Posted inDharma, Dogen, Scott's Messages

Message from Scott: Hindrances

May 10, 2023

The hindrances to practice  –  liking and disliking, worrying and calculating, fantasizing and regretting, lethargy and boredom, doubt, criticizing ourselves and others, even criticizing the quality of our sitting for having allowed these hindrances to occur  –  these are our very teachers!

Noticing them as they arise, yet maintaining our zazen, we “Study the Way” by this method of “Studying the Self”, as Dogen puts it, and we let it all fall away. 

Thus “Forgetting the Self”, we return to our zazen completely, opening our awareness to, and being enlightened by, every single phenomenon. All that’s left is to keep doing that forever!  

See you at the zendos, both live and online, and as always, thank you for your practice.

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

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