Category Archives: Dharma

Awakening Together

We are so blessed to have such a strong community in Berkeley Zen Center. A community that comes together in mutual support time and time again, most recently to cocreate our 34th practice period and June sesshin, which, to quote the Lotus Sutra, was “Good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end.” Our study of the Lotus Sutra and Case 78 from the Blue Cliff Record, which was assigned to our shuso Mark as his case for the practice period, shared in common the theme of awakening together. The sixteen bodhisattvas all got in the water together and woke up together.

The Lotus Sutra says in chapter 2, “Only a buddha together with a buddha can fathom the ultimate reality of all things.” In the shuso ceremony, the shuso makes the scripted statement that finishes with “Let us call forth the Dharma!” We call forth the Dharma together. We awaken together. Nobody can do it for us, and we can’t do it alone. In these frankly frightening times in which we find ourselves, it is most incumbent upon us to give each other the gift of our true selves. We give each other the gift of non-fear. There is great strength in this community, and with our practice grounded in daily zazen and other activities of this temple, we are able to tap into this strength for ourselves and for each other. We discover capacities we never knew we had before, like finding a precious jewel sewed into a sleeve.

It is not for nothing that we call Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha the Triple Treasure. This is true wealth. A life worth living is something that money can’t buy. And it’s something we freely offer to each other in a web of mutuality and love. May our practice always continue like this.

Linda and Greg

Dogen’s Four Embracing Actions

Dogen’s Four Embracing Actions (Excerpt from a talk by Hozan Roshi, July 2016)

I’m going to talk about how we cultivate and manifest Bodhisattva nature in our practice here in this wonderful room, and in our practice in the world, which are not two things. The context is with such alarming public discourse, based on fear, on separation of one group from another, but my question is not about Republican or Democrat or politics as such. It’s about how you and I can carry our practice, the composure, effort, and patience of zazen from this room into the world. How can we cultivate our ability to plant seeds of peace to replace seeds of violence, greed, and delusion that we actually all have within us, to transform them?

This is an important teaching, one of the most accessible teachings by our ancestor Dogen from his Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. The first is generosity or giving. The second is loving or kind speech. The third is beneficial action. And the fourth is identity action. These are the ways a Bodhisattva goes forth in the world, ways one can operate, the natural functioning of an awakened Bodhisattva. They are also ways we can cultivate our Bodhisattva nature, develop that nature to give birth to the Bodhisattva within us by living in these ways, returning to these practices, particularly when things are hard or things are going wrong.

Dogen starts by talking about generosity, or Dana: “Giving means not to be greedy, and not to be greedy means not to covet. Even if we rule the four continents, in order to teach, to offer the teachings of the true way, we must simply and unfailingly not be greedy.” He says it’s like offering treasures we are about to discard to those we do not know. “We give flowers blooming on the distant mountains to the Tathagata, and we offer treasures accumulated in past lives to living beings.” In his time, to give flowers blooming in the distant mountains was to give the Buddhists something they already had; flowers just bloomed. In our time, we have to make an effort to sustain those flowers because what we are doing on our mountains is stripping them for timber, strip mining them for coal, developing them for housing projects. There’s no room for the flowers to bloom in many places. For us to give flowers on the distant mountain to the Tathagata, to the Buddha, calls for a serious effort or intention, and that’s in the spirit of giving. Dogen writes that we offer ourselves to ourselves, and we offer others to others. That’s to me the turning line. We offer ourselves to ourselves. In other words, we allow ourselves to be as we are, to be as our true selves, not necessarily as our narrow selves or small selves, but to be as free and open as we can, to hold this posture when we offer ourselves to ourselves. That’s what we’re doing when we’re sitting zazen.

