Do You Remember That Time and Light Are Kinds of Love?
- Insights Into Practices
- What I’m Reading: A children’s book
- What I’m Cooking: Ginger Tofu
- 3-Month Practice Period, Beginning January 8th
I keep coming back to this statement by Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki:
“The purpose of our lives is to cross the shore from confusion to being awake.
The secret is that we cross this shore with every step we take.”
The first part of the statement, describing purpose, feels clear and compelling. It presents a simple, straightforward, and somewhat audacious model or roadmap for this lifetime. It describes an aspiration; to see more clearly, to let go of false beliefs, to drop whatever might be holding us back. This is an aspiration that seems to need regular remembering. It can easily get lost, buried, in the day-to-day activities of our lives.
The second statement, “the secret” may be more challenging. Here is where poetry, and transformation comes in. My first response in reading about “the secret” is “Huh?, What does that mean?” It seems to totally contradict the first statement. It challenges or defies our usual logical mind and understanding.
The “secret” is an expression of Big Mind, or The Absolute, or the non-relative and sacred world. By putting these two statements together, I think that Shunryu Suzuki is asserting that everything is both ordinary and sacred. We have to make an effort to see clearly, and at the same time, however we view or measure our effort or our progress, we are already there – that’s the secret, in plain sight.
Perhaps some poetry might help. It has a way of cutting through our dualistic language, ideas, and models. It’s good for leadership; good for re-discovering purpose, and delving into both purpose and secret.
Practice: Read these poems. Try reading them out loud. Open your mind, heart, and intuition. Write down a few lines and place them somewhere that helps you to remember.
The Word by Tony Hoagland,
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”
Resting on the page, the word
is as beautiful, it touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent you from some place distant
as this morning — to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing,
that also needs accomplishing
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire? …..
Two lines that particularly grab my attention in reading this poem:
1) Among your duties, pleasure is a thing…
It’s easy to forget and not prioritize pleasure. The pleasure of a child’s smile, of the taste of a grape, listening to music or laughter.
2) Time and light are kinds of love…
A beautiful expression of Big Mind, seeing that everything, all of the ordinary objects and ideas of everyday life are forms of love.
(Fall in Missoula, Montana)
My Life Was the Size of My Life, by Jane Hirshfield
My life was the size of my life.
Its rooms were room-sized,
its soul was the size of a soul.
In its background, mitochondria hummed,
above it sun, clouds, snow,
the transit of stars and planets.
It rode elevators, bullet trains,
various airplanes, a donkey.
It wore socks, shirts, its own ears and nose.
It ate, it slept, it opened
and closed its hands, its windows.
Others, I know, had lives larger.
Others, I know, had lives shorter.
The depth of lives, too, is different.
There were times my life and I made jokes together.
There were times we made bread.
Once, I grew moody and distant.
I told my life I would like some time,
I would like to try seeing others.
In a week, my empty suitcase and I returned.
I was hungry, then, and my life,
my life, too, was hungry, we could not keep
our hands off our clothes on
our tongues from
I love this poem’s conversation, with your life. It’s a way of remembering, from a different perspective. Remembering the daily mundane movements, with reflection and insights. And yet, each word feels like an offering, a way to be surprised, creative, and live with a sense of wonder.
Remind Me, by William Stafford
Remind me again—together we
trace our strange journey, find
each other, come on laughing.
Some time we’ll cross where life
ends. We’ll both look back
as far as forever, that first day.
I’ll touch you—a new world then.
Stars will move a different way.
We’ll both end. We’ll both begin.
Remind me again.
I feel a little strange commenting on any of these poems. This poem as well, by William Stafford, plays with the ordinary and sacred “We’ll look back as far as forever…”
What I’m Reading
There’s a Hair In My Dirt, by Gary Larsen – A children’s book with an important message about our relationship with nature. It’s like a Gary Larsen cartoon expanded into a surprising story.
What I’m Cooking: Ginger Tofu
Simple, easy, and tasty.
Cut a block of tofu into small pieces.
Marinate for a few minutes, or a few hours in some soy sauce, fresh ginger, a bit of olive oil.
A touch of balsamic vinegar if you like.
Nutritional yeast is nice too.
Heat and enjoy.
Of course you can always saute some mushrooms or spinach first, then add the tofu.
Appreciating Your Life: A 3-Month Zen Practice Period
January 8th – April 2nd, 2025
Online
A 3-month Practice Period is a great way to begin or deepen your mindfulness and meditation practice and cultivate ways for integrating mindfulness practice with your work and all parts of your life.
Online meetings are Wednesday from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. PT. We will begin each session with 30 minutes of lightly guided meditation, followed by a short talk, as well as small group and large group discussions.
The theme for the Practice Period is Appreciating Your Life. This is the underlying theme of meditation practice and Zen practice – seeing and feeling everything, the good, bad, ugly, beautiful – as gift and an opportunity to learn, grow, and engage. It’s the practice of feeling deeply, opening our hearts and minds, with a mindset of appreciation, and of being of benefit, through our ability to see more clearly, to accept what is, and work effectively with change and for change.
Our focus will be on how Zen practice can be integrated into daily life to help us:
– cultivate greater wellbeing
– navigate change and challenges
– discover more meaning and purpose in work and relationship
Our primary reading for the practice period is Branching Streams Flow In The Darkness, Zen Talks on a poem called the Sandokai, or the Harmony of Difference and Equality. This is an excellent primer on the non-dual teachings in Zen practice and how to apply them to your wellbeing, relationships, work, and social and environmental responsibility.
Being part of a community that meets weekly is a powerful way to find more clarity and connection as we begin a New Year. Each week we will meditate together for 30 minutes. Then, I’ll give a short talk, unpacking ideas and practices from Branching Stream Flow In The Darkness. We will have a variety of small group and large group discussions, to practice and deepen the tools and themes discussed. Each week you will leave with an actionable practice and a suggested reading.
Weekly sessions will be recorded and made available in case you miss any sessions or want to revisit them.
Warmest wishes,
Marc
