Practice in Routines

Geoff Dawson, the Ordinary Mind School of Sydney, in his talk called Zen Temple Lockdown, mentions how the routine in a Zen temple assists in the practice. "We are all holding on to something. This is an opportunity to see what it is more clearly so we can let go of it. When we let go of it, we let go of the separate self and embrace the joy of uncertainty. So The zen teaching is, embrace the uncertainty but at the same time it's important to create in our own environment a structure and a routine place. There's nothing like the simple joy that comes from having task completion. . It's important that we get those going. The difference is between a sense of satisfaction as we go through each day and a sense of completion I sense of being scattered and fragmented."  I wrote how I recently started making my bed and that routine has felt like part of my Zen practice. In this talk he also mentions how Alan Watts (also here) influenced him towards Zen and give some quotes from him. The suggestion to create in our own environment a structure and a routine place is being helpful.

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But when it comes to finding ways to help people deal with issues surrounding birth and death, morality and meaning, grief and loss, it would be strange if thousands of years of religious thought didn’t have something to offer.

 How God Works: The Science Behind the Benefits of Religion, by David DeSteno

It's not mainly about belief for me as I find Buddhist practice and precepts to be very helpful in dealing with life. I think I always looked for this in Christianity and only found it in the Buddhist-like disciplines. Constantine's Nicene Creed just doesn't do much for me as it leaves out the living Jesus. I'm glad Christianity works for so many people and I don't want to take anything away from that. There seems to be a big emphasis in Christianity in the reading of the Bible to find consistency in history as described and the theology that is promulgated. This consistency was the main desire of Constantine, the ruler of an empire. It made sense for a religion of an empire. So we end up with a lot of commandments and history to guide us. Much of the continuum was lost though we have glimpses through the findings at Qumran and Nag Hammadi. Spiritual teaching almost seems to be an afterthought but I think of the faithful and monastics that have made up for this including in the modern age. Hence the interest in Buddhism by many Christians including myself. I think I've seen the best and the worst of what the religion of empire does in faithful people. This was Laity Sunday at church and I was very impressed by the testimony of the lay speaker. I also heard and encouraged the telling of so many faith stories when I was the Bible study leader at our church. Just in conversation, I am so impressed with the strength that their Christian faith gives to so many people. From the crusades to culture-destroying evangelism, we also have many examples of the worst. This made me think about how the sermons I have given which are much more about concepts than about my personal journey. It's funny I know so much about bible but forget important life details of friends.