The second of these embracing actions is loving speech, which he says means to arouse compassionate mind when meeting with living beings. It means don’t immediately stake out your position to challenge or oppose, but actually listen. He says, in general, we should not use any violent or harmful words, which leaves a little opening for when sometimes there might be a need for strong speech, not necessarily harmful, but strong speech. When your child is about to step off the curb into traffic, you have to speak strongly. You may have to do things, to exercise that strength to help people, but in general, not. And then he says speak with a mind that compassionately cares for living beings as if they were our own children. That’s loving or kind speech. The third principle is beneficial action, which means creating skillful means to benefit living beings, whether they are noble or humble. Dogen says we should benefit friends and foes, self and others alike we are all one being. How we treat our friends should not be different from how we treat those we are in opposition to. We may use different language, a different approach, but we have to recognize there’s a fundamental human connection that we have. We are all expressions of this big mind, and this is the way we treat ourselves. When I’m sitting in zazen, there are pleasant and unpleasant thoughts, critical and affirming thoughts that arise in my mind. The practice is to meet them all respectfully and let them walk away. If we push them away, if we react to them, they will hang around and push back. This dynamic of contention is what we feed by our reactivity, so we should benefit friends and foes, self and others alike. Then, Dogen says, because beneficial actions never regress, if we attain this mind, we can perform beneficial actions even for grass, trees, wind, and water. This is the wide vision of Dogen, of Chinese and Japanese Zen. It’s all alive. Everything’s alive, and so it’s not just about me, not just about my family; it’s about the entire world that we inhabit. The fourth point is identity action, sometimes translated as cooperation, sameness, identity meaning being—not like identity politics. It’s being in identity with all that you encounter, meaning we’re all part of one large identity, not to be different from self or others. Do I have an integral sense of myself where I include, as Suzuki Roshi often said, everything as part of myself rather than separating off this and this and this, compartmentalizing it, trying to push this in the basement, sticking this one up in the attic, putting this one forward so people can see it. It’s to not be different from all that one is, to recognize this fundamental oneness of being. He says the ocean does not refuse water; therefore, it is able to achieve vastness. It just takes all the water, as much water as you want to give, and it’ll be as big as it needs to be. The mountains do not refuse earth; therefore, they are able to become tall.

“And wise rulers are not weary of people; therefore they form a large nation. Wise rulers do not weary of their people. That does not mean they fail to offer rewards and punishments, but they never tire of their people. Although people desire to form a nation and have wise rulers, few fully understand why a wise ruler is wise. They are simply glad to be embraced by the wise ruler, but they don’t realize they are embracing a wise ruler.” Thus, the principle of identity action exists both in the wise ruler and the people. A society exists on the basis of our willingness to go along with it. That means sometimes we go along because we’re privileged by it, sometimes because there’s a gun held to our heads, or sometimes for what we perceive to be our children’s sake. But it’s always about society existing on the basis of cooperation.

When that cooperation is withdrawn, societies change; this is how things change. In China’s history, there would be a conflation of natural disasters, probably going on all the time, but people would notice and say, oh, it’s time for us to withdraw our support for this ruler because he’s not wise anymore; we need to find a new one. It’s about this dynamic; the only way a ruler can continue is with either the willing or the coerced cooperation of the people. Identity action means sameness, and this is what Dogen says here: the principle of identity action exists both in the wise ruler and the people. Can I meet people whose views seem diametrically opposed to mine, listen to them, and create an atmosphere where I can present mine? This is highly idealistic, but it’s the best thing that I know how to do. And it’s what I’m working with, basically, when I sit zazen. Can I meet the parts of myself that are deeply troubling to me and just accept them as part of the whole catastrophe? As I develop the capacity to do that, then my ability to include others becomes broader; then, one is bringing forth one’s Bodhisattva nature. And that’s what I wish for each of us. And that’s what I think, at the deepest level, our practice is about.

Abbot Hozan on Practice Periods

Our practice period, in the springtime when the circle of life turns in renewal, is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the practice of living an enlightened life, to renew our beginner’s mind. Practice period includes sitting, walking, chanting, cooking, serving, eating, working, resting—all of this is enlightened activity, woven into whole cloth by zazen.

BZC members have jobs, families, and responsibilities outside the gate. Our practice is as much in our homes and in the world as in the zendo. This is our ongoing Dharma experiment—dedicated lay practice, sitting with everything. During practice period we do have recommended requirements, but within these requirements each person creates his/her/their own schedule. Some will be able to do only the minimum; others who are able can extend themselves further.

Each of us must be realistic about our capacity. The important thing—during practice period and throughout the year—is to clarify and set a practice intention, then do our best to keep to that intention. You don’t have to break your bones to do practice period. But don’t be slack with yourself either. With Right Effort our practice edge comes into view. What is the Middle Way? Whatever commitment and schedule one arrives at, we are all practicing together intimately.

