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!

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.

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

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.

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?

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

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?