San Francisco Zen Meditation

Talks and Blog

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Calendar
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Zen Reading

5/31/2012

Staves on the mind

1 Comment

Read Now
 
Picture
Strangely, I thought it would be easier to find a picture of a staff.  Anyway...

So, community night and after C drive everyone nuts runing around and playing in the altar water, we played a game in three parts.  Not a great game, but a game.  

We sat with the Koan:

"If you have a staff, I will give you a staff.  If you lack a staff, I will take a staff from you".

So the bell was rung, and people were asked to find a missing staff...something they told themselves they lacked and needed.  After some time, it was instructed to drop in that this was merely a story we are telling ourselves and see how that changed our relationship with it. 

People noticed softening, and a suspension of belief. One person noticed that they felt sad and anxious about letting go of the story. Another noted that she could not let go, but rather tried to let go of believing she could not let go.  Someone else noted how she could not let it go until she had let it shrink to the size of other thoughts.

Then we rang the bell and sat with our staffs.Things we deemed a boon or a positive, and were asked how it felt when we were aware of them, and how it felt when we left awareness of them.    

People noticed a warm happy feeling,which dissapeared when their mind was distracted.More than one person found that they couldn't stop thinking of their "deficiencies".  Others noted that their attention was without stories and they just enjoyed it. 

Finally, people were asked to sit. and while sitting to turn their attention to...the buddha on the altar. The candle. The ache in their legs. What did they notice?  Was awareness accompanied by stories?  For the mostpart yes. As people dwealt on an object, they were filled with stories.  Buddha is an offensive spiritual reference, his hair looks strange and unreal, he looks peaceful, my legs hurt, this is familiar, I can't hold this,  This candle puts me in the mind of my youth,  etc etc etc. 

We are, maybe, story making machines.  And maybe the Zen path isn't about cutting off or "improving" those stories, but accepting their inevitability and their humanness with kindness and compassion and awareness.  Somewhere then, there is a choice, and freedom and space to just let it be, and go on our merry way.As John Tarrant likes to say- perhaps our thoughts are none of our business.

 

Share

1 Comment
Adam
6/24/2012 06:53:11 am

Comment deleted

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Details

    Author(s)

    “A Course on Koans” is the delusion-riddled work of Chris Kufu (“Wind in the Void”) Wilson, who began practicing Zen in 1967. He regards Taizan Maezumi, Robert Aitken, and David Weinstein as his root teachers. Each of them pecked at his shell until he “completed” the never-ending koan curriculum of the Harada-Yasutani lineage.

    Get posts as they are published:

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    October 2016
    March 2016
    July 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009

    Categories

    All

    What We Read

    Serina's Travel Blog
    Shoshin
    Zenosaurus
    Eugene Koan Blog
    A Zen Jesuit's Blog
    Christian Koans
    Twelve Step Zen Blog
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Calendar
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Zen Reading