There is a wonderful chapter in The Kyosaku, the first book of Matsuoka-Roshi edited by Taiun Elliston-Roshi, entitled The Purpose of a Zen Life. On page 35. Matsuoka-Roshi writes:

" Zen...speaks heart to heart...(and) is found in simple lives and silence."

Being in the moment does not mean my ego is here and now as much as that the moment exists through the presence of being=alive. O'Roshi, later in the same paragraph says that the smile between Shakyamuni and Mahākāśyapa, shared during the presentation of the lotus flower, is the actualization of prajna paramiter-wisdom.

We live within our existence asleep or awake. This is different from the physiological sleep verse awake cycle. We can be physiologically awake and ignorant of living in conjured illusions, rather than being about the unfolding moment. This being asleep to the moment is called ignorance. Matsuoka-Roshi again," it is the silent (action) that brings truth to our awareness." To be awake to life is Buddha and seeing such, we call Buddha-nature.

As we celebrate a month of gratitude for our Buddhist lineage and the Thanks-giving of our national tradition, may we see the celebratory existence of each moment and realize the unsurpassable...

Taiun Elliston-Roshi will be part of a video conference 8:00-8:30 PM/ET Tuesday November 26, 2019.

Go to the following URL to participate: https://zoom.us/j/716339059

108bows

Sangaku