Wood, Gratitude, Zen and Poem
Cutting Boards and Wooden Spoons
There is a lot to be thankful for. Here is a short list.
- My sweetheart’s companionship
- Boykan the wonder dog
- A warm (in many ways) home
- Work that is interesting, challenging and contributes
- Health and well being
- A rich spiritual life
- The time to work with wood
- Living in a technological age
- Woods to walk in
- Friends to meet with
These quotes came from “How to Cook Your Life : Dogen’s classic Instructions for the Zen Cook with commentary by Kosho Ucyiyama Roshi”. They really bowled me over.
In Zen, “…we learn to live out completely that Self that settles upon itself… When I usethe term Self, I am not referring to some fixed entity; the Self is life and life is functioning. Functioning means activity which works toward the world in which the Self lives. When I talk of a “Self settling upon itself,” do not interpret this to mean a withdrawing and escaping from society. On the contrary, this expression means that your life manifests itself as life. It is a Self that works to settle or bring composure to everything you encounter in our life. ”
“Merely to study Buddhist thought and philosophy through books, or to do zazen only to become entranced by satori as some rapturous and esoteric state of mind without actually putting our bodies to work in our day-to-day lives as taught in (Tenzo Kyokun), leaves grave doubts as to whether we have any idea at all of live out the what it means to truly buddhadharma.”
Dungeon
He whom I enclose with my name is weeping in this dungeon.
I am ever busy building this wall all around; and as this wall goes up into
the sky day by day I lose sight of my true being in its dark shadow.I take pride in this great wall, and I plaster it with dust and sand
lest a least hole should be left in this name;
and for all the care I take I lose sight of my true being.Rabindranath Tagore
