In about two weeks (October 13th), some of us around here will be sitting together with Step 10 and this koan...
Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Koan: Both roots and branches must return to their origin, and so do respectful and insulting words.
Shitou Xiiqian
I think I'll begin sitting with this today.
Bill K.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Step 8 Step 9 -- Wet Feet Dry Feet
Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Koan: Step by step in the dark – if your foot’s not wet, it found the stone.
~ Shaku Soyen
Finding the stone seems to indicate we are moving on a path, a route, going somewhere to somewhere else ... moving from this stone to this stone to this stone -- from a wet stone to a dry stone. We are moving to an opposite condition. We do this all the time, moving from:
· Hot to cold
· Danger to safety
· Angst to relief
· Sorrow to joy
· Step 8 to Step 9
Writing down my 8th Step, the names of people I hurt, thinking what I did to them, it can feel like slogging in wet and muddy conditions, wondering when will this end.
In the 9th Step, the slogging disappears; through courage and an honest effort at making my amends, I realize my angst turned to relief -- my foot isn’t wet anymore (at least with this particular person). The 9th Step is finding the stone.
Before taking any one of the 12 Steps, in a way we are in the dark; not knowing what to expect, not knowing if we can do this. It could be fear, too. This is perhaps especially true with Step 8. The mere thought of contacting people we have harmed and making amends is a dark place full of what ifs. So dark that one person this evening said she purposefully left some people off her list the first time she did the Steps so she wouldn’t have to include them in her Step 9. This did not solve the problem. “By leaving people off my list,” she said, “my foot stayed completely wet and I still felt miserable.”
The word “harm” stood out for another person. In the Three Pure Vows or Precepts, the first is Do no harm. “When I was drinking, I harmed people in many ways. Listing these people on my 8th Step, I was acknowledging to myself that I had not been following this precept. By being willing to take action on this path, experientially moving from Step 8 to Step 9, I was learning how to recognize the harm I caused -- to notice if my foot was wet or dry, to know when to make amends, to know when relief appears.” After making an amends, he went onto say that if he still felt a resentment toward this person, “my foot is still wet.”
We are “Creatures of Pain and Joy…” writes James Ford in this blog posting:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2017/09/creatures-pain-joy-zen-meditation-zen-koan-reality-hunger.html
In this splendid article about working with koans, he writes, “There is no escape on the koan way. Our whole lives are explored, all facets of the real. And our experience of it, now every thing is holy, now no thing is holy.”
As humans, this pain and joy is something we can’t avoid. We revert to our old ways and do harm to others, we find our feet wet again. Sooner or later we’ll remember how Steps 8, 9 AND 10 have worked for us in the past, then follow their direction. We know they will lead us to the moment of discovery – “Hey, my feet aren’t wet anymore, I’ve found the stone!”
Bill K.
Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Koan: Step by step in the dark – if your foot’s not wet, it found the stone.~ Shaku Soyen
Finding the stone seems to indicate we are moving on a path, a route, going somewhere to somewhere else ... moving from this stone to this stone to this stone -- from a wet stone to a dry stone. We are moving to an opposite condition. We do this all the time, moving from:
· Hot to cold
· Danger to safety
· Angst to relief
· Sorrow to joy
· Step 8 to Step 9
Writing down my 8th Step, the names of people I hurt, thinking what I did to them, it can feel like slogging in wet and muddy conditions, wondering when will this end.
In the 9th Step, the slogging disappears; through courage and an honest effort at making my amends, I realize my angst turned to relief -- my foot isn’t wet anymore (at least with this particular person). The 9th Step is finding the stone.Before taking any one of the 12 Steps, in a way we are in the dark; not knowing what to expect, not knowing if we can do this. It could be fear, too. This is perhaps especially true with Step 8. The mere thought of contacting people we have harmed and making amends is a dark place full of what ifs. So dark that one person this evening said she purposefully left some people off her list the first time she did the Steps so she wouldn’t have to include them in her Step 9. This did not solve the problem. “By leaving people off my list,” she said, “my foot stayed completely wet and I still felt miserable.”
The word “harm” stood out for another person. In the Three Pure Vows or Precepts, the first is Do no harm. “When I was drinking, I harmed people in many ways. Listing these people on my 8th Step, I was acknowledging to myself that I had not been following this precept. By being willing to take action on this path, experientially moving from Step 8 to Step 9, I was learning how to recognize the harm I caused -- to notice if my foot was wet or dry, to know when to make amends, to know when relief appears.” After making an amends, he went onto say that if he still felt a resentment toward this person, “my foot is still wet.”
We are “Creatures of Pain and Joy…” writes James Ford in this blog posting:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2017/09/creatures-pain-joy-zen-meditation-zen-koan-reality-hunger.html
In this splendid article about working with koans, he writes, “There is no escape on the koan way. Our whole lives are explored, all facets of the real. And our experience of it, now every thing is holy, now no thing is holy.”
As humans, this pain and joy is something we can’t avoid. We revert to our old ways and do harm to others, we find our feet wet again. Sooner or later we’ll remember how Steps 8, 9 AND 10 have worked for us in the past, then follow their direction. We know they will lead us to the moment of discovery – “Hey, my feet aren’t wet anymore, I’ve found the stone!”Bill K.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Canine Consequences
When we got this dog
I didn’t read the fine print.
It’s only when she died last Thursday
did I realize what was due.
A balloon payment of deepest sorrow
to be paid immediately!
It cannot be postponed
even for a second.
I accept this charge in its entirety.
No way shall I avoid this moment
or this moment or this moment…
It is the price I pay
for what I received from Ryla.
But embedded in every sorrow
is a bright memory.
Inside every fond memory
a dark sorrow looms.
“Bright and dark are a pair
like front and back foot walking … *
When Ryla and I would come home from our walk
while bending down I would say to her
“Kiss that pretty girl on the nose,”
which I did.
This is how it is, just now.
Shitou would say, “Don’t throw away your time.”
Bill Krumbein
September 2017
* Taking Part in the Gathering by Shitou Xiquan (700-790)
Shitou taught that “what meets the eye is the Way.”
See September 2, 2017 post
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Ryla
Dear 12 & Zen Family,
As many of you know, I am not on Facebook. When there are times I want to share something that is dear to me with the "world", I'll do it on my blog here. Such is the case today.
Our beloved dog Ryla passed away two days ago. We have spent hundreds of hours meditating together for more that twelve years.
Many of you at Pacific Zen Institute (and even the 11th Step Meeting) have met Ryla. You know what a good meditation practice she had. Or when I drove out to St. Dot's to deliver or retrieve all the retreat supplies, I would bring her along.
One day I was waiting in line to have a face-to-face meeting with my teacher, Rachel. These meetings are called dokusan. Ryla was with me of course. The bell rang, it was my turn to enter the interview room. But instead of me entering the room, unbeknownst to my teacher, I opened the door slowly and sent Ryla in. A fun time for sure. I understand Ryla and Rachel had a fine dialog together.
Ryla had a mission. She was a breeder for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI).
http://www.cci.org/
In August of 2004, Beth and I volunteered to become CCI breeder caretakers. Little did we realized what an impact Ryla would have on our lives and many others.
What an honor and privilege it has been to care for and nurture Ryla’s five litters of puppies until they were 8 weeks old; and then to experience the joy of seeing how almost 50% of her puppies graduated and became service dogs, facility dogs, or hearing dogs, etc. Ryla’s daughter Wyla was chosen as a breeder. And then Wyla’s Dyla became a breeder. What a legacy.
It goes beyond words to try to describe how Ryla touched our hearts; but calling her a family member is a good beginning.
Even though she greeted us every morning, wagged her tail daily, and loved her treat after fetching the newspapers, we suspected something was amiss with her teeth. Last week the Vet took a look and said she needed a good teeth cleaning and possibly 3 teeth to be pulled. This seemed reasonable to us.
Last Thursday I took her in for the appointment. As they were about to take her back, I bent over, kissed her and said, “Kiss that pretty girl right on the nose.” I would do this same ritual every time we got home from our daily walk.
