Becoming a Zen Practitioner
Image by Chris Ensey via Unsplash
Thoughts from our Guiding Teacher, Sosan Flynn
You don't need to be a Zen practitioner!
You can take classes, attend dharma talks, participate in sesshins (retreats), and any other number of Zen activities without calling yourself a Zen practitioner. And yet, some people have reported a powerful internal shift that happened when they allowed themselves to be identified as such -- to others and to themselves. What is this shift? For me, it was when I realized that Zen was not just something I wanted to do once in a while, but that it was something I wanted to be. It was not about my activities alone, but about my life.
So, how does one become a Zen practitioner? You simply start practicing the Four Bodhisattva Vows:
Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to realize it.
These vows sound impossible to accomplish, but there is a way to practice them as easily and naturally as caring for your own body. Consider what happens when your left hand is injured, perhaps getting caught in a closing door. What happens? Immediately, your right hand comes to help. It opens the door, puts an ice pack on the injury, and holds the left hand tenderly. It doesn’t stop to wonder, "Do I really want to get involved?" It just helps and comforts immediately.
As we practice -- through meditation, listening to dharma talks, attending retreats -- we begin to see that other members of the sangha are like our left hand, or our right arm, or any part of our body. Our family members are like our arm, or leg, or even our heart. We see that all beings, living and non-living, are one body, and we are part of that body. When we open to this awareness, practicing the great vows is easy. They are what we want to do most of all.
This is how to become a Zen practitioner. Of course, there are also meditation sessions, classes, retreats, volunteer work, and all kinds of activities. But the root of this "becoming" is our vow.
I invite you to keep this in mind as you consider these and other activities for January.
Sosan Theresa Flynn (she/her) has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. She has officiated at many ceremonies (daily & special liturgies, weddings, baby namings, and memorial services), and offers premarital and couples counseling. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. She has a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and has worked in both community mental health and staff training. Sosan and her husband of 36 years live a short distance from Clouds in Water. For more information, see Sosan’s website.