digitalZENDO

Interspersed with the traditional Zazen, there are two other important practices that have meant a lot to my overall training. The first is Kinhin, "Mindful Walking." The other is Samu, "Mindful Work," practice.

I've experienced Kinhin in different ways. Speaking specifically at Dai Bai Zan, Cho Bo Zen Ji, in Seattle, it an interesting dance. The first aspect of this practice is mindfully walking in a slow and focused way, feeling each step, harmonizing the breath, the posture and mind. The second aspect is harmonizing with a person in front of me. Genjo Marinello Osho once likened it to having the synchrony of a catipillar or cars [carefully] merging in traffic.

One of the interesting benefits of this practice is that I learned to not just feel myself walking, but at times when my mind was focused well, I could feel the person in front of me. There where moments that I wasn't I didn't notice a gap or separation. The net result is that by the practice of Kinhin, I was able to notice and appreciate my relationship to those that I was with, in a deep and meaning way. I felt as though it actually changed how I felt about some of the people I was training with.

Samu, the Mindful work practice is something that I not only make an effort at when I' at cho Bo Zen Ji, but my day-to-day life in the office. At Cho Bo Zen Ji, Mindful work practice could be what seemed like simple every day things like, cleaning windows, sweeping the zendo, garden projects and more. One of the nice things while I was out in Seattle was to participate in a relationship between Cho Bo Zen Ji and the Seattle Japanese Gardens. My task was de-mossing trees. To some it might seem flaky or stupid, but what I learned it the tree takes care of use and it's okay if I take care of it. We have a relationship. It deserves respect. It deserves to be protected from harm too. During the "de-mossing," I'd tell myself, "remain mindful... maintain your attention... you don't have to space out... harmonize with the moment... Be present."

When I'm in the office, I found it really helpful if not practical to bring my practice there. This is especially true because there is so much opportunity to be distracted by the many tasks and requests that naturally pop-up. Given that I work in the health care industry and the nature of my job, 99.8 percent of the time, the person on the other end is calling, because they are having a problem. The net result of the scenario is that the person on the other end doesn't want to hear psycho-babble or no, they want to hear, "I've been helped." It's not always possible to help others in the way they might have expected.

Mindfully, calmly and present as possible, I make a consistent effort to listen to what they are saying and do my best to help. If I say I'm gong to do something, I follow through. If I'm supposed to call back, I do. In work practice the focus is, "Be focused, Be engaged, Be present, Be alert."

Every time the phone rings, I breath in and silently say, "Your task is to help this person." When I pick up the receiver I always ask, "This is Jaye, how can I help You today?" That is a reminder there's a human being on the other end and whatever their circumstance, they are deserving of my attention and respect, even if they're flipping out.

Whether it's Kinhin or Samu, my lesson is how to being in or move through spaces in a "Unified," and "caring" way that is very present, feels and expresses the interconnectedness of daily life. As I mentioned earlier, when I'm genuinely engaged, my mind changes about people, places and things. As a process at times instead of thinking, "what does this person want to take from me", "why do I have to pull the silly weeds, people won't really care" or judging others saying to myself, "look at how they walk, they're not mindful at all," I can drop at the crap. I can dissolve that "me vs. them," kind of thinking and not just notice, but really be the connection with so-called "them."

The last time I was at Cho Bo Zen Ji, there was a strip near the monastery that we cared for, on what I corner of "E. Madison st. & 20th Ave.," on Capitol Hill.

Working with the plants, weeds dirt, removing cigarette butts, sweeping dirt felt a little odd. As people walked by I found myself "self-conscious." I found myself wondering, "Do the people looking at me this this is my community service consequence." I had to drop, drop, drop my cluttered and crappy thinking, merging with what was asked of me. As one of my friends likes to say, "Go over yourself." That's what I had to work through and it proved an very interesting. At that corner was a stop light and occasionally someone would wave from inside a car and mouth the words, "Thank You," or give a "thumbs up." It was Buddha recognizing Buddha. The only thing that was exchanged was a moment of kindness and acknowledgment. Very nice, very present, no distance or gaps between minds.

I'm compelled to say, Zen is not blankness or spacing out. Zen is not being off in some remote and distant mental space. Zen is not esoteric or mystical, as I've seen some project. Zen is right Here, right Now, This Present moment.

In Grattitude,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO