Bringing zen into everyday life. (And the oxherding pictures.)

I don't drive often. When I do, I tend to think about things I normally wouldn't. Today, I wondered:

"What good is zen practice if it is not applied to daily life?"

 

I recalled hearing Soto Buddhist teachers spout variations on this line often when I used to visit those kinds of places. They almost seemed dogmatic about it. I remember frowning my nose at it.

They would often say stuff like, "We have relationships, jobs, and all that stuff. So we have no choice but to make every day life our practice. This is the situation of most modern American zen practitioners."

 

I remember thinking, "That's bullshit. You're choosing to focus on relationships and jobs. If you really wanted to devote more time to pure zen practice, you could."

I believed it was far more difficult if not impossible, to really practice zen while being caught up in all the drama of everyday life. I thought they were all lazy, half-hearted practitioners who didn't have the guts to make radical life changes and devote themselves to practice, so they just used their laziness as an excuse to warp the teachings to fit their "householder" lifestyle.

 

Maybe my opinions were partly valid. But as the years have passed, I've also come to realize I REALLY AM stuck in this meat flesh body, and I really do have to deal with "reality" every morning when I wake up. And almost all human beings need relationships (with other humans) like they need food and water.

An extrovert by nature, but with a strong solitary streak, I've always oscillated between living alone in contemplation, and living in relationship and dealing with all the "normal" stuff. Never both at the same time. I would get a job, get a partner, and do that for a couple years. Then I'd become frustrated and leave it all behind to go live in solitude and meditate.

 

Now I wonder if there is really some merit to the idea of trying to do both at the same time.

Anyone relate to this?

 

P.S. I just wondered if people talk about the oxherding pictures on here at all, and if what I'm saying has to do with the last picture, returning to the market.

Submitted March 07, 2018 at 04:14AM by charmander12345678 http://ift.tt/2I6FJUQ