican church.
I have a Zen Taster Day in Canterbury on October 9 organised by one of my students Marcus Averback.
From October 25 - 29 I shall be away on my annual retreat with The Stonewater Zen Sangha in Liverpool.
On November 5 7 I have a short Zen Sesshin also at the Ammerdown centre.
Well that's enough of my doings etc. but PLEASE will you send me a note by email to tell me if you've read this so I know if its worth doing it patrick@northwall.plus.com
A couple of months ago I wrote a simple introduction to Zen practice and a couple in the Wild Goose sangha set it up as a little booklet with the Title Let the Dragon Roar. In it I set our some very simple requirements for those who wished to be as admiited as a serious Zen student of the Wild Goose sangha. It was great that there were 9 who responded to this so we had a very moving admission ceremony to admit them on July 8th. These were all members who meet regularly at the Ashcroft Centre in Cirencester every Thursday evening. Hopefully there will be others who wish to make that more formal comittment but evrybody is welcome to join with us in our oractice and there is no need necessarily to take on the formal role of a student. However this does give some form and definition to those who wish to engage very seriously as a student.
the Catholic church in the UK is now energetically preparing for the Pope's visit. It seems to be a very costly affair with massive security as it is a State visit rather than purely a pastioral one. I must say that I ask to myself the question; "What would Jesus the Carpenter - the one who istructed Peter to put away his sword - say about all that?"
Three books ahve been brought to my attention recently and I think that you may be interested in checking them out especially f you are interested in Contemplative prayer /Zen practice.
The Essence of Zen - the teachings of Harada This is an excellant overview of Zen practice given by a great Japanese Zen Maser from the talks he gave to Western students on his trips to Europe & the USA.
The Flowing Bridge - Guidance on beginning Zen Koans This collection from Sister Elaine MacInnes is a most valuable help for those engaged in Zen practice. Studying Zeb koans of course needs to be done in conjunction with an authentic Zen teacher of course but this is helpful from an experienced Zen Master who is also a Christian Religious Sirts now in her 80's who was one of the first Christain to receive transmission. She is part of the SanboKyodan lineage.
The Wisdom Jesus Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest who darws on th Wisdom tradition of a few different religions to look once again at the teachings of Jesus in Scripture to see it in the light of the great wisdom tradition.
I have a Zazenkai (A day of Zen practice) coming up on september 4 at the Ammerdown Centre
and then we have our big weekend Michaelfest at the Parish in Tetbury on September 24 - 26 with a music recital, an art exhibition and our usual masses with Fr. Paul Lyons from St. John's seminary Wonersh as our special homilist. We end with an Ecumenical Vesper service on the Sunday evening led by the choir of St. Mary's Anglican church.
I have a Zen Taster Day in Canterbury on October 9 organised by one of my students Marcus Averback.
From October 25 - 29 I shall be away on my annual retreat with The Stonewater Zen Sangha in Liverpool.
On November 5 7 I have a short Zen Sesshin also at the Ammerdown centre.
Well that's enough of my doings etc. but PLEASE will you send me a note by email to tell me if you've read this so I know if its worth doing it patrick@northwall.plus.com
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
ZEN GIIFTS TO CHRISTIANS SESSHIN 2010
It was a remarkable joy to have our first week-long sesshin at the Ammerdown Centre from May 21-27. Father Robert Kennedy Roshi came form the United States to help lead the sesshin with Fr. Patrick Sensei. We were doubly blessed though to have another Sensei from the USA in Ellen Birx. There were 40 people who came for the start but 10 were only able to stay for the weekend. They were all very committed to the practice which was quite obvious right from the beginning on the Friday evening. Jeremy Woodcock quickly established himself as a most competent head monk and throughout the week ran the zendo with a gentle firmness that encouraged everyone participating. Indeed Wild Goose Sangha members from the Ashcroft Centre in Cirencester fulfilled all the service roles for the sesshin. They were all exemplary and they all contributed to the whole success of the sesshin. We owe a debt of gratitude to Edmund and Helen, Jane, Paul, and Marcus for serving in this way. It was certainly good to also have the assistance of Elia who came with Roshi from New Jersey to help lead us in our chanting.
Because we had three teachers with us it was decided that instead of just one long and quite formal Teisho each day that we would have a shorter encouraging talk from each of the teachers present. Roshi Kennedy began each day at 6.45 am. Using one of the beautiful drawings by Amy Yee coupled with his own calligraphy he stated us off with a theme for the day’s practice. Among the most memorable themes were the nature of the searching, what is pure gift? And not knowing.
After the breakfast Ellen Sensei gave her talks which were all of the highest calibre well representing her many years of practice and teaching. Each talk was powerfully illustrated with real life experiences from her many years in the nursing profession. She encouraged participants further in the themes set by Roshi and they were all particularly memorable because of the powerful presentation of some amazing stories.
It was interesting to have another voice and slightly different slant on those same themes from Patrick who spoke when we restarted after lunch and rest at 3pm each day. Each teacher used poetry as something like the “capping verse” at the end of Koans which gave a memorable few words to take into the practice of sitting in Zazen.
On Monday afternoon there was lovely recital of Japanese flute music given by Stephanie Hiller who lives near Ammerdown at Wells. It was the most beautiful and haunting music as traditionally used by a group of Zen monks in Japan. Stephanie had studied this for many years having discovered the practice when a young classical flautist studying at Dartington Hall. She joined with us for an hours sitting Zazen after her recital and talk on the nature of what is termed “Blowing Zen.” It was a powerful experience of a book by the Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan on the Mysticism of Music.
Having three teachers present meant that everyone who wished had a chance to go at one of the four periods of Daisan each day to one or other of the teachers. This is a very important part of Zen practice as it enables the practitioner to address the particular issues that arise in their own sitting. The teacher will then be able to provide the necessary particular help that they require to deepen their experience. This proved to be a real blessing.
After the day’s Zen practice which very powerfully fulfilled the title of the sesshin bringing us many of the gifts that Zen brings to those of the Christian faith who have a particular attraction to the most ancient but often forgotten Apophatic Contemplative we ended the day with a celebration of a Eucharist in the Zendo for all those who wished to attend. It was a lovely way to end the day and it really affirmed the whole time together as an authentic experience of interfaith dialogue.
One cannot have such an intense immersion into Zen practice without some reasonable physical conditions for the body. The Ammerdown Centre more that adequately provided all that we needed in that area. The beds and rooms were comfortable, the food was of the most excellent quality and every need was well catered for by the warm and friendly staff. In the absolutely beautiful weather we had for the whole week the grounds and gardens were simply splendid and a feast for the eyes.
As the participants left there was a deep rooted sense of well-being and a real sense of value. These few days of quite intense Zen practice had given us all quite different approach to life. We stepped out with hope and courage ready to accept and engage in whatever we experienced in our day to day living. We were awakened to a real sense of awareness of each moment.
We left then having written May 27 to June 2 2011 in our diaries to reserve it for next year’s seshin.
Because we had three teachers with us it was decided that instead of just one long and quite formal Teisho each day that we would have a shorter encouraging talk from each of the teachers present. Roshi Kennedy began each day at 6.45 am. Using one of the beautiful drawings by Amy Yee coupled with his own calligraphy he stated us off with a theme for the day’s practice. Among the most memorable themes were the nature of the searching, what is pure gift? And not knowing.
