What is the Way of Zen?
Meditating on nature and time movements
白露: 鶺鴒鳴 / White dew: Wagtails sing (72 micro seasons)
Meditating with Sounds
It is mid-September in Kyoto. Mostly, it still feels like Summer with the stubborn 35 degrees in the daytime. But the early mornings and evenings offer good relief from the scorching heat.
These days, during my morning meditations, the sounds I hear have started to change.
Long gone are the cicadas with their high pitched mating buzz. The low hums of bugs (perhaps crickets; I don’t know what they are) are gradually fading away, occasionally replaced by birds chirping. Sounds that I used to hear during the Winter-Spring transition.
Japanese wagtail birds perhaps? This has been documented in the 72 micro-seasons mirroring natural phenomena as observed in Japan. Sandpipers maybe? As their migration starts in August, heading Southward while stopping over in Japan.
When you hear the splash
Of the water drops that fall
Into the stone bowl
You will feel that all the dust
Of your mind is washed away. - Sen no Rikyu, 16th century Tea MasterPhotos taken by me. See Instagram | See LinkedIn | See previous posts | About
Meditating with Sights
This September 17 is the Harvest Moon Festival, commonly known in Japan as O-tsukimi (or Chushu no Meigetsu 中秋の名月) and among Chinese as Mid-Autumn 中秋. See 白露 Hakuro.
Every advanced ancient civilizations have closely observed the moon and heavens. From the Chinese, Babylonians, Mayans, Egyptians, Muslims, to the Greeks. They studied it for practical purposes like timekeeping, agriculture, astronomy, as well as for cultural, philosophical, religious significance.
From new, waving crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, to full before waning again, the moon undergoes multiple phases.
The moon, the ultimate reminder that constant change is indeed our reality.
When conditions are sufficient, a cloud transforms into rain, snow, or hail. The cloud has never been born and it will never die. This insight of signlessness and interbeing helps us recognize that all lives continue in different forms.
Nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is in transformation. - Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen MasterIn Japan, Zen traces its origins to China, where Bodhidharma introduced Buddhism from India. His notable disciple, 大祖慧可 Dazu Huike, founded 禪 Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, blending Buddhism with Daoist teachings on nature. Confucianism, though less prominent, was also integrated, reflecting the concept of 三教合一 merging of three teachings as one.
Meditating with Time Movements
In our hurried lives, time is a dimension often overlooked.
Dalai Lama once said, “Man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived”.
In addition to the usual sitting meditation, Moving Zen anchors attention on objects as meditation aids - from Zen gardens (karesansui), Way of Tea (chado), calligraphy (shodo), way of flexibility (judo), way of the sword (kendo), way of the bow (kyudo), flower arrangement (kado), to the way of incense (kodo).
Drinking tea, cleaning, mundane daily chores, are also thought to have the same flavor as Zen - the spiritual dimension made practical in our everyday life.
In karesansui gardens, the water or waves raked patterns in the gravel VS the bold granite rocks placed among them may seem different at first glance. In reality, they are of the same source, merely at different geological phases.
In the Way of Tea, all 5 senses are embraced. Beyond our 3D world, connecting with the fourth dimension of ‘time’ can be further heightened with tea.
In the stillness of a Japanese tea room, the sight of lone flower buds and restraint blooms (rather than overly showy flowers), the curious touch of an empty tea bowl promising warmth yet to come, the quiet air carrying a faint aroma of incense and tatami mats, the calm rhythmic sounds of tea whisking, to the taste of each sip unfurling in an infinite continuum of moments. Each motion a prelude to possibilities. Every moment an empty cup, of fresh moments to be filled and continued. Where the past and the future blend in the present's embrace.
Yesterday it was a cloud, but today it is my tea. From the cloud, rain, tea leaves, to the tea we now hold in our cup, the tea ceremony as a means of intensifying awareness that everything is part of a continuum, in constant motion and interconnected.
One flavor of tea and zen 茶禅一味！
Photos taken by me. See Instagram | See LinkedIn | See previous posts | About
It seems realizing the season by listening to the bugs is such an East Asian thing.
I really enjoyed this meditative essay!