Not everyone in the sangha has the time and energy to participate in practice period. That is completely understandable, and everyone is welcome to come to the zendo when they can. The PP class is open to all, and sesshins will be open to non-PP participants as space allows. All of us are supporting and being supported by the practice period— peaceful abiding. These weeks together can extend throughout the year. As Dogen says, “Practice period goes beyond this.” (from the May‒June 2023 Newsletter)

Looking Back, Stepping Forward

Welcome to 2023 and the turning of the season, the return of light. What will come our way this year is unknown. The pandemic still wanders at will; its course is uncertain and compels us to stay flexible in so many of our activities.
The last three years—marked by the pandemic and by Sojun Roshi’s illness and death—have spurred us to let go of customary patterns and plans, to adapt, to bow to grief and loss, even as we move forward.The Berkeley Zen Center sangha seems to be adept at making these changes. I think this is the deepest legacy of our late teacher: in the spirit of zazen simply to be a true community, a beloved community; to remain flexible and capable of an appropriate response as conditions continually change.
I am now about two years on as BZC’s second abbot. While I had a very long apprenticeship as tanto and vice-abbot, nothing I had previously encountered prepared me for the changes we have had to reckon with. I want to emphasize that I have never felt alone or overburdened by the zigs and zags of the Covid years. Senior students, residents, and long-time practitioners carry so much of the day-to day responsibilities of our temple life. I am deeply grateful to all. As for Sojun, he spent fifty years preparing us to meet uncertainty, even to welcome it. He showed us how to lean into zazen practice and cultivate ordinary mind.
Over the last years, I feel I’ve been mainly trying to support the practice and community. Not everyone agrees about what this should look liked. Should our Covid protocols be looser or tighter? Should we return to our prepandemic schedule more quickly? Are we at risk of losing the practice legacy carefully crafted by Sojun over many years? As a community, how should we be responding to a societal call for a deeper commitment to equity and inclusion? There are other questions.
My response to such issues has been to listen deeply and hear the inner voices of Sojun and our ancestors. To be patient and nonreactive, to try and see the other side of things. When possible, to take the time to build consensus for major decisions. Honoring these principles, much of my energy has necessarily been focused on administration and organizational process. In the coming year I plan to get help sharing these tasks. I’ll say more about this early in the year.
If I can share some of the administrative responsibilities, I’ll have more time as abbot to focus on the dharma. I’d like to do more teaching and studying with people. This would include classes, informal teas, ongoing study groups, etc. Starting in January I will expand my dokusan hours online and in-person. It is important for us to train and refresh the Soto Zen forms, which include basic zendo activity and comportment, the proper way to do various service positions, how to chant, how to bow, and so on.
The practice we have inherited is always a work-in-progress. Many of us have seen small shifts over the years. Like Sojun, I prefer to make changes slowly, honoring what our ancestors carefully carried here from China and Japan. Then the pandemic drove us out of the zendo we love and into the unexpected and challenging land of Zoom. Now, as the pandemic’s effects are more diffuse, we have had to create a “hybrid” practice—in-person and online—which is very challenging.
What next? We don’t know, but we do know how to practice together. On that ground, which is the meeting place of faith and action, I believe we will step forward from the top of a hundred-foot pole.
—Hozan

Koan Study Group

Ryushin Andrea Thach, Ellen Webb, and Ron Nestor will be offering an ongoing koan study group beginning Wednesday, February 1. We’ll meet once a month on the first Wed­nesday evening from 7:15 to 8:45 p.m. We’ll be using The Book of Serenity translated by Thomas Cleary, as well as commentary on each case by Yamada Koan Roshi, a contemporary Zen teacher.

The Book of Serenity is the koan collec­tion most closely associated with the spirit of our Soto lineage. We have found these koans both compel­ling and difficult in their variety of tone, emphasis, and interpretation. The stories in them are based on actual Zen practi­tioners and teachers who mostly existed in the Tang dynasty (roughly 600‒900 A.D.). The Book of Serenity was created in the twelfth century by Hongzhi, who chose the koans to include and created a verse to accompany each one. Wansong provides commentary alongside the koans. His comments run the gamut from critical to humorous, and often seem quite modern. All the koans deal with nonduality in some way, but the devil is in the nuances and the details.

