What a refeshing read! Thanks for sharing this with us, Heather. I have seen this sense of "not quite rightness" lead folks to practice. Many people I've known, myself included, had a profound experience of impermanence that led them to Buddhism, having found that something they had counted on and believed in had been suddenly whisked away. "Painted cakes don't satisfy."
Such a pleasure to read this with its clarity, humanity, and gentle humour, too. I followed the link to art (and lovely short blogs*) by Seigaku Amato, Osho: it is as strong and appealing as JIF's prose style, making them a good partnership. [https://seigakuamato.com/art]
Thanks to you, Heather, and to JIF for offering this excerpt to us. I already had 'The Intimate Way of Zen' on my amazon canada wishlist. Now, I've just pre-ordered it. July 23/24 is not as far off as it feels!
Still humming in my head is the last bit of this shared chapter:
"... Each of these versions, I believe, captures the essential elements of that primordial, primary vow. To notice there is hurt. To notice how that hurt is found within an incorrect appreciation of our place within the world. To desire to bring healing to the matter. And to begin and end knowing this is in fact a family matter.
It’s all captured for us in that image of the Ox Herding cycle. Of someone wandering, lost. The world is confusing, haunted, and very, very dangerous. It really feels like a trackless path. At best there are the cicadas calling, maybe a crow cawing. Calling to us.
The world itself, presenting.
With this noticing and this promise made to ourselves, and on behalf of the whole hurting world, we discover we’ve entered the intimate way."
*
*Among the Dharma Blogs I read by Seigaku Amato today, one rang a special bell for me: "Nothing Special Lineage" -- eased an knot in my heart about our human competitiveness arising naturally even in buddhism. To borrow Laura B's word from her post here -- refreshing as can be.
What a refeshing read! Thanks for sharing this with us, Heather. I have seen this sense of "not quite rightness" lead folks to practice. Many people I've known, myself included, had a profound experience of impermanence that led them to Buddhism, having found that something they had counted on and believed in had been suddenly whisked away. "Painted cakes don't satisfy."
Such a pleasure to read this with its clarity, humanity, and gentle humour, too. I followed the link to art (and lovely short blogs*) by Seigaku Amato, Osho: it is as strong and appealing as JIF's prose style, making them a good partnership. [https://seigakuamato.com/art]
Thanks to you, Heather, and to JIF for offering this excerpt to us. I already had 'The Intimate Way of Zen' on my amazon canada wishlist. Now, I've just pre-ordered it. July 23/24 is not as far off as it feels!
Still humming in my head is the last bit of this shared chapter:
"... Each of these versions, I believe, captures the essential elements of that primordial, primary vow. To notice there is hurt. To notice how that hurt is found within an incorrect appreciation of our place within the world. To desire to bring healing to the matter. And to begin and end knowing this is in fact a family matter.
It’s all captured for us in that image of the Ox Herding cycle. Of someone wandering, lost. The world is confusing, haunted, and very, very dangerous. It really feels like a trackless path. At best there are the cicadas calling, maybe a crow cawing. Calling to us.
The world itself, presenting.
With this noticing and this promise made to ourselves, and on behalf of the whole hurting world, we discover we’ve entered the intimate way."
*
*Among the Dharma Blogs I read by Seigaku Amato today, one rang a special bell for me: "Nothing Special Lineage" -- eased an knot in my heart about our human competitiveness arising naturally even in buddhism. To borrow Laura B's word from her post here -- refreshing as can be.