Zen in Ten: "Plan To Surrender"
Zazen Mind on the Hiking Trail
Hello Spark Zen Readers! I’m writing this post from a hotel in Woburn, a suburb of Boston, MA. We missed our flight last night back to San Francisco. It’s pouring rain so we can’t even go for a walk, so I thought I’d finish this post about the lessons I learned while hiking in Acadia National Park. Also, we won’t be arriving home until after midnight tonight (Tuesday). Peace + bows from Boston!
Plan to Surrender: When hiking in a national park on unfamiliar trails, of course it’s helpful to have a map—paper and digital—so you can plan your hike. We love the Alltrails app as you can download maps and still navigate while you’re off line. Even though we have a map, we sometimes wander off course. And that’s part of the fun as well—surrendering to what’s arising in the moment by dropping our expectations of how we think our vacation or hike should be and just being with what is.
Pay Attention: If you’ve read my most recent Sunday Spark, Zen Mind, Maine Mind, you know that I sprained my calf muscle by not paying attention as I hiked through a trail strewn with rocks and criss-crossed by roots. Paying careful attention to what our bodies/minds are doing is essential to preventing injuries to ourselves and others. With a daily meditation routine, we cultivate this key spiritual faculty of mindfulness (sati) and it’s our faithful companion whether we’re on the trail or the cushion.
Leave No Trace: Imagine yourself strolling along a beautiful shoreline, and then out of the blue (ocean) an empty beer can rises and lands at your feet. You look up and see the shoreline ahead is littered with bottles, cans, and other debris. You see a dolphin flip(per) you off as it plunges back into the ocean. Yeah, imagine if the mammals, mollusks, and fish of the ocean polluted “our” beaches with their junk like we do their homes. Leave no physical trace AND no psycho-emotional trace like a bird’s path in the sky.
Listen to Strangers: We met so many lovely people while on our vacation. One man in particular, William, chatted with us while we ate our picnic lunch of sardines, crackers slathered with almond butter, and wild blueberries. William was waiting for his family on a shaded spot of the Cadillac Mountain South Ridge Trail. He showed us a photo he’d just taken of a gull drinking from a small puddle on the ridge. His passion as an amateur birder was contagious. He mentioned that he uses the Merlin App to identify birds by their song. Amazing!
Use Two Hands: When I was introduced to this practice at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, I did not fully appreciate it. I was so used to using one hand to hold something while the other was busy doing something else. So I took up this practice wholeheartedly as a way to train the mind to focus on one thing by using both hands to engage in one activity: cleaning a toilet, sweeping a floor, washing a dish, etc. This practice is also invaluable when hiking and climbing for obvious reasons!
Look Up/Look Down: Sometimes when I get sleepy while meditating, I shift my gaze to assist me with staying alert. If you look at some depictions of Bodhidharma, the first Zen ancestor, he’s often portrayed with an upward gaze. When I’m feeling wide awake, I keep my eyes half-open and staring down the bridge of my nose at 45-degree angle. On the trail, I look down when walking and scrambling, and then when I’m on a ridge or summit, I take in the panorama. Alternately narrowing and widening our focus is a mindfulness exercise that reminds us that our perspective can always shift if we pay attention.
Follow Your Breath: There were a few moments on a few trails where I felt some low-level anxiety creep in; this was especially true after I sprained my calf on day two and was experiencing intense pain and persistent thoughts about not being able to continue. On our last morning in Acadia National Park, I also felt a lot of anxiety the night before we hiked the Bee Hive Loop Trail, which is considered a difficult and dangerous trail. I’ll write more on Sunday about keeping calm amid the mental storm of projections!
Offer to Help: This is a no-brainer wherever we are and whatever we’re doing. On the Beehive Loop Trail, Tanya and I both encouraged a mother who was having near panic attacks while on the trail. She was very fearful that something would happen to her three children as they navigated up some of the steeper areas. IMHE(experience), when we put the welfare of others ahead of our own, we are rewarded ten times over by a profound feeling of connection and wholeness.
Pack the Essentials: For meditation, this is a short list: open-hearted curiosity, mindfulness, energy, and intention. And, this is the same body-mind list for hiking! Well, you gotta include some bug spray, snacks, maps, a backpack, and lotsa water too.
Practice Patience: Patience or forbearance (kshanti) is one of the six perfections, which is an essential teaching of the Buddha. It’s easy to practice patience when everything is going our way. However, when the unexpected arises—when we miss our flight or lose our baggage—are we able to keep our cool? Can we smile and remain calm and grateful no matter the circumstance? I know I can’t. Practicing patience is a moment-by-moment vow for me.
Patient endurance: the foremost austerity. Unbinding: the foremost, so say the Awakened. He who injures another is no contemplative. He who mistreats another, no monk.—The Dhammapada, verse 184
Use two hands - what a simple and profound idea! I'll take that reminder/practice into my day, thank you :)
Thanks, Heather. I love the way our zazen practice, if we carry it with us, can reach into every part of our lives, day and night, city and country. Your "ten" is an artful example!