A little later I received a telephone call from the Vet. She was still in the operating room under anesthesia. Basically, the X-Rays revealed a lot more going on – twelve teeth had to come out. I felt this was too much for this old dog to endure, coupled with her other health issues, so I authorized euthanasia.
With Ryla’s other health issues this past year, Beth and I promised her quality of life.
People who met Ryla would often exclaim, “Her eyes, they’re so expressive!” When she got me up on that morning I looked into her eyes. Wagging her tail and a nudging nose was her way saying, “Time to get up, it’s another good day.”
I didn’t know I’d be kissing Ryla, right on her nose, for the last time. So much to be grateful for.
We use koans with 12 & Zen, so it's apropos (upon hearing of Ryla's passing) that one of my teachers, David Weinstein, sent "...the dew drop world is the dew drop world, and yet...and yet..."
I responded, "And yet...and yet...today I feel incredible happiness, sadness, and gratefulness at the same time. A good day for sure."
Dogs are wonderful people.
Bill K.
See September 7 post.
 |
| Ryla 11/4/2002 - 8/31/2017 |
Our beloved dog Ryla passed away two days ago. We have spent hundreds of hours meditating together for more that twelve years.
Many of you at Pacific Zen Institute (and even the 11th Step Meeting) have met Ryla. You know what a good meditation practice she had. Or when I drove out to St. Dot's to deliver or retrieve all the retreat supplies, I would bring her along.
One day I was waiting in line to have a face-to-face meeting with my teacher, Rachel. These meetings are called dokusan. Ryla was with me of course. The bell rang, it was my turn to enter the interview room. But instead of me entering the room, unbeknownst to my teacher, I opened the door slowly and sent Ryla in. A fun time for sure. I understand Ryla and Rachel had a fine dialog together.
Ryla had a mission. She was a breeder for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI).
http://www.cci.org/
In August of 2004, Beth and I volunteered to become CCI breeder caretakers. Little did we realized what an impact Ryla would have on our lives and many others.
What an honor and privilege it has been to care for and nurture Ryla’s five litters of puppies until they were 8 weeks old; and then to experience the joy of seeing how almost 50% of her puppies graduated and became service dogs, facility dogs, or hearing dogs, etc. Ryla’s daughter Wyla was chosen as a breeder. And then Wyla’s Dyla became a breeder. What a legacy.
It goes beyond words to try to describe how Ryla touched our hearts; but calling her a family member is a good beginning.
Even though she greeted us every morning, wagged her tail daily, and loved her treat after fetching the newspapers, we suspected something was amiss with her teeth. Last week the Vet took a look and said she needed a good teeth cleaning and possibly 3 teeth to be pulled. This seemed reasonable to us.
Last Thursday I took her in for the appointment. As they were about to take her back, I bent over, kissed her and said, “Kiss that pretty girl right on the nose.” I would do this same ritual every time we got home from our daily walk.
A little later I received a telephone call from the Vet. She was still in the operating room under anesthesia. Basically, the X-Rays revealed a lot more going on – twelve teeth had to come out. I felt this was too much for this old dog to endure, coupled with her other health issues, so I authorized euthanasia.
With Ryla’s other health issues this past year, Beth and I promised her quality of life.
People who met Ryla would often exclaim, “Her eyes, they’re so expressive!” When she got me up on that morning I looked into her eyes. Wagging her tail and a nudging nose was her way saying, “Time to get up, it’s another good day.”
I didn’t know I’d be kissing Ryla, right on her nose, for the last time. So much to be grateful for.
We use koans with 12 & Zen, so it's apropos (upon hearing of Ryla's passing) that one of my teachers, David Weinstein, sent "...the dew drop world is the dew drop world, and yet...and yet..."
I responded, "And yet...and yet...today I feel incredible happiness, sadness, and gratefulness at the same time. A good day for sure."
Dogs are wonderful people.
Bill K.
See September 7 post.
September Koan
Greetings All,
Here is what we'll be sitting with this month:
We'll be meeting in only 6 days.
Here is what we'll be sitting with this month:
Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and
became willing to make amends to them all.
Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever
possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Step by step in the dark – if your foot’s not wet, it
found the stone.
~ Shaku Soyen
We'll be meeting in only 6 days.
Bill