After the breakfast Ellen Sensei gave her talks which were all of the highest calibre well representing her many years of practice and teaching. Each talk was powerfully illustrated with real life experiences from her many years in the nursing profession. She encouraged participants further in the themes set by Roshi and they were all particularly memorable because of the powerful presentation of some amazing stories.
It was interesting to have another voice and slightly different slant on those same themes from Patrick who spoke when we restarted after lunch and rest at 3pm each day. Each teacher used poetry as something like the “capping verse” at the end of Koans which gave a memorable few words to take into the practice of sitting in Zazen.
On Monday afternoon there was lovely recital of Japanese flute music given by Stephanie Hiller who lives near Ammerdown at Wells. It was the most beautiful and haunting music as traditionally used by a group of Zen monks in Japan. Stephanie had studied this for many years having discovered the practice when a young classical flautist studying at Dartington Hall. She joined with us for an hours sitting Zazen after her recital and talk on the nature of what is termed “Blowing Zen.” It was a powerful experience of a book by the Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan on the Mysticism of Music.
Having three teachers present meant that everyone who wished had a chance to go at one of the four periods of Daisan each day to one or other of the teachers. This is a very important part of Zen practice as it enables the practitioner to address the particular issues that arise in their own sitting. The teacher will then be able to provide the necessary particular help that they require to deepen their experience. This proved to be a real blessing.
After the day’s Zen practice which very powerfully fulfilled the title of the sesshin bringing us many of the gifts that Zen brings to those of the Christian faith who have a particular attraction to the most ancient but often forgotten Apophatic Contemplative we ended the day with a celebration of a Eucharist in the Zendo for all those who wished to attend. It was a lovely way to end the day and it really affirmed the whole time together as an authentic experience of interfaith dialogue.
One cannot have such an intense immersion into Zen practice without some reasonable physical conditions for the body. The Ammerdown Centre more that adequately provided all that we needed in that area. The beds and rooms were comfortable, the food was of the most excellent quality and every need was well catered for by the warm and friendly staff. In the absolutely beautiful weather we had for the whole week the grounds and gardens were simply splendid and a feast for the eyes.
As the participants left there was a deep rooted sense of well-being and a real sense of value. These few days of quite intense Zen practice had given us all quite different approach to life. We stepped out with hope and courage ready to accept and engage in whatever we experienced in our day to day living. We were awakened to a real sense of awareness of each moment.
We left then having written May 27 to June 2 2011 in our diaries to reserve it for next year’s seshin.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
NEXT
Having had the little break I am now looking forward to the Zen Seshin with Robert Kennedy at Ammerdon towards the end of May. My studies are taking me to the teaching document of the English Catholic bishops on interreligious dialogue which on the whole is quite positive, the writings the the theological giant of the 6th Century Maximus the Confessor and the writings of samual Beckett especially his monologue "The unnameable" These last 2 items have some deep significance for a Zen practitioner. Maximus is a profound and exhaustive teacher on the early church's theology of apophatic prayer and in a similar fashion the beckett material also shows the limitations of language to express the deepest down things of life.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
REFLECTIONS
Well we have just returned from 5 days visiting two of our children and their four children in the Newcastle-0n -Tyne area. It was a really good and interesting experience. We hadn't been there for almost 5 years but it was nearly 40 years ago that we actually lived there. What a change since then! First is the very noticeable amount of cars and in spit of all the many roads that have been built as express ways and by passes there is still jams in places but then in the cities they did all those years ago as well. In the environment though it was noticeable that the shipbuilding, coal mining and heavy industry has all gone now. Thus the rivers Tyne and Ear have far less pollution and the riverbanks are now easier on the eye and the natural world is more visible. Perhaps it is no great loss that the terribly demanding and dangerous work involved in those heavy industries is no longer there and in its place there seems to be an upsurge in places of recreation and entertainment. Is life easier? Are residents happier? Are they better off financially and in all other ways? It's hard to judge but it certainly is very different.
We had a delightful trip with our Son Mark and his wife to Edinburgh. he took a scenic route through the Northumberland countryside through moorland with magnificent views and past Keilder with its Dam the largest human-made body of water in Europe set in the largest human-made forest in Europe. The shoreline of the lake is now 27.5 miles long and it was built from 1975 - 1982 when it was opened by the queen. Interestingly our youngest son Christopher did some work on the electrics there in the latter part on the construction. But the village around the remote farms and the remote shepherd's dwellings made it all very spectacular. The moors were covered in sheep with their newly born lambs and the wild life was left undisturbed in their natural habitat. How splendid! We had lunch in the ancient town of Jedburgh so connected historically with Mary Queen of Scots and we ate lunch in the shadow of the ruins of its ancient abbey church. The end of the journey was at the campus of Herriot Watt University on the outskirts of Edinburgh where we saw our grandson Peter who is in his second year as a student there. It was a lovely campus and it was goo to see Peter. He seemed very happy now after a difficult first year and we were pleased that he had found a good partner in Dax (Alan) that was clearly a real blessing for him. It was so good to see him and to know that he is faring well.
A trip to the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby came next day. It is an ancient fishing town that we have always enjoyed yet now it mostly relies on tourism for its economy. The last time I was there many years ago it was the weekend of a the annual folk music festival. This time was the annual "Goth" gathering. Goths are people who dress in a particular style involving mainly black with some red and a lot of metal accessories with chains,studs and spikes etc. They are an amazing sight to behold and although many would I am sure be horrified they seemed to be well accepted in Whitby and it was fun to see them there enjoying their time showing off their costumes and meeting others who shared their interest. It was interesting to see the wide age range of those clearly recognisable as "Goths" There were some well into the age of "Senior Citizens" often dressed in what seemed Victorian dress and really quite smart right down to teenagers. and the age difference didn't seem to matter to them at all. It was fun and a cause of great amusement to us as we looked at them, the harbour and the boats. We had lunch in the legendary "Magpie" a fish restaurant which has been highly commended nationally which one usualy has to queue for a long time to get in. The menu was vast and the portions "Yorkshire style large" I had monk fish for the first time and it was delicious! The coat drew us next day to Seahouses and the Northumberland coastline which has its own particular attractiveness. It was a trip down memory lane for sure and there we saw few changes really after all these years. There was a brief visit to the magnificent city of Durham with its splendid Norman Cathedral where I was ordained as an Anglican priest over 40 years ago now. Barely any change there with either the streets the Castle or the Cathedral. It just gave me a warm inner glow and a instant memory of that event and all that has happened since then. What a life I have had! What experiences, changes and great people have been an influence and encouragement to me. I have been richly blessed for sure. And now having see Clare with her artistic talent, Sarah with her love of literature and books as well as David now set on his studies to be a lawyer all I can hope and pray is that they get as much out of life as I have done so far.
