Exhaustion

Genjo Marinello Osho has made a new Teisho available (trans. please where the truth is) from the recent Rohatsu Sesshin (trans. to gather the Mind), held on the eastern shore of Puget Sound a couple weeks ago. It is entitled "Have You Eaten?" It is a take on Case number 76 "Tanka's, Have You had Your Dinner," from the Blue Cliff Record.

It may sound a little intense, but I've listened to it three times already. Many of the points are so penetrating and I have been working on absorbing them more fully. One specific point is when he repeatedly mentions exhaustion. Genjo Osho uses the expression, "We are heading I hope today towards a sweet spot, where we are vulnerable, exposed, exhausted enough to feel something minutely subtle and incomparably profound. In order to do so we must continue to exhaust ourselves and throw everything in to it. To commune, accept, realize... be a part of this nature that surrounds us and is so evident, in the wind and rain and surf..." This is a very, very, very, very powerful.

I've been really considering that word, "exhaustion." I can say clearly that I carry a wealth of experiences. Some of them are very sad, others in the middle of the road and others so "good" that I just start doing the "happy dance." In my mind I know that I have held on to them and I have not released or as Genjo Osho says, "exhausted," them, especially a few of the negative one's. They are with me and can influence my actions in the here and now. But in holding on to some of these experiences, can make it very difficult to move forward. They can be quite the burden.

Sitting in Zazen is one of the primary ways that I have learned to exhaust myself. Other ways have been - time with my family, being mindful at work, mowing the lawn and even making breakfast in the morning. It has been a slow thawing, but thawing none the less - even if just a trickle. Sometimes the tears just come, because of the freedom that comes with even the smallest of release or letting go. All this is to say, we all have areas within ourselves that we can improve on. We learn to live forwards, instead of backwards.

Through his Teisho, Genjo Osho puts forth a narrative which deeply compelling. And he returns to the day-to-day actions which we can to take, to firmly establish our freedom. It's a process, not an event and it can... it must be done. Our "baggage" and negative experiences are not our ally. They are just barriers. They really do need to be exhausted.

What I've shared with you is probably only two minutes of his Teisho. There is much more. As ever, you can download or listen online at "Switch-pod," for free. You other option is going into iTunes and looking in the Buddhism section and looking for Choboji Media. Either way, the effort is worth it. We've been sleeping for a long time. It's time to wake up.

Namaste'

Jaye Morris, Curator
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