Tag: zen flesh zen bones

Wednesday June 17th, 2020

My ten minute write will have to be seven. I have to login to work in ten minutes.

I did do push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Richard came down for breakfast early, so I did exercises outside. It was peaceful, outside, in the morning. Last night, I read “the Story of One Hand,” from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.” An eleven year old boy begged his teacher for a koan, and received that one. He was twelve when he solved it. His first guess was great: music. He heard the geishas playing instruments, and realized music was a sound coming from one hand. Of course his teacher disagreed. He returned to his teacher multiple times with a different sound each time, until he became enlightened, with No-Sound.

So Enlightenment has to do with the mind, or slipping past the mind. What a tricky thing this mind is! We take vitamins, and our C vitamins are in clear capsules. They are a bit long. We take others, too: allergy pills, daily chewable vitamins, Evening Primrose, etc. I thought, holding the C vitamin, “This is the hardest one to swallow.” I choked on it. Then I thought, “How silly of me. I take these every day.” I swallowed it with no trouble.

So what about minds and pills that are hard to swallow? When others who mean harm tell you things about yourself, you must counter them. If you find yourself thinking, “They think I’m bad/inferior/stupid because ….” be sure to follow that with a reality check. Say “No, that’s not right,” and be firm. Say what’s right: no, my gender does not make me inferior. No, my religion makes me stronger, not weaker. No, my heritage and my skin color do not make me inferior. The same holds true for you.

Wednesday June 3rd, 2020

I did push-ups, sit-ups and squats this morning, but botched the Japanese count during squats. For push-ups, I did fifty “tricep” style ones on my toes and knuckles on the floor, but remembered to switch to “chest” style for the next ten on the matte, and the last thirty on my knees. For those, I focused on going slower and lower: I struggled with the last few. Since this is my first week back on after a week’s worth of rest, I want to push myself. Evening push-ups are still pretty difficult, particularly in our bedroom. It’s hot and I’m tired after working. For those, my goal is simply to get the numbers in.

I’ve started to read “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” again. The first time I read it, I lived in Germany as an exchange student. In the evenings, I took a class on Zazen Buddhism, which was taught by my professor for a class on Hinduism. If I remember correctly, he’d recommended that book to me. Each story is a koan, but this time around, they make considerable sense. In one story, an elderly woman supports a monk for twenty years. One day, she sends a young woman to the monk. He resists the young woman’s advances, comparing himself to an old tree on a cold rock in winter, and quips, “No where is there any warmth.” The old woman, angry, burns down the cabin she’d built for him, furious at his lack of compassion for the girl. I’m with the old lady.

During karate class last night, Sensei had us practice a set of alternating blocks with an ending punch. The number of moves was uneven, forcing students to practice the same set of moves on both the left and right sides. This was more of an IKO exercise, according to Sensei.

At the end of class, he had us meditate. He instructed us to envision a peaceful place. I saw Queen’s Bath. Sidi Yu was there: alive, happy, healthy, beautiful. D was there, too. We remarked on how warm the water was, and how beautiful the place: black lava rock surrounded the pool, ringed again by green. Sensei kept us there a full two minutes. My feet started to cramp, so I went up on my toes a couple times. I had not seen that place or that friend in many years.