We had a delightful trip with our Son Mark and his wife to Edinburgh. he took a scenic route through the Northumberland countryside through moorland with magnificent views and past Keilder with its Dam the largest human-made body of water in Europe set in the largest human-made forest in Europe. The shoreline of the lake is now 27.5 miles long and it was built from 1975 - 1982 when it was opened by the queen. Interestingly our youngest son Christopher did some work on the electrics there in the latter part on the construction. But the village around the remote farms and the remote shepherd's dwellings made it all very spectacular. The moors were covered in sheep with their newly born lambs and the wild life was left undisturbed in their natural habitat. How splendid! We had lunch in the ancient town of Jedburgh so connected historically with Mary Queen of Scots and we ate lunch in the shadow of the ruins of its ancient abbey church. The end of the journey was at the campus of Herriot Watt University on the outskirts of Edinburgh where we saw our grandson Peter who is in his second year as a student there. It was a lovely campus and it was goo to see Peter. He seemed very happy now after a difficult first year and we were pleased that he had found a good partner in Dax (Alan) that was clearly a real blessing for him. It was so good to see him and to know that he is faring well.
A trip to the North Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby came next day. It is an ancient fishing town that we have always enjoyed yet now it mostly relies on tourism for its economy. The last time I was there many years ago it was the weekend of a the annual folk music festival. This time was the annual "Goth" gathering. Goths are people who dress in a particular style involving mainly black with some red and a lot of metal accessories with chains,studs and spikes etc. They are an amazing sight to behold and although many would I am sure be horrified they seemed to be well accepted in Whitby and it was fun to see them there enjoying their time showing off their costumes and meeting others who shared their interest. It was interesting to see the wide age range of those clearly recognisable as "Goths" There were some well into the age of "Senior Citizens" often dressed in what seemed Victorian dress and really quite smart right down to teenagers. and the age difference didn't seem to matter to them at all. It was fun and a cause of great amusement to us as we looked at them, the harbour and the boats. We had lunch in the legendary "Magpie" a fish restaurant which has been highly commended nationally which one usualy has to queue for a long time to get in. The menu was vast and the portions "Yorkshire style large" I had monk fish for the first time and it was delicious! The coat drew us next day to Seahouses and the Northumberland coastline which has its own particular attractiveness. It was a trip down memory lane for sure and there we saw few changes really after all these years. There was a brief visit to the magnificent city of Durham with its splendid Norman Cathedral where I was ordained as an Anglican priest over 40 years ago now. Barely any change there with either the streets the Castle or the Cathedral. It just gave me a warm inner glow and a instant memory of that event and all that has happened since then. What a life I have had! What experiences, changes and great people have been an influence and encouragement to me. I have been richly blessed for sure. And now having see Clare with her artistic talent, Sarah with her love of literature and books as well as David now set on his studies to be a lawyer all I can hope and pray is that they get as much out of life as I have done so far.
Monday, April 19, 2010
April 19,2010
This is delayed as the time to set down all my thoughts has been taken up with things that need to be done with regard to my parish at Tetbury, my Zen group, my Merton interest and my family. Yes there's been a lot of "stuff." So let me take in time sequence
Easter - I spent quite a lot of time preparing for the Paschal Triduum liturgies in my parish. As it was first year for me there I wanted to prepare carefully and get the liturgy done in the best possible way with good wording and music as well as good arrangement for the various actions. The end result I must say was wonderful. there was a tremendous response from the people and it all flowed really well. Unfortunately the weather took its toll especially on the Easter Vigil so we couldn't light an Easter fire outside but we did mange as best we could in the circumstances.
Merton - as soon a Easter was over there was a day's gap and then Tony Bannon came to stay with us for couple of days . Tony is the Director of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. It is a most prestigious place with the largest archive in private hands in the world. Tony is a most competent director and much of its success is due to his directorship. He is a great intellect with an encyclopedic knowledge of literature, film and technology. A truly Renaissance man! he was such enjoyable company and it was good to show him something of the Cotswolds and to engage in conversation with him. He was giving a workshop at the Merton Conference and I was to do the concluding Eucharist liturgy with a homily so we were both working on our material.
Here is my eventual text.
Merton Conference 2010 Mass homily
You can
Die for it
An idea
on the world. People
have done so
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound
to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But
this morning
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar fabric of dawn, I thought
of China
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun
blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?
What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
Ever and ever
For all of us? Call it
Whatever you want, it is
Happiness, it is another one
Of the ways to enter
Fire
This poem written by Mary Oliver seems to capture not only something of the theme found in The night Spirit and the dawn air but also the words of today’s readings from our liturgy. As we look around the world in which we live just outside our front door or through the magic of television to so many areas of the world we see an immense amount of brokenness, pain violence, poverty exploitation and abuse. It is all the issues that Merton saw from outside the door of Gethsemani. And Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is really a collection of personal reflections on those contemporary issues. Our gospel today talks about ‘seeing’ - a word that goes right to the heart of contemplative practice! As the great Zen teachers often say “we look but we do not see.” For this seeing is not merely about physical vision but to see into the true nature of all reality. Jesus challenge when he says “Blessed are those who have not seen” is to those who haven’t seen in a physical sense nor in it's fuller sense with what is sometimes described as the ‘third’ or ‘contemplative eye’ that sees into a deeper truth. So what we may ask is this deeper truth I believe that the answer is to be found in the words of John on the Book of Revelation when he states clearly that he is one with those people for whom he is writing. He shares in their sufferings with them. In the words of a Buddhist he sees with the eye of compassion – that he is all part of the one reality with them. Merton has this precise experience as he describes the ‘opening of his eye’ on the corner of Fourth and Walnut as it was then! He writes “It was like waking from a dream………the whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream.” Right at the end of this section of Conjectures Merton also movingly describes his experience during the night watch when he looks into the novice’s scriptorium and seems to have deep experience of his solidarity and love for all the novices. He feels at one with them in a way that seems to transcend the fact that he was their novice master. Clearly Merton was well aware of the need to “see” in this way. Yet we cannot achieve this for ourselves we can only prepare ourselves to be able to recognise it when our own eyes are opened. Remember that going to the top of the hill in the early morning doesn’t make the sun rise but we have to do that if we wish to see it when it does. So how may we come to see in this way? Well it certainly isn’t acquired by rushing into all sorts of good works! Again hear some cautionary words from Merton:
“A great deal of virtue and piety is simply the easy price to pay in order to justify a life that is essentially trifling.”
He carries on:
“There is then, a great deal of busy-ness as people invent things to do when in fact there is very little to be done. Yet we are overwhelmed with jobs, duties, tasks, assignments, ‘missions’ of every kind. At every moment we are sent north, south, east and west….to the four corners of the universe to decide something, to sign something….. we fly in all directions to sell ourselves, thus justifying the absolute nothingness of our lives”
Earlier he had written on the Ox Mountain parable of Mencius of the importance of the night spirit and the dawn breath in restoring to life the forest that had been cut down. For he points out that “without the night spirit and the dawn breath, silence passivity, rest, man’s (sic) nature cannot be itself” Is this not the same breath that Jesus breathed on his disciples that we heard about in the gospel? It is in silence and stillness that we begin to see into our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. We awaken from the illusory dream of a wholly separate existence.
To take this one step further Merton tells of his reading of the wonderful 14th century Dame Julian of Norwich. He rightly draws attention to her phrase that “all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well” These are no pollyannish trivial or sentimental words of a naive optimist but a deep seeing into a secret that is the reality of the whole significance of the paschal mystery which Easter celebrates. It is a message of hope and endurance that enables Merton to write:
To have a wise heart it seems to me is to live centred on this dynamism and this secret hope. It is the key to our life…..the wise heart remains in hope and in contradiction, in sorrow and in joy……the wise heart lives in Christ.