We’re aiming for something between a class and a dharma group. There will be no fee. We’re hoping that participants continue to show up because of their interest. We will start out on Zoom. An announcement and link will be available in the week before the first session, as well as an earlier reminder.

If you would like more information, please contact Ellen Webb (elweb@sbcglobal.net).

Three Aspects of Practice

Some years ago Sojun Roshi invited me to lead a fall practice intensive that we have come to call Aspects of Practice, which focuses on the basics of our Zen Buddhist tradition. With the partnership of senior students, we created this month-long program, which served well as a point of entry for newer students and as a kind of refresher for more experienced practitioners.
This fall’s Aspects of Practice begins on September 10, continuing through October 9, led by Karen Sundheim and other practice leaders. Details can be found elsewhere in this newsletter. But in this space, I’d like to review three essential “aspects” of our dharma practice: daily zazen, meeting with a teacher, studying the Dharma.
When Suzuki Roshi came from Japan to be the priest at Sokoji, the Soto Zen temple in San Francisco, he established a practice of daily zazen that we maintain more than sixty years later. His disciple Sojun moved to Berkeley and followed much the same practice. As we have done for fifty years, BZC is open for sitting six days a week. We strongly encourage people to come to the zendo, sit together, and share a daily practice. Taking into account members’ work and family lives, everyone cannot come to the zendo every day, but the doors are always open. Sitting side by side we sustain each other naturally, and we come to a wonderful intimacy of practice.
The Covid pandemic compelled us to create new modes of online zazen that are not our traditional body-to-body zendo practice. But Zoom has served us pretty well these last few years, even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But now we are back in the zendo early mornings, afternoons, and Saturdays. I want to encourage you to resume our long-standing in-person practice. Join us. Those of us who have returned to BZC feel refreshed and encouraged again by the opportunity to sit zazen together. This is the shining heart of the Sangha treasure.
The second element of our practice is meeting with a teacher. When I came to BZC in the early 80s, there was an implicit expectation of meeting regularly with a teacher. Back then, our only teacher was Sojun, but in time, students’ maturity and understanding have deepened. Now we have a roster of practice leaders and teachers who are available as guides, as mirrors, as dharma friends or kalyanamitra. This is the Buddha treasure. A teacher as Buddha reveals that you yourself are Buddha. A practice leader or teacher doesn’t dispense wisdom or give out answers to our difficulties. She or he or they help us to stand on our own feet, to find our own inborn wisdom.
As abbot, I welcome the opportunity to meet with people—formally or informally. My dokusan signup for meeting face-to-face during morning zazen is just to the right of the zendo door. To schedule an online meeting with me, see this link: https://calendly.com/asenauke/dokusan?month=2022-08 or contact me at asenauke@gmail.com. Also, if you scroll down the “Teachers” page on the BZC website, there are email addresses to contact all of our practice leaders: https://berkeleyzencenter.org/teachers/.
Studying the Dharma is the third treasure. In the broadest sense, zazen is our principal study. As Dogen Zenji writes in Genjokoan: “To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.” In zazen, we sit still and allow the myriad things—which are the ever-changing elements of our “self”—to arise and to fall away. To complement this experiential study, we immerse ourselves in the teachings of Suzuki Roshi, Sojun Roshi, and our luminous ancestors in Japan, China, and India, going back to Shakyamuni Buddha. Their words and actions illuminate our own lives. During the upcoming Aspects of Practice, we’ll explore the Buddha’s Eightfold Path, a timeless map for living found in his very first teaching.
These three dimensions of practice create a whole, each including all the others. Each of us must find the right balance for the circumstances of our life. May the journey be complete.

—Hozan

Circle of Women Ancestors

At our Jukai ceremony last fall, I spoke briefly about the Women Ancestors document that Gerry Oliva and I gave to all the ordinees. This lovely document honors broadly the women ancestors—known and unknown—who have nurtured the Dharma from its earliest days down to the present. The document was created by members of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association, based on considerable research and creativity.

