Kshanti is patience, tolerance, forbearance, endurance, or composure. It literally means "able to withstand." (https://www.thoughtco.com/the-six-perfections-449611). Through living a life of awareness, we know that the moment must unfold begin, middle, and decline. In many ways patience is having a keen sense of timing. In reading music I understand one can see and hear the notes. Also the space between the notes must be paid its due as integral to the movement. This same awareness and effort is cultivated in patience. There is the classic Zen tale of the chick and hen taking turns pecking lightly from the inside and then outside of the egg. Here the hen waits for the effort and responses in kind-we have all the time in the universe to hatch.
Non-rushing (Kshanti) liberates us from having to try and control the moment. Rather in waiting for IT to unfold we are more likely to not jump to a conclusion. In one scene of Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge says to Bob Cratchit "... I see you are late once again...therefore...you leave me no choice sir, but to raise your salary (I suspect Bob was caught off guard). Being upright in the unfolding moment is Zen practice. It is not circumventing the Dharma. We have all heard the tome to stay in the moment. It takes us 3-5 seconds to breath in, out and in again. This is the smallest cycle of life-a moment of being...alive. That is all we have, knowing one day we will breath in and out but not in. What a wonder for acceptance/patience and appreciation...
Patience on the cushion is fostered as we just sit. No anticipation, each moment is life inviolable. Conclusion jumping can be a hazard to our health. Being the moment we unfold as does the other co-arising forms, awaiting we align our universe...
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
May 23, service will be on The Six Perfections and the second Prajna-Ksanti/Patience
Dokusan will be offered...
Our Beach sitting on the Bike-Path at Oyster Pond and Surf Drive has begun, from 6:30AM until 7:00AM then we all go to PIE-IN-THE SKY in Woods Hole for coffee.
1. During May, we will explore The Six Perfections, or paramitas that are guides for Mahayana Buddhist practice. They are virtues to be cultivated to strengthen practice and bring one to enlightenment. The Six Perfections describe the true nature of an enlightened being, which, in Mahayana practice, is to say they are our own true buddha-nature. If they don't seem to be our true nature, it is because the perfections are obscured by our delusion, anger, greed, and fear. By cultivating these perfections, we bring this true nature into expression. For an excellent overview go to: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-six-perfections-449611
2. Like String for Beads, is a compilation of my Dharma talks, notes, poems and Facebook comments I have produced over the last five years. Special thanks to Enjitsu-san Chris Charyk for pulling the pieces together in this book! There will be copies available every Tuesday night, or let me know if you want me to mail you a copy. The book is $15 per copy.
3. Visit our new library named for Diane “Yugen” Tucker. The cart was a donation to the Sangha by Kyoshin Elin Kinney as Dana for her Jukai on November 5, 2016…many bows! The books will be added over the next few weeks and Kyoshin-ni has agreed to be our Librarian. A donation of $1 is recommend to check out books and magazines for up to three weeks. It really is a cute cart drop-by and see it soon. Oh, we wheel it out each Tuesdays and for zazenkai and sesshin, or if you would like to see if we have a book you want, get in touch with Elin <elinkinney@gmail.com>.
4. Meditation is also held each TUESDAY at 10:00AM at the Falmouth Senior Center.
5. Last night the Buddhist Book Bunch met and finished discussing Being Upright which we found to be practical and inspirational. Look for a copy in our rolling yellow library. (Thanks Phil!) At the meeting, Sensei announced our summer book. Remember that the Falmouth Soto Zen Buddhist Book Bunch does not hold meetings from June to August and we will resume our monthly meetings in September.
6. Over the summer, we invite you to read, The Fruitful Darkness by Joan Halifax. Grove Press describes the book published originally in 1993 as: Buddhist teacher and anthropologist Joan Halifax Roshi delves into "the fruitful darkness” --the shadow side of being, found in the root truths of Native religions, the fecundity of nature, and the stillness of meditation. In this highly personal and insightful odyssey of the heart and mind, she encounters Tibetan Buddhist meditators, Mexican shamans, and Native American elders, among others. In rapt prose, she recounts her explorations--from Japanese Zen meditation to hallucinogenic plants, from the Dogon people of Mali to the Mayan rain forest, all the while creating "an adventure of the spirit and a feast of wisdom old and new” (Peter Matthiessen). Halifax believes that deep ecology (which attempts to fuse environmental awareness with spiritual values) works in tandem with Buddhism and shamanism to discover "the interconnectedness of all life,” and to regain life’s sacredness.We will discuss The Fruitful Darkness at our meeting on September 24th from 6:30-8:00 at 41 Carol Avenue in East Falmouth.Gassho~Koin-ni (Sue)
7. Our Zendo is open at 6:30PM (good time for newcomers to get aquatinted) at the UUFF, 840 Sandwich Road, for our weekly service which starts at 7:00PM. Also feel free to stay afterwards to chat and or ask questions...