Opening Prayer:
God of life each year when we celebrate the feast of Easter you enliven the faith of your holy people. Open our hearts today to the Spirit Jesus breathes on us that we may be filled with the power of compassion and love. Send us out to greet the world with the Easter word of peace and to share with all the hope that is promised by the resurrection. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Closing Prayer:
Most loving God we have celebrated to gift of the Paschal mysteries and we ask that you will continue to open our eyes that we may see the many life-giving ways your spirit is at work in the world and be true sources of encouragement to all who are without hope. We ask this as the body of Christ and in Jesus name.
Tony's workshop which I chaired went well also.
Maximus the Confessor
It was enjoyable to meet another friend of Tony's from the USA. Roger Lipsey. A write and scholar with an interest in merton and in contemplative prayer. The three of us with another friend Paul Lyons met in the early morning during the conference for an hour's silent sitting which was good with all the words we were bombarded with at the talks and discussions. I discovered that Roger was also interested i St. Maximus the Confessor so we agreed to share our explorations into his writings etc. I began as soon as I returned when at the regular meeting of our Wild Goose Sangha for sitting Zazen I spoke with Janet Williams who is a member of the Sangha and a good patristic scholar so I got some leads from her and she also sent me some papers she had written on Maximus which are really interesting. If anybody reading this have any thoughts on this subject I would love to hear from you. Maximus was a great member of the early Christian apophatic contemplative tradition of prayer. Last week Friday we went to Hay-on-Wye and visited many of the second hand book store there. I manged to get a copy of a book by Aidan Nichols on Maximus called "Byzantine Gospel - Maximus the Confessor in Modern Scholarship" It came highly recommended to me so I look forward to reading that. I got a couple of Zen books as well. An early book by Roshi Philip Kapleau "Zen Dawn in the West" and a little anthology of Zen quotations : here is one
"When I begin to sit with the dawn in solitude, I begin the really live.
It makes me treasure every single moment of life"
Abuse Scandals
Naturally I am troubled by all that we read, hear and see in the media! I find it hard though to put all my thoughts and feelings into words. I am deeply ashamed as a Christan and as a catholic at not only the abuse itself which is unspeakably bad but that there has been deliberate cover up by the authorities is just the most terrible sin and crime. the Church in Ireland seems to have opened up a whole world of corruption not only there but in other countries as well. Even the Pope himself is accused by mishandling the situation in his home diocese and while Head of the CDF. Some of the stories seem to be wrong or distorted and the whole affair is deeply wounding for those abused and for those wrongly accused. What are the real facts. perhaps we will never truly know but there does seem to be division and corruption at the centre of the Vatican and the whole thing is just nauseating! BUT these people no matter who they are are NOT the whole of the church. There are those who so easily say "the church" as if it was some group or official body out there. The truth is WE are the church along with countless of wonderfully faithful and innocent people who struggle to live lives that are life giving and wholesome. As I See it the real problem will never be addressed until we implement the teaching of Vatican II on collegiality fully and get rid of the power systems and secrecy that lies at the centre of church life. Meanwhile the faithful people carry on with their wonderful lives of service and goodness. I saw the beautiful work done by Catholic Charities in Tulsa, the work with the prisons, the homeless and the deep prayer of spirituality of people like those in the Monos Community, those at Morning Star Zendo and those who come to the Zen retreats at Ammerdown and those in the Wild Goose Sangha. THEY are the church that we need to remember and They are by far and away the majority. I will not leave them or the Catholic church and that they are not stigmatised I will do all I can to bring those who have brought shame on the church to take ownership of their failings and seek ways to set in place systems that prevent such things happening again.
Some feed back please What say you?
Easter - I spent quite a lot of time preparing for the Paschal Triduum liturgies in my parish. As it was first year for me there I wanted to prepare carefully and get the liturgy done in the best possible way with good wording and music as well as good arrangement for the various actions. The end result I must say was wonderful. there was a tremendous response from the people and it all flowed really well. Unfortunately the weather took its toll especially on the Easter Vigil so we couldn't light an Easter fire outside but we did mange as best we could in the circumstances.
Merton - as soon a Easter was over there was a day's gap and then Tony Bannon came to stay with us for couple of days . Tony is the Director of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. It is a most prestigious place with the largest archive in private hands in the world. Tony is a most competent director and much of its success is due to his directorship. He is a great intellect with an encyclopedic knowledge of literature, film and technology. A truly Renaissance man! he was such enjoyable company and it was good to show him something of the Cotswolds and to engage in conversation with him. He was giving a workshop at the Merton Conference and I was to do the concluding Eucharist liturgy with a homily so we were both working on our material.
Here is my eventual text.
Merton Conference 2010 Mass homily
You can
Die for it
An idea
on the world. People
have done so
brilliantly,
letting
their small bodies be bound
to the stake,
creating
an unforgettable
fury of light. But
this morning
climbing the familiar hills
in the familiar fabric of dawn, I thought
of China
and India
and Europe, and I thought
how the sun
blazes
for everyone just
so joyfully
as it rises
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and I thought
I am so many!
What is my name?
What is the name
of the deep breath I would take
Ever and ever
For all of us? Call it
Whatever you want, it is
Happiness, it is another one
Of the ways to enter
Fire
This poem written by Mary Oliver seems to capture not only something of the theme found in The night Spirit and the dawn air but also the words of today’s readings from our liturgy. As we look around the world in which we live just outside our front door or through the magic of television to so many areas of the world we see an immense amount of brokenness, pain violence, poverty exploitation and abuse. It is all the issues that Merton saw from outside the door of Gethsemani. And Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander is really a collection of personal reflections on those contemporary issues. Our gospel today talks about ‘seeing’ - a word that goes right to the heart of contemplative practice! As the great Zen teachers often say “we look but we do not see.” For this seeing is not merely about physical vision but to see into the true nature of all reality. Jesus challenge when he says “Blessed are those who have not seen” is to those who haven’t seen in a physical sense nor in it's fuller sense with what is sometimes described as the ‘third’ or ‘contemplative eye’ that sees into a deeper truth. So what we may ask is this deeper truth I believe that the answer is to be found in the words of John on the Book of Revelation when he states clearly that he is one with those people for whom he is writing. He shares in their sufferings with them. In the words of a Buddhist he sees with the eye of compassion – that he is all part of the one reality with them. Merton has this precise experience as he describes the ‘opening of his eye’ on the corner of Fourth and Walnut as it was then! He writes “It was like waking from a dream………the whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream.” Right at the end of this section of Conjectures Merton also movingly describes his experience during the night watch when he looks into the novice’s scriptorium and seems to have deep experience of his solidarity and love for all the novices. He feels at one with them in a way that seems to transcend the fact that he was their novice master. Clearly Merton was well aware of the need to “see” in this way. Yet we cannot achieve this for ourselves we can only prepare ourselves to be able to recognise it when our own eyes are opened. Remember that going to the top of the hill in the early morning doesn’t make the sun rise but we have to do that if we wish to see it when it does. So how may we come to see in this way? Well it certainly isn’t acquired by rushing into all sorts of good works! Again hear some cautionary words from Merton:
“A great deal of virtue and piety is simply the easy price to pay in order to justify a life that is essentially trifling.”
