The Truth of Emptiness
A hammer striking emptiness
The word 'emptiness means 'empty of a permanent abiding nature, a permanent abiding self'. Emptiness is the understanding that there is no such thing as a self that is exactly the same moment after moment--you can't put a finger on the self because it (and everything else) is in dynamic motion.
Every single thing you did today, every person you spoke with, every gesture you made, has changed you. You are not the person who got out of bed this morning. Right now you are not the person who walked in the door.
We’ve all been breathing each other’s air. We do not exist separately. Right now there’s just this big group of us. We're all here together. In a little bit we’ll all be getting in our cars. Again it will appear that we are all separately going home. But you are still breathing air and everyone is sharing that air. There is no such thing as just you, a permanent unchanging you...and that is the best news of all!
Excerpted from an October 10, 2011 talk by Misha Merrill on “The Three Marks of Existence”
______________________________________________________________________
Our ZHS on-line schedule
- Mondays: 7-8:30pm - zazen, short service, lecture/discussion
- Tuesdays-Fridays: 5:30-6:10pm - zazen, offering of merit/bows
- M-F: 7-7:30am - zazen
- Saturdays: 8:00-10:15am - zazen, short service, tea, discussion/study
- For more information: www.zenheartsangha.org)
Special bows for today:
- Please offer bows for all those displaced by the CZU fires
- Please offer bows for John Lewis, civil rights leader, who died on July 17th
- Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:
- Evacuated sangha members and their families (Lidia, Kathleen, and Kat)
- Phyllis Merrill, Misha's mother, who is dying
- Ofelia Mendez, Jorge Luis Mendez, Lazara and her mother, relatives of Lilliana Mendez-Soto who have contracted COVID
- Sherril Miller, Shannon's aunt, who has a broken humerus
- Brent DeNardo, Aaron's brother, who has contracted COVID
- Rev. Les Kaye, Misha’s Zen teacher, who is recovering at home undergoing chemotherapy
- Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org
- From our dharma friends, Diane and Wing: Dismantling the master's house: https://www.lionsroar.com/dismantling-the-masters-house/amp/
- From our dharma sister, Misha: incredible graphics and information about COVID-19 https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/covid-19-coronavirus-infographic-datapack/
- From our dharma brother, Bill: Buddhism in women's prisons: https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhism-in-womens-prisons/
- From our dharma sister, Nancy: Spirituality and interconnectedness through time https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/04/19/lynn-margulis-talking-on-the-water/
- From our dharma sister, Camille: an important commentary on race, riots and society to help us understand from Trevor Noah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4amCfVbA_c
Many thanks to those of you who are sending me articles to share, links to helpful information, and for making comments…it is a gift beyond measure. Please know that you can either leave a comment on the blog itself, or send something directly to me and I will be happy to paste it in.
No comments:
Post a Comment