This article presents 6 ways to react with your life and translate them into your practice.
The article is written by Zen teacher Norman Fischer. Norman has written a number of books that are on my to read list but I've not read a lot of his content.
Article Intro
The way most of us view the world isn't actually representative of the actual state of the world. This is expressed by the zen saying, “the whole world's upside down.”
I tried to find who and when this saying was said, but was unable. If anyone knows its origin please let me know
A parable about Zen master Bird's Nest Roshi illustrates that living in ignorance to emptiness and instead only focusing on form
I find this story kind of funny. I take the point however the argument feels very “yeah but”. Mediating on a branch is still dangerous regardless of behavior of others.
“We think it makes sense to protect ourselves from pain, but our self-protection ends up causing us deeper pain. We’re attached to what we like and try to avoid what we don’t like, but we can’t keep the attractive object and we can’t avoid the unwanted object.”
on a surface level this seems kind of silly but thinking about it a bit deeper ( not just physical pain ) makes more
I think this is speaking more toward the clinging to comfort or the fleeing of all pain — pain is inevitable and the anxiety that comes from trying to run around it causes delusion and suffering.
“We think we have to hold on to what we have, but our very holding on causes us to lose what we have”
I enjoy this quote, I find it more approachable / understandable than the top level quote in this tree while saying the same thing — it is more pedantic.
It seems like the author is using the word “dangerous” in a context that is confusing to most readers. I don't interpret the meaning to be physical threatening but instead a danger of living ignorantly or in a way that results in unnecessary suffering.
“The world may be upside down, but we still have to live in this upside-down world, and we have to be practical on its terms. The teaching on transforming bad circumstances into the path doesn’t deny that. ”
I kind of wish the author lead with this context, the skeptic in me would have liked to have this to interpret previous points.
The teaching isn't to dwell on suffering but instead to adjust your attitude and approach to create a smoother path to happiness.
The final line of what I am calling the intro is subtle but, personally, very important, “Transforming bad circumstances into the path is associated with the practice of patience”
As I've tried to practice the following points I have found them to be very related to building 'constructive patience'.
I've found this slogan immensely helpful in my life ( over the past few weeks , after reading this article )
any situation you encounter that seems 'just' frustrating/unfair, etc is actually a moment for you to build your practice and recognize emptiness.
“Patience is the capacity to welcome difficulty when it comes, with a spirit of strength, endurance, forbearance, and dignity rather than fear, anxiety, and avoidance.”
This is a fantastic & highly functional definition of patience. Historically I've always thought of patience as a stoic opposition to frustration. In this presentation of patience it is more of a change in view point vs. an opposition or test of will.
When something good or bad happens we take note of both the ways we cling and avoid it. Instead of gut reacting to a good or bad event we take notice and investigate our response and emotions.
By being present with our emotions we can forgive them ( and ourselves ) which fosters relief and gratitude
This is a demonstrable , phenomenological exercise that we can practice and experience some of the authors previously ( and personally confusing ) comments about danger & suffering which I noted in the intro section.
Through accepting our emotions & recognizing how they are arising we can reduce our suffering vs. trying to flee from something that we can never fully flee from.
Drive all blames into one
I struggled with directly aligning “Drive all blames into one” and the authors explanation. I like the explanation and trust that it is correct , I just have a hard time with the word blame — I think.
Authors expanded explanation “whatever happens, don’t ever blame anyone or anything else; always blame only yourself.”
Blame doesn't mean the traditional convention of blame yourself ( which as the author notes, we're already really good at )
You can't blame anyone for what happens. Things happen & all we can do is deal with them.
I am not sure I 100% agree with this. Something are directly caused by actions ( at least as much as we can tell ) we can place blame on an action and respond to that action with patience and compassion vs. anger , etc.
“You take full responsibility for everything that happens in your life”
again, I feel weird about this. Why do I need to take full responsibility vs. realizing that some things just happen from the field of existence. Responsibility seems to be a very functional / 'one' based concept vs. recognizing the result as a stand alone event that is more a portion of emptiness. 1
Generally I think I am being too critical here and missing the point — stop trying to blame everything else!
I think the general , more abstract take away from this slogan is that we should stop trying to place blame everywhere and instead focus on Turning all mishaps into the path.
Be grateful to everyone
We're all connected , no one is truly independent, so be grateful & contemplative of everything.
It you really think about it the degree of connectivity is much much deeper than it seems at first-blush.
” Literally every thought in our minds, every emotion that we feel, every word that comes out of our mouth, every material sustenance that we need to get through the day, comes through the kindness of and the interaction with others.”
I've heard this slogan and variation of this sentiment in many places, I always struggle with a cringe type reaction to it — it sounds so wishy-washy but over the past few weeks I've been trying to make it more 'piratical' / 'grounded' in my life. Instead of trying to be grateful to the soil I am grateful to my partner. Starting closer to home has made it easier to interact with this slogan. Maybe someday I can be grateful to the soil :)
See confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness
” This goes beyond our conventional or relative understanding to a deeper sense of what we are. Though conventionally I am me and you are you, from an absolute perspective, a God’s-eye view, if you will, there is no self and other. There’s only being, and there’s only love, which is being sharing itself with itself without impediment and with warmth.”
I don't think I agree fully with this statement, I would rephrase it as there is both self and no self or put another way, there is both form and emptiness.
We see confusion as Buddha and practice emptiness by recognizing the tanha of our body and interacting with them on a deeper level.
we engage with our emotions & cravings to go a level deeper than just reacting to them.
“[...] when someone leaves this world and enters death (if there is such a place to enter), you know then that this emptiness is not just philosophy. “
“When you view your daily human problems in the light of actual birth and actual death, you are practicing with this slogan.”
Do good, avoid evil, appreciate your lunacy, pray for help
This seems reminiscent to the Three Pure Precepts at least the first two precepts.
Do not create Evil
Practice Good
Actualize Good for Others
I like this sentiment a lot , I've heard it expressed in many different ways: “If spiritual teachings are to really transform our lives, they need to oscillate (as the slogans do) between two levels, the profound and the mundane. ”
“We have just been contemplating reality as Buddha and practicing emptiness. That was important. Now it’s time to get back down to earth.”
Appreciating Lunacy means to be okay with your cravings and recognize them for what they are. Don't dwell on faults ( similar to the grave precept “See the perfection” ).
I am not much for praying in the traditional sense so I will take a slightly different interpretation than the author did. Strive for an ideal , to me the Buddha is largely an objective that I look to for introspection and , potentially , examples on how to handle difficult situations ( aka life! ).
Not all zen Buddhist pray ; ) but I think I am arguing over semantics.
The author notes that this slogan sums up all the others ( in my opinion, so does the first ).
Personal Takeaways:
I think the first slogan could have been the entire article. The rest was great but felt like variations of the first.
I really enjoyed the context the author sets out around patience. Generally I've thought of patience a struggle of wills but instead framing it as a form of practice was a great perspective shift for me.
Constructive Patience is the term I've been using in my mind to describe the authors definitions. Patience is the practice of realizing truly what is going on and reacting accordingly — it is logical not a feet of strength.
Practicing with this is great. It doesn't take months. You can do it today.