Who is hearing?

It's back to everyday-as usual now; back from the 7 day retreat.

We were given a koan to sit with for the week:

"Who is hearing?"

Just three words, but my how they would manifest themselves
differently each day -- how far reaching and expansive they could take me... up ... and down. I was working on other koans, too,
the ongoing koans in our curricula. No problem ... the koan of the week crept into there as well.

It began as a question. This is how it was first presented to us.
But then it would transform into "Who is hearing." Of course, there has to be a "who" that is hearing, right? Who is this who anyway?

Always evolving, moving, changing perspectives, koans aren't static. "Who is hearing" would melt into Who is seeing? Who is talking? Who is thinking? Who is sitting? Who is hungry? Who is in pain?

It seems natural then to ask yourself, right now, sitting in front of your screen, "Who is reading?"

Sit with this for a spell to see where your "who-ness" takes you.

The 12 Steps and Zen koans are the topic still. Who is recovering?

Bill K.

A little of this, a little of that ...

Lake Ilsanjo, Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa, CA


We have a sesshin (Zen retreat) beginning on June 18th thru June 25th. I plan to be there, so won't be coming near my computer. I try to participate in at least two sesshins a year -- it's a time to really step away from my day-to-day activities and pay more attention to what's available inside. Mind you, I'm not trying to escape from anything ... it's more about an opportunity for me to better hear and feel what the Universe is offering.

Of course the Steps will find a way to enter into my koan practice. This seems unavoidable for me. And who knows, maybe this will give me something to pass on to you. I've had sort of a writer's block it seems, at least as this blog is concerned.

Speaking of passing it on, in July on three consecutive Friday evenings ( 8th, 15th and 22nd ) I'll be offering 12 Step/Koan sharing sessions.

7- 8:30 PM at our Santa Rosa Zendo. Check the PZi website for more details.

Of course, most of you don't live near Santa Rosa, so this would be a good opportunity for you to extend our PZi experiment to your practice center or even to a gathering of a few friends. I keep things very simple. We start on time, there's a brief introduction, then we begin sitting. For the first 5 minutes the group sits with a Step (posted on the wall), the next 20 minutes it's sitting with the Step and the selected koan for that Step. I'll say the koan about three times during the meditation.

After 25 minutes of sitting it's open for discussion around what came up for you during the meditation. It's a group-driven dialog, not a teacher/student relationship. Unlike a 12 Step meeting, we don't announce our names or anything like that. I do make the point that we treat what is said in the evening with respect; understanding that people do sometimes bring up some very personal information about themselves; that we need to assure everyone that this is a safe container to do so.

And lastly, does anyone know why, when I write this blog the sentences in the paragraphs are all nice and even but when it gets "published", some lines get shortened, not matching the way I typed it? I suppose I could read the directions maybe .....

So I'll be having three weeks of discussion here and maybe you will be doing the same where you live? If you do, I'd really like to hear how it went for you.

Until next time,

Bill K.