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Embodying Zen: Beyond the Mind
Zen-Riffs
The talk explores the process of integrating traditional Zen practices with a Western context, particularly focusing on the concept of "bodiality" versus "brainality." It emphasizes the adaptation of Zen rituals such as the enactment of a mandala and the offering of incense to acknowledge and honor figures like the Buddha, Suzuki Roshi, Manjushri, Bodhidharma, and Jizo Bosatsu. Furthermore, it discusses the spatial and symbolic arrangements within the Zendo, including the significance of the ma board, highlighting how physical spaces and practices contribute to the somatic experience of Zen.
Referenced Works and Figures:
- Suzuki Roshi: Acknowledged as an influential figure in Zen practice, with offerings made in his honor during the ritual.
- Manjushri: A bodhisattva symbolizing wisdom, who is revered within the mandala enactment.
- Bodhidharma: Recognized as a seminal figure in Zen Buddhism, symbolically included in the rituals.
- Jizo Bosatsu: A 700-year-old representation that forms part of the altar space for guidance and protection.
- Mandala: Utilized in the context as a spatial and symbolic representation of the universe; enacted within the practice to unify participants' focus and understanding.
- Ma Board: A term used to differentiate spatial functions within the Zendo, serving as a boundary between service and zazen practice.
AI Suggested Title: Embodying Zen: Beyond the Mind
I'm experimenting these days with saying a little something in morning Zazen period sometimes, since we right now don't have regular lectures scheduled except Sunday morning. And I'm experimenting too with saying a little more than they say in Japan. They don't explain much in Japan, primarily because their reality, sense of reality, is a bodyality. No such word. And our sense of reality is in fact a kind of brainality. So in a bodiality, you don't explain much.
[01:02]
You catch things in other ways. But I found in the West and in Europe, it helps to explain more, as Asian teachers find coming to the West, have to explain more. So how to explain more without robbing our experience of discovery? So for the two of you who are new to our practice I thought maybe I would say in the morning what we're doing is someone enacts a mandala. The bowing cloth for an ordained person, is a monk ordained person, is you open into and fold in a way that it creates a mandala.
[02:13]
And actually the floor plan and space of this zendo is articulated pretty much as a mandala. So the sense is that someone enacts a mandala for all of us and then opening that mandala offers incense to the Buddha because the Buddha can be discovered in the somatic mandala. offers incense to the Buddha, and in this case to our hearts, and in this Zendo, and to Suzuki Roshi, and to Manjushri, and to Bodhidharma. That's the way our altar is articulated. And to the 700-year-old Jizo Bosatsu,
[03:16]
And then the Junda where the teacher walks around the Zendo, he or she walks around the Zendo articulating the mandala and including each of you sitting on your cushion, on your zafu. You join for a moment in articulating the space as a mandala. Or we can say a somatic space because the whole sense of zazen practice is to get used to finding your existence in various samadhis. And the board, the eating board, or ma board, M-A, it's a Japanese word, ma board, also articulates a difference between the space where we do service and the space where you're sitting in, zazen, absorptive, sitting.
[04:46]
So as much as possible when you... We made actually the town a little high, but much higher than would be customary in Japan, and actually a little too high for us as well. But in any case, as much as possible, you try not to put your feet on the mob board as you cross it, as you go from the space at the center of the room into the space where you... Discover your own practice. Sorry to disturb you as I was in this first period in the morning and new to Ascendo, but this is a way to welcome you for me. I'm welcoming you.
[05:47]
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