we have been prayed for
under ancient night skies
around dinner tables
upon the sun as it rose again
generations and
generations of
prayers upon
prayers
and now we
too
take our place
amongst this
infinite
chant
~noah s.
“Don’t waste your mind on nursery rhymes,
fairy tales of blood and wine,
it’s turtles all the way down the line.”
~Sturgill Simpson
As a Buddhist, I don’t believe in prayer.
So I don’t pray.
Not really.
I don’t worship or “believe-in” a supreme being, a godhead, a goddess-head, Santa or the easter bunny, or turtles all the way down the line.
It feels like a cop-out to me.
I am what you may call “apatheistic”. I simply don’t care. Don’t have the conversation about it with myself or others.
Buddhist teaching says that it does not matter if there is or isn’t a supreme god-ish-thingy out there.
Buddha, as far as I know, refused to address the existence of a god.
It’s my behavior that matters. It’s up to me alone, I should behave well, compassionately, mindfully regardless of the the existence or non-existence of a god-figure.
All my responsibility.
Before I realized this Buddhist teaching I spent decades praying for myself and others, for stuff and desired outcomes, all out of fear. Fear of facing reality. Fear of taking responsibility.
Mind games.
We’ve learned that the actions of a bodhisattva are without hope, without self, without other. They are actions just as they are. No eternal reward, no karmic debit paid, no merit.
Just as they are.
This is a difficult call. If nothing is to be gained then why bother?
I suppose that we bother because we have, through meditation, experienced a sense of actual being within ourselves, without the self-centered chatter and ego inflation of a busy mind. And just a glimpse of that seems to be enough to change our minds about our motivation and who is actually responsible for our actions.
We begin to see “things as it is“, so says Maezumi Roshi.
This is all easy to understand, but it’s really hard to do everyday, all the time, in each and all of the frustrating, maddening, boring, aggravating common daily situations.
But we have an awareness of it, an intention to try. (Is this a bodhisattva vow?)
Is intention the same as prayer?
I don’t think intention is the same as prayer. Prayer is petitioning, it transfers responsibility to something outside ourselves. Responsibility for our actions is 100% our trip alone.
I say “I don’t pray. Not really.” What I do is outwardly express my intentions, my aspirations. My intentions and aspirations may manifest as actions, ceremony, service or acts involving others.
When I sit zazen, chant, recite a sadhana, or a sutra, or perform a ritual, I don’t consider it prayer. I experience it as an expression of my inner being engaged in the action of aspiring, embodying, expressing, intending and being.
Aspirations and intentions can serve as guideposts for my actions.
It’s not going out there to someone or something.
It’s in here.
It’s the myriad expressions of the magical illusion of the dharma worlds.
If somewhere out there a godhead, a goddess-head, Santa, the easter bunny, or turtles hear it…cool.
I don’t care.
~issan
SCHEDULE 2/26- 3/4
MONDAY, 6:30AM, ZAZEN AT TEA HOUSE, BRING YOUR OWN KEY AND OPEN
MONDAY, 7PM, DREAM KOAN AT THE TEA HOUSE OR ZOOM
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81182899201?pwd=UVU4MnJhMG1ZUGJaOHhaSndwQ2dYQT09
TUESDAY, 6:30AM, ZAZEN AT THE TEA HOUSE OR ZOOM, WITH ZENHO. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86265616603?pwd=WHZEQWNDQnZPS1VicDl6VVlEdmxFZz09
WEDNESDAY, 6:30AM: ZAZEN AT THE TEA HOUSE OR ZOOM WITH ZENHO
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89605039197?pwd=VTVubW5pUnBCNFBqQjBieERvNDd5QT09
THURSDAY, 6:30AM: ZAZEN AT THE TEA HOUSE WITH ISSAN
DOKUSAN WITH ISSAN SENSEI
FRIDAY, 6:30AM: ZAZEN & SERVICE WITH ZENHO AT THE TEAHOUSE DOKUSAN WITH ZENHO SENSEI
Deep Peace and Great Love,
Issan & Zenho
No Gate Zen Center 