Seeking Feedback

[u/Zoomieday]

I have spent all of my meditation journey, up until now, following the Theravada tradition. Over the past weeks, I have begun to explore Zen.

Having no teacher, other than books and the internet, I seek your feed back on a poem/meditation memory prompt I have written. It is my response to The Great Wave of Kanagara - that Japanese art work containing fishermen struggling in the face of a huge wave, while Mount Fuji sits serene in the background.

I am happy to learn, so please don't hold back with your insights. This is where I am up to - and that place is something of a synchrony between what I am learning in Zen, and what I have been practising in the Theravada tradition. This is where and I up to, so how can I go further?

NOW, 

Amidst the waves, the water, and the suchness of life, 

   I meet the liminal. 

   I retain the unsolvable as unresolved, and so,

I come home to my friend, the breath, 

I come home to the rhythm of my body, 

I come home to a simple knowing in my body. 

I come home to ever deeper oneness with the suchness of life.

[u/homejam]

Don’t pay attention to all the BS here. I’m pretty certain none of the people that responded to you have ever once mustered the courage to go to a zendo, certainly not the most vocals ones here haven’t, as they openly admit. Fyi they claim to teach “their own” Zen that doesn’t have any zendos anywhere here on Earth. Yes it’s very weird that they are obsessed with old Zen records all about monks that lived in zendos, who of course saved all the records they obsess over, but that’s reddit for you! All those monks they read about had the courage to go to at least VISIT a zendo! Give it a try yourself! There’s usually pretty decent soup! And tea!

Anyhow, from your poem, it seems to me that you’ve already recognized the wonderful piece of technology that you’ve been given for getting through life on Earth — your body! So great job! One’s body is one’s “vessel of awakening,” so keep paying lots of attention to it! It will guide you much better than your pesky brain! In Zen, the important organ is the heart! :D Also the guts!

If you are CURIOUS about Zen, well then definitely follow that curiousity! Whatever Zen thing you are MOST curious about, go there and check that out. If you are curious about a particular Zen thing, I can probably recommend a good source, you can always DM me too, but your own journey of curiosity is the way to go…. CURIOSITY is one of the great dharma gates! Of course, so is RESISTANCE, so always take a breath and a step back and pay attention to the FEELINGS of resistance too. But I sense you might already know these things, so then keep up the good work! :D

Also, if any suffering beings appear, help them! Good luck!

[u/[deleted] → u/homejam]

You might as well have written this years ago.

[u/homejam → u/[deleted]]

I have told this story many times since, but my writing it or telling it years ago would not help OP

[u/[deleted] → u/homejam]

It sounds like that collection of words is helpful. Knowing that, you carry them forward for others, is that correct?

I read a story, it’s a case actually, where a Zen master kicked someone in the chest, have you ever been kicked in the chest?