April 17, 2009

Great is the matter

of birth and death

Life slips quickly by

Time waits for no one

Wake up, wake up!

Don't waste a moment

February 25, 2009

Without undergoing a winter 

that bites into your bones

How can the plum blossoms regale you

with their piercing fragrance?

                                            

                                     - Huang Po

February 8, 2009

Our revels now are ended. These our actors

(As I foretold you) were all spirits, and

Are melted into air, into thin air,

And like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep….

 

The Tempest. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.  p.1630

January 25, 2009

Neither yielding to rain

nor yielding to wind

yielding neither to

snow nor to summer heat

   with a stout body

                  like that

without greed

never getting angry

always smiling quiet-

                              ly

eating one and a half pieces of brown rice

  and bean paste and a bit of

                                      vegetables a day

in everything

not taking oneself

                      into account

                   looking listening understanding well

and not forgetting

living in the shadow of pine trees in a field

in a small

      hut thatched with miscanthus

if in the east there’s a

           sick child

going and nursing

                       him

if in the west there is a tired mother

going and for her

       carrying

bundles of rice

if in the south

   there’s someone

                         dying

going

  and saying

       you don’t have to be

              afraid

if in the north

                  there’s a quarrel

                                    or a lawsuit

saying it’s not worth it

                             stop it

in a drought

      shedding tears

in a cold summer

    pacing back and forth   lost

called

     a good-for-nothing

                by everyone

neither praised

nor thought a pain

     someone

                    like that

is what I want

                     to be

 

Miazawa Kenji, “November 3^rd” in From the Country of Eight Islands, trans. And ed. Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson (New York: Anchor Press, 1981) pp. 505-506

In the Morning the Sun Rises

Thanks to lamenting over the pain in the world,
I am able to become laughter when my life is happy.
Due to being struck and trampled upon and biting
my lips to control my temper, I fully realize how
precious it is to be born. Even if I am intentionally
tired of an ugly world, look! What a blue sky!

Even if one laughs scornfully at my penniless life,
there is something much more beautiful,
true and worthy that everyone knows.
I don't care so much about anything else,
except love and sincerity, the sun,
and a little amount of rain from time to time.
If I have a healthy body and a little piece of bread,
I want to walk with a smile in great spirits.

I will do my best to work without complaining
about anything at all.
I always consider things by putting myself in another's
place without flinching, no matter how hard and
heartrending it is to live.
If there is someone unfortunate, I will help
him out of anything.
If I can forget myself to help out,
that will surely delight me.

In the morning the sun rises. I greet it.
I will do my best to live today.
In the evening, the sun sets.
Staring at the evening glow, I want to sit still.

With a little dream in my heart, I sleep
as quietly as a little bird.
If I have my own time, I want to spend it
reading an old collection of poems, meditating
on them alone, quietly.

Let's find happiness by ourselves.
Within silver tears like pearls and laughter like the sun,
let's keep walking ahead each day.
Certainly some day, as I look back over my past,
I will quietly see my life with a smile.

-- excerpted from Returning to Silence, by Dainin Katagiri

COME SIT WITH US

ZEN MEDITATION

We are a small group that comes together twice a month to support one another in our practice. Newcomers are always welcome.

Time
The second and fourth Saturday of each month

Location
Franciscan Spirituality Center
920 Market Street
La Crosse, Wisconsin

Schedule
8:15--Meditation Instruction
8:30--Sitting Meditation
9:20--Sitting Meditation
10:00--Prayer Service - Chanting of the Heart Sutra
10:10--Break
10:20--Study Period - Readings from Zen Mind, Beginners Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
11:00--Tea



Please join us or email me if you would like more information.