There is an idea that meditation is about stopping thinking, being peaceful, and never being upset again. That we enter a kind of nirvana or heaven, if we work hard enough, while we are still on earth. Often nothing we know, do, or practice, prepares us for what unexpectedly comes next.
We at the Grey Heron Zendo, sit to appreciate our lives, as they unfold, exactly as they are. In that deep appreciation of, or surrender to, what is happening, one comes to know something more of life.
We draw from the richness of religious traditions that formed many of us and recognize too how Zen meditation not only does not diminish one’s founding faith but can strengthen it.
The third vow in Zen is a willingness to be teachable, and some days we are and some days we are not – either way, a dawning of just how much is given once we yield to that ‘undying source’ becomes the encouragement we needed to give in to living while we can.