Refraining from Harm
A dharma talk on 3/8/21 by Misha
Dogen tells a story of a Chinese Zen teacher named ‘Bird’s Nest,’ who was called this because he lived up in a tree: There was a statesman and poet who was a student of Bird’s Nest. And one time the statesman stood below his tree, called up to him and said, “Looks very precarious and dangerous up there,” and Bird’s Nest said down to him, “Looks very precarious and dangerous down there.
The precariousness and danger of life has never been more obvious than this last year. Living up in a tree seems easy by comparison…it’s much more dangerous to go about in the world away from trees because it’s seems like it's getting even easier to cause harm and forget about doing good.
What gets in our way of ‘refraining from harm? I always think that Roshi Tenshin Reb Anderson explained it the best in his book on the precepts, ‘Being Upright’: The fundamental delusion of human beings is the belief that we exist separately and independently from the rest of the universe. There is the whole universe, a human thinks, plus something—and that something is me. Once we misunderstand ourselves in this way, it is inevitable that we will be primarily concerned with this isolated, precious self. We will single-mindedly focus on protecting and promoting our separate, individual welfare. Ignoring our close connection with all beings, animate and inanimate, we will act selfishly, through greed, hate, and delusion.”
As long as we do not deeply understand our true nature, the nature of emptiness/interbeing, we will continue to suffer from our self-oriented ways. Dogen explains in his essay, 'Refraining from Harm': "Harm is not empty, it is not done; harm is not form, it is not done. Harm is not not done, it is just not done.”
Good old Dogen! He really likes spinning our heads around...but if you understand that our Zen practice is one of non-doing, non-action, non-thinking, then you'll also understand that he is not saying literally that you don’t DO anything, but just that YOU don’t do anything. Evil does not inherently exist: we make it ourselves, and if it isn’t done, then evil doesn’t arise.
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Special bows for today:
- Please offer bows in honor of:
- Lally Hass, Kathleen Dickey's aunt, who died March 7, 2021 after a series of strokes
- Jesse Schouboe, dear friend of GJ Scove, who died on 2/27/21 in a car crash
- Please continue to offer bows in honor of:
- Hank Wesselman, brother of Chris Wesselman, who died on 2/15/21
- Roshi Mel Weitsman who died on 1/7/21
- Please continue to offer bows of well-being for:
- Mary Kaye, wife of Les Kaye, who is having minor surgery on March 10th
- Misha's cousin, Kenny, who has been diagnosed with ALS
- Shannon's husband, Gil, who is slowly recovering
- Flip Dibner, dharma brother and friend, who is continuing chemotherapy treatments
- David Shaw, who is continuing the process of PT after a stroke
From Angela Scarlett: Recommendation: the film, Nomadland, on Hulu. It is a film about houseless nomads (often older folks in their 60s and 70s) who are living out of cars and vans. Many real-life nomads played versions of themselves.
From Rick Moss: I recommend this conversation highly (listen to podcast or read transcript) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/podcasts/ezra-klein-show-george-saunders-transcript.html
From Beth Goldring: Interview with Jane Goodall https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-bottom-line/2021/1/28/jane-goodall-covid-19-environment-poverty
From Kathleen Dickey: Alan Senauke becoming the new Abbott of Berkeley Zen Center: https://blogs.sfzc.org/blog/2021/02/10/a-new-abbot-for-old-plum-mountain-zencenter/fbclid=IwAR3eFpaURN8Nn_nUIZVK0bvu5K0RZq7XvYGF_OhHjBKYWwvaCi0GLEjMc4g
Alisa Tu: interviewed on CBS about vaccinations: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/only-4-of-all-covid-vaccine-doses-administered-in-us-went-to-long-term-care-facility-residents/#x
From Diane Comey: Bird songs: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/bird_songs_interactive/index.html
- Zen Heart Sangha website: resources about COVID-19: www.zenheartsangha.org
- To leave a comment on this blog: Here is a quick video on how to--it's from 2017, but should work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T4RflO5Wgg
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