He carries on:
“There is then, a great deal of busy-ness as people invent things to do when in fact there is very little to be done. Yet we are overwhelmed with jobs, duties, tasks, assignments, ‘missions’ of every kind. At every moment we are sent north, south, east and west….to the four corners of the universe to decide something, to sign something….. we fly in all directions to sell ourselves, thus justifying the absolute nothingness of our lives”
Earlier he had written on the Ox Mountain parable of Mencius of the importance of the night spirit and the dawn breath in restoring to life the forest that had been cut down. For he points out that “without the night spirit and the dawn breath, silence passivity, rest, man’s (sic) nature cannot be itself” Is this not the same breath that Jesus breathed on his disciples that we heard about in the gospel? It is in silence and stillness that we begin to see into our own true nature and the true nature of all reality. We awaken from the illusory dream of a wholly separate existence.
To take this one step further Merton tells of his reading of the wonderful 14th century Dame Julian of Norwich. He rightly draws attention to her phrase that “all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well” These are no pollyannish trivial or sentimental words of a naive optimist but a deep seeing into a secret that is the reality of the whole significance of the paschal mystery which Easter celebrates. It is a message of hope and endurance that enables Merton to write:
To have a wise heart it seems to me is to live centred on this dynamism and this secret hope. It is the key to our life…..the wise heart remains in hope and in contradiction, in sorrow and in joy……the wise heart lives in Christ.
Opening Prayer:
God of life each year when we celebrate the feast of Easter you enliven the faith of your holy people. Open our hearts today to the Spirit Jesus breathes on us that we may be filled with the power of compassion and love. Send us out to greet the world with the Easter word of peace and to share with all the hope that is promised by the resurrection. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Closing Prayer:
Most loving God we have celebrated to gift of the Paschal mysteries and we ask that you will continue to open our eyes that we may see the many life-giving ways your spirit is at work in the world and be true sources of encouragement to all who are without hope. We ask this as the body of Christ and in Jesus name.
Tony's workshop which I chaired went well also.
Maximus the Confessor
It was enjoyable to meet another friend of Tony's from the USA. Roger Lipsey. A write and scholar with an interest in merton and in contemplative prayer. The three of us with another friend Paul Lyons met in the early morning during the conference for an hour's silent sitting which was good with all the words we were bombarded with at the talks and discussions. I discovered that Roger was also interested i St. Maximus the Confessor so we agreed to share our explorations into his writings etc. I began as soon as I returned when at the regular meeting of our Wild Goose Sangha for sitting Zazen I spoke with Janet Williams who is a member of the Sangha and a good patristic scholar so I got some leads from her and she also sent me some papers she had written on Maximus which are really interesting. If anybody reading this have any thoughts on this subject I would love to hear from you. Maximus was a great member of the early Christian apophatic contemplative tradition of prayer. Last week Friday we went to Hay-on-Wye and visited many of the second hand book store there. I manged to get a copy of a book by Aidan Nichols on Maximus called "Byzantine Gospel - Maximus the Confessor in Modern Scholarship" It came highly recommended to me so I look forward to reading that. I got a couple of Zen books as well. An early book by Roshi Philip Kapleau "Zen Dawn in the West" and a little anthology of Zen quotations : here is one
"When I begin to sit with the dawn in solitude, I begin the really live.
It makes me treasure every single moment of life"
Abuse Scandals
Naturally I am troubled by all that we read, hear and see in the media! I find it hard though to put all my thoughts and feelings into words. I am deeply ashamed as a Christan and as a catholic at not only the abuse itself which is unspeakably bad but that there has been deliberate cover up by the authorities is just the most terrible sin and crime. the Church in Ireland seems to have opened up a whole world of corruption not only there but in other countries as well. Even the Pope himself is accused by mishandling the situation in his home diocese and while Head of the CDF. Some of the stories seem to be wrong or distorted and the whole affair is deeply wounding for those abused and for those wrongly accused. What are the real facts. perhaps we will never truly know but there does seem to be division and corruption at the centre of the Vatican and the whole thing is just nauseating! BUT these people no matter who they are are NOT the whole of the church. There are those who so easily say "the church" as if it was some group or official body out there. The truth is WE are the church along with countless of wonderfully faithful and innocent people who struggle to live lives that are life giving and wholesome. As I See it the real problem will never be addressed until we implement the teaching of Vatican II on collegiality fully and get rid of the power systems and secrecy that lies at the centre of church life. Meanwhile the faithful people carry on with their wonderful lives of service and goodness. I saw the beautiful work done by Catholic Charities in Tulsa, the work with the prisons, the homeless and the deep prayer of spirituality of people like those in the Monos Community, those at Morning Star Zendo and those who come to the Zen retreats at Ammerdown and those in the Wild Goose Sangha. THEY are the church that we need to remember and They are by far and away the majority. I will not leave them or the Catholic church and that they are not stigmatised I will do all I can to bring those who have brought shame on the church to take ownership of their failings and seek ways to set in place systems that prevent such things happening again.
Some feed back please What say you?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
A Bullfrog singing OM in the creek
Strange title but it is a little quote from the beginning of Thomas Merton's "The Night Spirit and the Dawn Air" in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. I am re-reading it in preparation for the Merton conference on the weekend after Easter at Oakham School. But this is just one of the items that I have on the table at the moment. You will see from this blog that my mind is so full of stuff - is it all rubbish? Who knows but it makes me feel I have a mind awhirl like a blender!
Today is the 30th. anniversary of the murder of Oscar Romero the great archbishop of El Salvador. he was shot while saying Mass by the military for his support of the poor. He was an interesting man who was somewhat relucatantly made Archbishop and at the time was very conservative supporting the status quo. However his exposure to the plight of the poor made him a courageous supporter and those who were marginalised and exploited. He was fearless in opposition to the oppressors and saw clearly the connection of faith and justice in the Christian Gospels. he was an apostolic giant thinking in many ways just like Thomas Merton. I must say that this connection has been the foundation of my own spirituality. It is best summarised by Romero "The beautiful but harsh truth that our Christian faith does not separate us from the world but immerses us in it." To parody a saying from St. Irenaeus in Ancient times he goes on to say "The glory of God is the poor fully alive." I sat Zazen today in my own poverty of Spirit in solidarity with all the poor and exploited of the world.
I have been very distressed about the child abuse and more especially about the secrecy and cover-up. I find annoying so much of the rubbish that is spoken about the role of homosexuality and celibacy as well. Of course I am opposed to an enforced celibacy and it can only be a chosen path it seems to me by those who have that charism. Our sexual preference tool is something biological and comes with us from the womb.
An enormous amount of time has been put into my preparation for the Paschal Triduum and Easter liturgies. It is such an important time and in my arrogance perhaps I work at trying to arrive at what I view is perfection. Am I to caught up in the superficial and trivial? I know that at Zen Mountain Monastery I learnt the importance of liturgy done right and that resonates with my own passion to the liturgy of which I preside being done right! Of course I am also concerned to provide really excellent homilies or do I do this just for self aggrandisement?
