Sunday, September 2, 2012

Vigilance v. Negligence

Warren's talk tonight was marvelous.

We recited the Hakuin Wakan Zazenji..(?).
Then he talked about how 'the clear path is always in front of us...right in front of us.'

He spoke about vigilance, aka attentiveness as that 'which we are'... and that attentivness can help calm the 'turbulence'.  The same turbulence that we have lived with all our lives...so much so that we don't know that we have 'walked so many dark paths....continually as it were since we have been young.  The trubulance of thought, of the provoked emotions....the reactive self.  of fear, of desire, of unworthiness, of anger.  The light of attentiveness can calm us and open up spaciousness.   Recognize the feelings, observe them, but learn to let go of the reactive conditioned response..

We practice attentiveness to learn how to take the 'backwards step'.

'Those who are vigilant will experience the deathless;  those who are negligent are already as if dead'   Buddha supposedly said. this.  

Marion had a delightful description of the spaciousness that obtains when her time at Lake Superior is long enough to let the calm in.