After our Jukai, several BZC members expressed interest in receiving this document. I would like to offer this widely to all women and men who have received Jukai or priest ordination. The document, which centers on the elegant circle pictured below, will be personalized for you, with your birth and dharma names, signed and sealed. I hope that we can offer these in a ceremony and celebra­tion in the next few months.

If you would like to receive this document, please send a note, including your dharma name, to my new assistant Jonathan Koltz (jonkoltz@gmail.com). If you have any questions, please write me directly.

—Hozan

Practice Period

In Dogen Zenji’s Eihei Koroku this is recorded: “Dogen held up his whisk, and with it drew a circle in the air. He said, ‘Practice period goes beyond this.’ ”

For more than thirty years Berkeley Zen Center has offered a spring practice period. These were usually led by our founding teacher, Sojun Roshi. Now, as the new abbot of BZC, I am honored to lead this year’s practice period, as we emerge from strange days of pandemic.

In the Zen tradition, the word used for practice period is ango, which means “peaceful abiding.” In China and Japan this would be a three-month residential intensive, with its own root in the early Buddhist “rains retreat,” when wandering monks and nuns would gather in monasteries during monsoon season.

Our practice period, in the springtime when the circle of life turns in joyous renewal, is an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the practice of living an enlightened life, to renew our beginner’s mind. Dogen Zenji speaks of “practice realization,” meaning that our Zen practice does not so much aim toward a goal of awakening, but rather that our practice expresses the enlighten­ment that is always within and available to us. Practice period includes sitting, walking, chanting, cooking, serving, eating, working, resting—all of this is enlightened activity, woven into whole cloth by zazen.

BZC is not a monastery, so our members have jobs, families, and responsibilities outside the gate. Our practice is as much in our homes and in the world as in the zendo. This is our ongoing Dharma experi­ment—dedicated lay practice, sitting with everything. During practice period we have recom­mended requirements, but as Sojun Roshi said, “within these requirements each person can create his or her own schedule. This is the nature of lay practice. Some will be able to do only the minimum, while others who have the opportunity will be able to extend or stretch themselves much more.”

We may wish to do it all, but each of us must be realistic about our capacity. The important thing for each of us—during practice period and throughout the year—is to clarify and set our practice intention, then do our best to keep to that intention. You don’t have to break your bones to do practice period. But don’t be slack with yourself either. With Right Effort our practice edge comes into view. What is the Middle Way? Whatever commitment and schedule one comes up with, we are all practicing together intimately.

Not everyone in the sangha will be able to clear the time and energy to participate in practice period. That is completely understandable, and everyone, of course, is welcome to come to the zendo when they can. All of us are supporting and being supported by the practice period—peaceful abiding. These weeks together can extend throughout the year. As Dogen says, “Practice period goes beyond this.”

—Hozan Alan Senauke

No Gaining Idea

Suzuki Roshi often said we shouldn’t have “a gaining idea” or any idea of attainment. A student once asked him why anybody would do zazen if they didn’t have a gaining idea. He said, “You still have one gaining idea.” “What is that?” the student wanted to know. He replied, “That’s a secret.”
Recently we completed a class series on the Three Doors of Liberation—Emptiness, Signlessness, and Wishlessness. These three practices appear in early Buddhist teachings, but are more commonly found in the Mahayana. In contemporary Buddhism, the late master Thich Nhat Hanh frequently taught on these. The third door—Wishlessness or Aimlessness—has a particular resonance in our Zen tradition. It is a rich vein of practice in Soto Zen, from Dogen through to Suzuki and Sojun Roshi. Scholar Edward Conze offers this gloss on Wishlessness (apranihita in Sanskrit):

The word apranihita means literally that one “places nothing in front,” and it designates someone who makes no plans for the future, has no hopes for it, who is aimless, not bent on anything, without predilection or desire for the objects of perception.

Late in his life, Sojun Roshi lectured on the Three Doors of Liberation, and said this about Wishlessness:

Wishlessness means letting go and appreciating. Letting go and being able to appreciate everything around us just as it is. To accept myself just as I am. This is called virtue. Everyone has their own virtue, which is not the same as value. Value is comparison. We stop comparing ourselves to others.