Now back to Merton there are such a lot of wonderful quotes in this "Night Spirit" Here's a few that caught my attention.
Here is an unspeakable secret: paradise is all around us and we do not understand. It is wide open. The sword is taken away, but we do not know it.
Our attitude toward nature is simply an extension of our attitude toward ourselves, and toward one another. We are free to be at peace with ourselves and others, and also with nature.
God is asking me the unworthy, to forget my unworthiness and that of all my brothers [and sisters] and dare to advance in the love which has redeemed and renewed us all in God's likeness. And to laugh, after all, at all the preposterous ideas of "worthiness".
Here is one that is very Zen like it seems to me!
Life is, or should be nothing but a struggle to seek truth:yet what we seek is really the truth that we already possess. Truth is mine in the reality of life as it is given to me to live: yet to take life thoughtlessly, passively as it comes , is to renounce the struggle and purification which are necessary. One cannot simply open [one's]eyes and see.
Well I think that is more than enough for now. So back to my own thoughts and await yours too!
Today is the 30th. anniversary of the murder of Oscar Romero the great archbishop of El Salvador. he was shot while saying Mass by the military for his support of the poor. He was an interesting man who was somewhat relucatantly made Archbishop and at the time was very conservative supporting the status quo. However his exposure to the plight of the poor made him a courageous supporter and those who were marginalised and exploited. He was fearless in opposition to the oppressors and saw clearly the connection of faith and justice in the Christian Gospels. he was an apostolic giant thinking in many ways just like Thomas Merton. I must say that this connection has been the foundation of my own spirituality. It is best summarised by Romero "The beautiful but harsh truth that our Christian faith does not separate us from the world but immerses us in it." To parody a saying from St. Irenaeus in Ancient times he goes on to say "The glory of God is the poor fully alive." I sat Zazen today in my own poverty of Spirit in solidarity with all the poor and exploited of the world.
I have been very distressed about the child abuse and more especially about the secrecy and cover-up. I find annoying so much of the rubbish that is spoken about the role of homosexuality and celibacy as well. Of course I am opposed to an enforced celibacy and it can only be a chosen path it seems to me by those who have that charism. Our sexual preference tool is something biological and comes with us from the womb.
An enormous amount of time has been put into my preparation for the Paschal Triduum and Easter liturgies. It is such an important time and in my arrogance perhaps I work at trying to arrive at what I view is perfection. Am I to caught up in the superficial and trivial? I know that at Zen Mountain Monastery I learnt the importance of liturgy done right and that resonates with my own passion to the liturgy of which I preside being done right! Of course I am also concerned to provide really excellent homilies or do I do this just for self aggrandisement?
Now back to Merton there are such a lot of wonderful quotes in this "Night Spirit" Here's a few that caught my attention.
Here is an unspeakable secret: paradise is all around us and we do not understand. It is wide open. The sword is taken away, but we do not know it.
Our attitude toward nature is simply an extension of our attitude toward ourselves, and toward one another. We are free to be at peace with ourselves and others, and also with nature.
God is asking me the unworthy, to forget my unworthiness and that of all my brothers [and sisters] and dare to advance in the love which has redeemed and renewed us all in God's likeness. And to laugh, after all, at all the preposterous ideas of "worthiness".
Here is one that is very Zen like it seems to me!
Life is, or should be nothing but a struggle to seek truth:yet what we seek is really the truth that we already possess. Truth is mine in the reality of life as it is given to me to live: yet to take life thoughtlessly, passively as it comes , is to renounce the struggle and purification which are necessary. One cannot simply open [one's]eyes and see.
Well I think that is more than enough for now. So back to my own thoughts and await yours too!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
BOOK GALORE
Yesterday I went to Hay-on-Wye - you may have heard of it as it is the second-hand book capital of the world. The whole town is given over to the sale of books. It was established like that in 1962 by Richard Booth who I think now owns the Castle and has declared himself the King of Hay-on-Wye. There are 22 dedicated book shops each one with tens of thosands of book usually over 3 or 4 floors so that it really is a book-lovers delight. It is set within some beautiful Welsh coutryside so I had a lovely 2 hour drive there through some lovely scenery. The book shops cater to just about every subject and taste. I spent the day mainly just browsing among the cheap paperbacks and giving lustful galnces at the rare first editions and aniquarian books. They say that books really are a great investment which pleases me no end as I have managed to collect 32 collectable books of my own over the last 50 years. They give me a lot of joy and I am not likely to sell them or realise a profit on them! I must say I marvelled at the amount of books printed in the English language many of them on some really erudite subjects but I also recalled TS Eliot's words "Where is the Wisdom we have lost in knowledge?" In these days of the information highway though it doesn't seem as if books have lost their appeal, They certainly haven't for me! There is nothing like holding a good qaulity book in my hands. Just a few days ago before I went by chance I was looking at a book on the poems of RS Thomas and noticed that I purchased it in the "Poetry bookshop" at Hay in August 2001 whcih was the last time I was there. It was when our whole family over 4 generations gathered together and rented an old farmhouse in Wales for a holiday together - happy memories! This time I also bought a book from the same shop - A collection of some poems by Seamus Heany. I also purchased a copy of Red Pine's translation of The Platform Sutra which is one of the three great Buddhist Sutras. I had Red Pine's translation of the other two so this was a welcome addition. Both books were reasonably priced so I manged to spent less than £20.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Spring Ango
Well yesterday evening at the weekly meeting of the Wild Goose sangha for Zazen we ended with our celebration for the beginning of this time of extra attention to our Zen practice. It was a lovely evening and we had the names of the 15 people who had indicted that they would participate in the Ango solemnly read out from a scroll which was then placed on the altar where it will reside during our Sitting over the next 6 weeks. We ended the evening with a tea ceremony which really did give a good conclusion to the whole evening especially as the weather outside was pretty nasty with snow, rain and fog!
A couple of days ago I was sent the URL of a video made by Ruben Habito in dallas who was my first Zen teacher. It is very goo and called "the three fruits of Zen" Check it out friends
http://bdyoutube.com/video/o-LhjW3jY7M/The-Fruits-of-Zen-Practice.html
A couple of days ago I was sent the URL of a video made by Ruben Habito in dallas who was my first Zen teacher. It is very goo and called "the three fruits of Zen" Check it out friends
http://bdyoutube.com/video/o-LhjW3jY7M/The-Fruits-of-Zen-Practice.html
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
ASH WEDNESDAY
Today in Catholic churches all over the world and in many Anglican's as well people will be marked on their foreheads with the words "Remember that you are dust and to dust your will return" This may seem a very depressing way to begin the lenten season; many will feel it is saaying that they are a load of rubbish and lack dignity and value.. But this is not really the case. It is a reminder of our mortality. Death is something we all have to face as it is part of the whole mystery of life. For Christians it is a reminder that we all participate in the Paschal mystery which includes life, death and resurrection not just as some future reality but something we experience in our lives day by day.
