Gratitude

If the only prayer you said

in your whole life

was, "thank you,"

that would suffice.

Meister Eckhart

I've been participating in a hundred day practice period via the internet with a teacher from Minnesota. His blog is interesting, wildfoxzen.blogspot.com, and I've found the study to be interesting. We are reflecting on a piece by Dogen, the Japanese father of Zen. Here is one of my comments on the 'training blog'.

"When all dharmas are the Buddha‑dharma, there is illusion and enlightenment, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings."I have a tough time with this one. Listening to Lenoard Cohen's 'Anthem' seems to express my feelings wonderfully: "Forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything...." I find that I attempt to chase the quiet mind (my mind is rather active) and the 'perfect' activity. This if only mind really leaks into everyting I do. My practice is alright how it is. How I do the dishes is alright. How I blow my nose, etc...is all ok. Being chained to the present moment or any idea of how it should be is filled with ego. If only I could drop it.....

The dead do not want us dead;

such petty errors are left for the living.

Nor do they want our mourning.

No gift to them --- not rage, not weeping.

Return one of them, any one of them, to the earth,

and look: such foolish skipping,

such telling of bad jokes, such feasting!

Even a cucumber, even a single anise seed: feasting.

--- Jane Hirschfield, "The Dead Do Not Want Us Dead"