In our Soto Zen practice, wishlessness or aimlessness is expressed as “no gaining idea” (mushotoku in Japanese), hammered home by Suzuki Roshi and Sojun, who drew their wisdom from the ancestors and from their own life experience. In Shobogenzo-Zuimonki Dogen Zenji offers this advice, his approach to wishlessness, no gaining idea, and the heart of Buddhist practice:

Simply do good without expectation of reward or recognition, be truly gainless, and work for the sake of benefiting others. The primary point to bear in mind is to drop your ego. To keep this mind you have to awaken to impermanence.

“Awakening to impermanence” might sound like a gaining idea—the quest for enlightenment or attainment. Maybe this is even the “secret” Suzuki Roshi spoke of. But our teachers are clear that awakening is not a goal. Rather it is always right here, if only we can let go of our goals and aims. In fact, it is a “losing idea”—losing our self-centeredness and attachment to ego. This is such a simple shift, but maybe it is not so easy. This point is pivotal in the Heart Sutra when Avalokiteshvara says to Shariputra:

With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva depends on prajna paramita
And the mind is no hindrance.
Without any hindrance no fears exist;
Far apart from every perverted view one dwells in nirvana.

Chanting this daily, week after week, year after year, still I hear the call of those gaining ideas. Sometimes they whisper in my ear, sometimes they roar like a diesel. I confess that I am only a foolish human. Like so many of us, I am just walking up and down in the world. Fortunately, there is a well-traveled path to follow. If one follows the path and the practice, it leads right through the wilderness of gaining ideas. In faith, it leads to freedom.

—Hozan Alan Senauke

 

Year of the Tiger
Year of the Tiger (Sumi-e painting by Kazumi Cranney)

The Dharma of Listening and Speaking (Part 2)

Who is the person who desires life, who seeks days of goodness?
Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech.
Shun evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
(
from Psalm 34)

The meaning is not in the words,
yet it responds to the inquiring impulse.
(
from Master Tozan’s “Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi”)

As I wrote last month, in such contentious times our public and private words can wound or heal. When we speak unskillfully our words can be like an arrow loosed. Once released, this arrow cannot be called back. Where it strikes, there is a wound. Even where there is healing between people, and even where the best of intentions are at play, there can also be scars. Intention and impact fit together “like front and back foot in walking.” We see this in our relationships, in society, and in sangha. Last month I addressed hearing and listening. This month I speak about speaking.

Buddhism has clear practices of Right Speech—samma vacca—the third step on the Eightfold Path. In the Pali Canon (SN 45.8), the Buddha mentions four qualities of Right Speech:

What is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech.

Three of the ten Bodhisattva Precepts warn about harmful speech—Precepts 4, 6, and 7:

I vow to refrain from false speech.
I vow not to slander.
I vow not to praise self at the expense of others.

Thich Nhat Hanh folds these into his Fourth Mindfulness Training: “Deep Listening and Loving Speech”:

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I vow to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and to relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain, and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.

Arising from the silence of zazen, inevitably we have to say something. We will say something, even if we write it in a note or speak with gestures. Again, the Buddha instructs us about what kind of words are appropriate. He says we should speak words that are true, useful, timely, and beneficial or motivated by lovingkindness.

Now, a Buddha, with powers of omniscience, would not have to guess about these qualities—his or her insight would be sufficient. But for those of us aspiring to the Buddha Way here in saṃsāra, these four conditions of speech can be elusive. If I know my friend well, I might be able to make a good guess about what she might receive as true, useful, timely, and beneficial. And I might guess wrong. If I am speaking with someone I don’t know or with whom I already haves conflict, it is likely we will disagree on one or more of these points.

So, is there ever a right time to speak? Are words ever completely true? When we speak, we take a leap into the unknown, and that is okay. It is no different from anything else we do. It is important to clarify our intentions as best we can. Still, we cannot know the impact of our words until they have been spoken and heard. Intention and impact are interdependent. Perhaps silence is better. But there is so much joy and connection in the play of words. I can’t easily give up such human pleasure.

I leave you with a recommendation. We can learn to ask questions before making assertions. Sometimes I might lose myself in the assertion of “my truth.” I’m not alone in that habit. Better to ask questions and create dialogue, remembering that the meaning “responds to the inquiring impulse.” Try it out.

—Hozan Alan Senauke
December 2021

(Part 1 is in a previous post.)