Welcome to Coming into View: A Contemplative Practice.
…the practice of stillness is full of joy and beauty… Evagrios, The Philokalia
The focus of the practice is contemplation. Contemplation is the practice of bringing together in good measure the teachings of the Dharma (truth, God-meaning) with the actions of our body, speech and mind through silence, solitude, stillness, study and meditation (prayer). The basic demands on us are commitment of time, attention and effort to actualize the practice of silence, solitude, stillness, study and meditation.
The demands are simply set out and yet, difficult to do. Each one of us will face different difficulties with commitment, time, attention, effort and following the teachings with body, speech and mind. My encouragement is to follow the admonishment given to Cain:
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, mistakes crouch at your door. The desire to slack off is after you, but you must rule over it.[1]
Sometimes it does get the best of us and we do slack off. We must continuously work to keep trouble from getting in the door. But when we fall victim to idleness, laziness and indolence we recognize it and without faulting anyone or anything we turn back to the practice. We get up and continue our practice.
Regret
The consequence of not doing our best is regret. Although regret may be forgiven, it causes unnecessary suffering in the heart. It is the ego-cherishing, ego-grasping, ego-absorbed opposition to ruling over the devilish desires to slack off. Don’t fall prey to it.
There is no recovering a time when we slip up, foul up and mess up from not doing our best. Regret leaves a stain which requires additional time to mourn, lament and takes away the possibility of a meditative state. If and when we grieve, we sit in sorrow, a damp suffering that prohibits concentration.
Confess
Confess. We repair as best we can and go on. We do our best not to attach to our errors, but use our energy to confess the errors, make amends and continue to practice. We don’t skip this step.
Delight and joy are necessary allies when we meditate. If we are afflicted with preoccupations when we sit, we will spend the time sitting wrestling with the affliction and not concentrated and absorbed in silence.
Zen
Zen, and in particular this practice, is a practice of letting go of the self-cherishing and ego- grasping identity of me. And this identity of me comes in a myriad of forms and shapes. It is important for us to remember even when we are not too sure that the self is a delusion.
The Work
In every which way, the work of Zen is with the relinquishment of self delusion. We must come to terms with accepting responsibility and recognition that the work is ours to do. No one is able to do the work for us.
The Precepts
The work of training with the precepts is where we begin. The precepts, when practiced, keep the mind from descending into regret and self-wallowing. If we fall victim to the devil of self-wallowing, the practice is to let go of this self delusion. If we fall victim to self-pride, the practice is to let go of this self delusion. Any of one of a multitude of mind devils may oppose us and hinder us. We need to keep in mind our foes are not made of flesh and bones, but are these ever invading inner self delusions. Meditation is impossible when the mind is full of these devils. Buck up. We don’t let the reality of our situation defeat us, we let it soak into our being until the self delusion is seen for what it is. Meditation, along with all the Zen practices, is not for naught; we begin where we are in the middle of our crazy beliefs and attachments to our self delusion.
Five Practices, Every Day
Silence, solitude, concentration, study and meditation are the five broad practices. We sometimes like lists thinking the list in itself will do the work for us. But as we all know the disheartening feeling when nothing seems to be going as we thought. We must be willing to be bare=bones honest. We must make a commitment to do the work every day. It is a daily commitment right in the middle of everyday life. There is no need for us to go off somewhere else. We wash the dishes in silence, go for a walk alone, study the teachings, memorize what speaks to us, still the mind and meditate every day.
An elder said: The reason why we do not get anywhere is that we do not know our limits, and we are not patient in carrying on the work we have begun. But without any labour at all we want to gain possession of virtue.[i]
We must labor.
May we with all beings realize
the emptiness of the three wheels,
giver, receiver and gift.
Don’t give up. Keep going.
OM
Fashi Lao Yue
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[1] My understanding of Genesis 4:7 where God speaks to Cain.
[i] Desert Fathers: XXVI, p. 66. Seeking God, de Waal, The Liturgical Press, 1984, 2001.