The Patriot has been a very lazy poster lately. There has been so much to do in anticipation of the little one arriving. Suffice it to say that in lieu of apologizing at the time between posts every week I would ask you to accept the reality that the posts will be appearing at longer intervals over the next 18 years than they have over the last 18 months. Nevertheless, the beat goes on, does it not?
I just started reading a book with selected writings of St. Augustine. I’ll let you know what I make of it in a while. I got into Augustine not through the Church, but rather through a Zen Teshio, or “Dharma Talk” I was listening to on my I-Pod yesterday. (Yes, even Zen masters have podcasts these days.) Zen master John Daido Loori, the Abbott of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper New York has authored a modern day collection of Zen Koans which utilize western myth and religions themes to assist the American Zen student find his way without having to study Japanese or Chinese linguistics to understand the historical context of the Koan.
Loori gives Teisho’s usually on the last day of a seven day Zen intensive known as a Sesshin. Loori created one Zen koan out of the incident in Chapter 6 of Mark where Jesus walks on water and encourages Peter to do the same. Peter falters once he feels the effects of the storm and Christ admonishes him for his lack of faith. The traditional Augustinian interpretation of the incident posits the stormy sea as the world at large and Peter as the Church whose success staying above the waves is dependent on the body’s members faith in the power of the almighty, i.e “Meanwhile the ship which carries the disciples, that is, the Church, is tossed and shaken by the tempests of temptation; and the contrary wind, that is, the devil her adversary, rests not, and strives to hinder her from arriving at rest. But greater is "He who maketh intercession for us." For in this our tossing to and fro in which we toil, He giveth us confidence in coming to us, and strengthening us; only let us not in our trouble throw ourselves out of the ship, and cast ourselves into the sea. For though the ship be in trouble, still it is the ship. She alone carrieth the disciples, and receiveth Christ. There is danger, it is true, in the sea; but without her there is instant perishing.”
Loori, in contrast, uses the biblical story to highlight the problems with using miracles as the basis upon which to build a faith-based religion. Christ had the power not only to walk on water, but to heal and resurrect the dead. The belief that Chist himself rose from the dead is central to the Christian faith. But what of our every-day minds? The minds we use to wipe our asses and do the dishes? If God/Buddha nature is everywhere, isn’t he equally present in our day-to-day lives as he is when he manifests himself to us through signs and miracles? As westerners without a widespread mystical tradition we seem to prefer to find God in the magical world, not in the toilet. Everyday mind, to us, is too mundane. Walking on water? THAT’s miraculous. Raking leaves and doing the dishes? That’s mundane. Of course the obvious problem with focusing on the miracles is that we immediately get too caught up in the magic and completely miss the point. Not to mention once one creates the dichotomy between "magic" and "mundane" one elevates God to the heavens and has immense trouble seeing that God as inside of oneself.
Loori relates the story of a Zen master who, met another pilgrim on the way to a holy site in China. After a while the two travelers, laughing and joking like old friends the whole way, came to a wide river. The master stopped, but the other pilgrim carried on walking on the water to cross to the other side. When he was part way he turned to the master to beckon him across. The master called out, “You deceiver, I thought you were a man of value! If I had known that you would pull a stunt like that I would have cut you off at the ankles.”
Far from encouraging visions, which are so cherished in many religions, (one only has to see the hysteria that surrounds the supposed sightings of the Virgin Mary,) in Zen it is said, “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.” This is what the sentence, “From the beginning all beings are Buddha,” truly means. Visions of God, miracles, are at best unnecessary and at worst, throw up a roadblock in front of us as we try to travel the path. We are all, each one of us, as Jesus said, “the Light of the World,” But, alas! although we ourselves are the light, we search for ourselves in the shadows of experience and look for signs of God in the miracles of saints.
A Zen Roshi(master) named Albert Low once said, “Many people feel that if they could change their life circumstances they would be happy. If they could have the right job, more money, a different spouse or no spouse, then all would be la vie en rose. Others believe that they should change themselves: become more tolerant, more loving, have better concentration. [The reality is that], everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.” Anything which distracts us from complete union with the universe (God/Buddha/Almighty/Mohammed) should be acknowledged and left behind.
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