In the Buddhist tradition we hear the words of the Evening Gatha " Let me respectfully remind you that life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken..." Again we are challenged to face reality. Psychologists tell us that we all have the underlying fear of anihilation and in order to eliminate the toxic effects that this fear has in our lives we have to face the whole mystery of life which includes the dying. This can only happen I think when we spend time in silence so that we are able to be in touch with our deeper level of consciousness where we experience for ourselves what is the fullness of truth.
In the Buddhist tradition we hear the words of the Evening Gatha " Let me respectfully remind you that life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken..." Again we are challenged to face reality. Psychologists tell us that we all have the underlying fear of anihilation and in order to eliminate the toxic effects that this fear has in our lives we have to face the whole mystery of life which includes the dying. This can only happen I think when we spend time in silence so that we are able to be in touch with our deeper level of consciousness where we experience for ourselves what is the fullness of truth.
Friday, February 12, 2010
So many words!!!
Well there are so many things on my mind these days and a lot that takes one's attention. For instance i have just finished writing an article for the Easter edition of the Merton Journal. I looked at 2 books that challenged me to evaluate my relationship with the Jewish people and faith. I used the hebrew word "teshuva" in my title and article which means an openess to change. I have certainly been changed by my personal contact with a lovely Jewish lady who is also a Zen teacher and with the book on Merton and Judaism. But I still have much to learn. It has at this moment made me very sensitive to the way we present the Jewish faith in Christian churches especially during Lent and Easter. I will pass on the official writings of the Catholic church on this matter in my ministry as Parish priest of Tetbury ( in America we only use one word for this role namely "pastor" and that's easier and a much better description!)
Having known Richard Rohr over many years i am interested that he is coming to the UK in August apart from other talks he will be at Swanick Conference Centre August 31 - September 2 talking on "The heart of the Emerging Church" He sees a whole new Christianity emerging which transcends denominations and is essentially contemplative and more suited to a post modern approach to the spiritual dimension of life. I wonder what the reaction will be in the Uk where a large majority believe in God but few attend regular church services. Perhaps Diarmuid O' Muchu will go to his talks - they seem to be on the same line.
I have a Zazenkai (Zen Day ) at Ammerdown this weekend - tomorrow in fact and I will be focusing on our Spring Ango which draws on Buddhsit monastic practice and fits well into Lent. I will ask them in the Wild Goose Sangha to reflect on 3 of their relationships 1. with their teacher 2 with their practice and 3 with their Sangha. I am inclined to want to get all of us to really see what we want and to give real dedication to our practice of Zen which is really just the practice of our life. addressing the really big questions of Whom am I? What is reality? What is true? What is death? What is life and What on earth is all this about ? So where do you sit on all this?
Having known Richard Rohr over many years i am interested that he is coming to the UK in August apart from other talks he will be at Swanick Conference Centre August 31 - September 2 talking on "The heart of the Emerging Church" He sees a whole new Christianity emerging which transcends denominations and is essentially contemplative and more suited to a post modern approach to the spiritual dimension of life. I wonder what the reaction will be in the Uk where a large majority believe in God but few attend regular church services. Perhaps Diarmuid O' Muchu will go to his talks - they seem to be on the same line.
I have a Zazenkai (Zen Day ) at Ammerdown this weekend - tomorrow in fact and I will be focusing on our Spring Ango which draws on Buddhsit monastic practice and fits well into Lent. I will ask them in the Wild Goose Sangha to reflect on 3 of their relationships 1. with their teacher 2 with their practice and 3 with their Sangha. I am inclined to want to get all of us to really see what we want and to give real dedication to our practice of Zen which is really just the practice of our life. addressing the really big questions of Whom am I? What is reality? What is true? What is death? What is life and What on earth is all this about ? So where do you sit on all this?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Is there anyone out there?
I have just come back from 4 days vacation time at Charlestown in Cornwall. It gave me more time to consider what is going on and the things that are of concern for me.
I am very concerned as a Catholic priest about the seemingly systematic demolition of the initial spirit of Vatican II so that collegiality seems to be no longer be operative and this is no-where more apparent than in the work of Interfaiuth dialogue which is of particular concern for me and in our liturgy. The language version for the new English translation of the Missal is abominable. In its effort to be faithful to the latin text it has destroyed all meaning and it not only sounds ugly but it is atrocious English. The Bishops seem to be unable to use their voice to overpower the nonsense of the Vatican curial offices! I was somewhat encouraged though by the launch of the support for the Vatican II Council. I hope this cuts some ice!
I am writing a paper on 2 books The Jewish Dharma by Brenda Shoshanna and the book on Thomas Merton and Judaism Both have had a great deal of influence on me awakening for the first time in my life a proper appreciation of the Judaic faith. That is a terrible admission after over 40 years as a priest. - the passage below comes from my Jewish friend Brenda who is a psychotherapist and Zen teacher in New York City.
There is so much in the Merton book but I am particularly taken with his friendship with Rabbi Abraham Herschel a couple of whose books I have on my shelf but never really read. I am now encouraged to do so. In fact there are so many lines that I would like to follow up but where is the time to do all these interesting things.
Steppingstones To Love: (Exercises for Everyday Life)
Nourishing Self And Others
1) Favorite Food
What is your favorite food in relationships? What is it you hunger for daily? How do you get fed? Does someone else feed you? Do you feed yourself? Is there some other way you could get this particular nourishment? Take a little while and find out.
2) Emotional Indigestion
What kind of food are you now absorbing in your relationships that you cannot digest? Why do you keep eating it? What do you want from it? Is there some other food that could substitute?
3) Offerings
What are the offerings you bring to life? What are you willing to give unconditionally? Spend time considering what it is that you can truly offer that will nourish and gladden others and yourself as well. When a large part of our lives consist in making these kind of offerings, we fall in love with life itself.
I had a message today from my friend Dom Sebastian Moore a monk of Downside and over 90 but still one of the most radical prophets of of age that I know.
he reminds me in his note:-
"For me as you know Eckhart Tolle has opened the inner door, of which Jesus speaks, into the kingdom of love and wonder. Remember how the door opened for him: he said " I cannot live any longer live with myself" and then something in him said 'that's a funny thing to be thinking. Are there two of me, I and the self I cannot live with' Than the voice said 'maybe only on of them is real' - "
PLEASE give me your feedback so I know I am not just wasting my time writing all this stuff down with nobody listening!!! Please snd here or email you comments and additions
I am very concerned as a Catholic priest about the seemingly systematic demolition of the initial spirit of Vatican II so that collegiality seems to be no longer be operative and this is no-where more apparent than in the work of Interfaiuth dialogue which is of particular concern for me and in our liturgy. The language version for the new English translation of the Missal is abominable. In its effort to be faithful to the latin text it has destroyed all meaning and it not only sounds ugly but it is atrocious English. The Bishops seem to be unable to use their voice to overpower the nonsense of the Vatican curial offices! I was somewhat encouraged though by the launch of the support for the Vatican II Council. I hope this cuts some ice!
I am writing a paper on 2 books The Jewish Dharma by Brenda Shoshanna and the book on Thomas Merton and Judaism Both have had a great deal of influence on me awakening for the first time in my life a proper appreciation of the Judaic faith. That is a terrible admission after over 40 years as a priest. - the passage below comes from my Jewish friend Brenda who is a psychotherapist and Zen teacher in New York City.
