This entire post is up today at Shambhala SunSpace. I won't make you go over there to read it. I want you to stay right here and keep going. It isn't over until you quit.
A few years ago my daughter piped up from the backseat, which is where children of her age are prone to do their piping.
"Mommy, if you ever write another book please make it not about Zen."
I asked why.
"Because the whole idea of Zen is bogus."
I don't put this little story in the category of Kids Say the Darnedest Things, although they do. I put it in the category of Ear-Splitting Truth.
It's true: the whole idea of Zen is bogus. The whole idea of anything is bogus. Ideas are bogus. Occasionally useful, but not real. I promised her I wouldn't ever write a book about Zen. There's plenty of that without me piping up from the front seat. And when I get carried away I miss my exit.
These days there is legitimate concern about the future of Buddhism because of all the things we seem to be doing wrong. We're not raising up the next generation of Buddhists, for example. We're not appealing enough, modern enough, accessible enough, diverse enough, or Western enough. There's quite a bit of finger pointing about our systemic failures.
I, too, doubt the future of our institutions and systems. We are living in a degenerate age. Social, religious, economic and political systems are collapsing left and right. The conceptual frameworks and ideologies that we thought would live forever are kaput. Then I remember that it is always the degenerate age, because that's what all –isms do: rise up and settle back down in an endless cycle of birth and death called samsara.
How can we keep Dharma alive? I like to remember that oft-quoted Zen instruction, "Do not mistake the moon for the finger pointing at the moon." Anyone can jab his or her finger in the air, but who can walk on the moon? Anyone can talk, but talking is not doing.
Practice and you'll find out that there's no two ways about it. Buildings can crumble and institutions collapse, but Dharma never dies. Take heart and keep going.
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1.28.2010
It isn't over until you quit
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13 comments:
Karen, thank you so much for this timely post. Sometimes I become discouraged. "We are living in a degenerate age. Social, religious, economic and political systems are collapsing left and right." Thanks for reminding me that this is ALWAYS the case. No use for idealism. Concentrate, see clearly, cultivate equanimity. Got it. Back to work!
"Anyone can talk, but talking is not doing."
Amen.
Last night I dreamed I was in a space ship going to the moon. And I - a true virgo girl! - have never been attracted to space. But I was enjoying the ride, tucked into the corner of a canoe-shaped sofa. I don't know who the pot-bellied couple was, but they were serving wine. Alas, I woke up before I got there.
There you go: sometimes waking up is falling asleep, and sometimes falling asleep is waking up.
I find endless smaller cycles of samsara in mothering my own children. Small births, deaths and rebirths again, looping, as my children grow and throw off their younger years.
As I do, too.
Thank you, especially this morning when the arrows kept flying over the wall! I forget that Buddhism is filled with so many "what-the-heck" teachings and that sharing them can get one into some hot water. But it is what it is and I am who I am and I have found a refuge from my raging, spewing, cussing thoughts.
sometimes i wake up in the morning and the first thing i think is, "I'm a Zen Failure." ...and then i laugh my ass off. thanks for the laugh again this afternoon.
I love that your daughter inspired this post - she probably wanted you to say you would write the next book about her :) But that is exactly what you are doing, in a deeper way.
I love the lines you have quoted, 'The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon'. Talking is not doing.
Glad I found your writings.
Laundry, I want a book about laundry.
"Dharma never dies. Take heart and keep going."
Perfect.
This post and the previous one were both very nourishing for me today. Thank you.
Yes, this is perfect!
Seems like the finger pointing at the moon has one ginormous white bandage on it today.
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