There is so much in the Merton book but I am particularly taken with his friendship with Rabbi Abraham Herschel a couple of whose books I have on my shelf but never really read. I am now encouraged to do so. In fact there are so many lines that I would like to follow up but where is the time to do all these interesting things.
Steppingstones To Love: (Exercises for Everyday Life)
Nourishing Self And Others
1) Favorite Food
What is your favorite food in relationships? What is it you hunger for daily? How do you get fed? Does someone else feed you? Do you feed yourself? Is there some other way you could get this particular nourishment? Take a little while and find out.
2) Emotional Indigestion
What kind of food are you now absorbing in your relationships that you cannot digest? Why do you keep eating it? What do you want from it? Is there some other food that could substitute?
3) Offerings
What are the offerings you bring to life? What are you willing to give unconditionally? Spend time considering what it is that you can truly offer that will nourish and gladden others and yourself as well. When a large part of our lives consist in making these kind of offerings, we fall in love with life itself.
I had a message today from my friend Dom Sebastian Moore a monk of Downside and over 90 but still one of the most radical prophets of of age that I know.
he reminds me in his note:-
"For me as you know Eckhart Tolle has opened the inner door, of which Jesus speaks, into the kingdom of love and wonder. Remember how the door opened for him: he said " I cannot live any longer live with myself" and then something in him said 'that's a funny thing to be thinking. Are there two of me, I and the self I cannot live with' Than the voice said 'maybe only on of them is real' - "
PLEASE give me your feedback so I know I am not just wasting my time writing all this stuff down with nobody listening!!! Please snd here or email you comments and additions
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Natural Disasters!
The terrible earthquake in Haiti has I am sure left all of us stunned and feeling just terrible for all those whose lives have been devastated. We must do everything we can to support them to allevaite their plight.
Having said that I find that I still react to the use of the phrase "natural disasters " for things like this. I remember I was giving a weekend retreat in Tulsa many years ago titled "The music of the Cosmos" I used this phrase "natrual disasters" and a Native American participant immediately took me to task saying that for the natural world these were not disasters but part of what is very necessary for the natural world. They are only disasters for us because we have closen to ignore the workings of the natural world. We hear much these days about our effect on the climate and our abuse of the environment. We find an occurance of an earthquake a disaster for us because we have failed to take account of the natural movements of the earth in order for it to survive, The ultimate lesson is that we really do need to listen to the natural world more carefully and work in conjunction with its natural workings rather than against them.
What do you think?
Having said that I find that I still react to the use of the phrase "natural disasters " for things like this. I remember I was giving a weekend retreat in Tulsa many years ago titled "The music of the Cosmos" I used this phrase "natrual disasters" and a Native American participant immediately took me to task saying that for the natural world these were not disasters but part of what is very necessary for the natural world. They are only disasters for us because we have closen to ignore the workings of the natural world. We hear much these days about our effect on the climate and our abuse of the environment. We find an occurance of an earthquake a disaster for us because we have failed to take account of the natural movements of the earth in order for it to survive, The ultimate lesson is that we really do need to listen to the natural world more carefully and work in conjunction with its natural workings rather than against them.
What do you think?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Thought for the day/week
A few days ago a correspondent who is interested in Zen asked me : "Why is art important in Zen? How does it fit into a Zen practice?" Now I didn't really answer the question except to give some pointers. First to say that by 'art' we mean simply a 'creative' practice. This includes the visual arts of photography, painting, drawing, clay modelling and sculpture but it can also include Ikabana (flower arranging) calligraphy , poetry and music.
During my month's residency at Zen Mountain Monastery we also were required to participate in 'art practice' as this was seen as one of the 8 Gates of Zen. This was an extremely daunting task for me as I always said I was no 'artist' but the monks there helped me to find my own creativity. You see Zen is about life and it is life. To be human is to be creative, maybe not as a great artist, musician or poet but we are all creative - that is what it means to human , alive. Zen teaches us not to judge as did Jesus of course. Just let it be and accept that everything belongs and don't let some pseudo-critics judge it; which includes yourself.
Again my experience at ZMM taught me that art is not just reproducing objects but getting behind that. For instance the great Japanese Zen teacher, Dogen writes: " When you paint Spring do not paint willows, plums,peaches, or apricots but just paint Spring" When I participated in Roshi Daido Loori's photographic course our assignments were to photograph. Love, Elseness and Suchness. Quite a challenge so what do you make of it? With poetry too words are not purely descriptive but used as 'pointers'
T'ient'ung Ju-ching writes
Bright and bright, clear and clear
Do not seek only within the shadow of plum blossoms.
Rain is created and clouds are formed
throughout past and present
Past and present,solitary and silent
Where does it end?
So what say you? Where do you find yourself?
During my month's residency at Zen Mountain Monastery we also were required to participate in 'art practice' as this was seen as one of the 8 Gates of Zen. This was an extremely daunting task for me as I always said I was no 'artist' but the monks there helped me to find my own creativity. You see Zen is about life and it is life. To be human is to be creative, maybe not as a great artist, musician or poet but we are all creative - that is what it means to human , alive. Zen teaches us not to judge as did Jesus of course. Just let it be and accept that everything belongs and don't let some pseudo-critics judge it; which includes yourself.
Again my experience at ZMM taught me that art is not just reproducing objects but getting behind that. For instance the great Japanese Zen teacher, Dogen writes: " When you paint Spring do not paint willows, plums,peaches, or apricots but just paint Spring" When I participated in Roshi Daido Loori's photographic course our assignments were to photograph. Love, Elseness and Suchness. Quite a challenge so what do you make of it? With poetry too words are not purely descriptive but used as 'pointers'
T'ient'ung Ju-ching writes
Bright and bright, clear and clear
Do not seek only within the shadow of plum blossoms.
Rain is created and clouds are formed
throughout past and present
Past and present,solitary and silent
Where does it end?
So what say you? Where do you find yourself?
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The addiction to busyness
Thomas Merton once wrote these words on violence almost 50 years ago but I think they are even more relevant today. It is interesting that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe quoted these words in an address he gave to the clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin after the report on the horrific sexual abuse perpetrated there recently.
"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence."
"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in violence."
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Start again
It's been such a long time since I sent anything but I thought I would start again today -it's not a New Year's resolution!
My attention has jst been drawn to a good book whcih I commenD:
Without Buddha I could not be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter published by One World Publications.
As you may know I am now also the parish priest of Tetbury in Gloucester (Weekend Masses are Saturday 5.30 pm and Sunday 9.30 am) I am also now installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei) in the White Plum Asangha with the Dharma name of "Kundo"
We still meet each Thursday night from 8 pm - 9.30 pm for Zazen in the Ashcroft centre in Cirencester. You are welcome.
My attention has jst been drawn to a good book whcih I commenD:
Without Buddha I could not be a Christian by Paul F. Knitter published by One World Publications.
As you may know I am now also the parish priest of Tetbury in Gloucester (Weekend Masses are Saturday 5.30 pm and Sunday 9.30 am) I am also now installed as a Zen teacher (Sensei) in the White Plum Asangha with the Dharma name of "Kundo"
We still meet each Thursday night from 8 pm - 9.30 pm for Zazen in the Ashcroft centre in Cirencester. You are welcome.
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