One of the things we’re learning in meditation is to  live in the always present, unspeakably spontaneous, unpredictable liveliness of each moment.  After our early morning meditation at Sweeping Heart Zen we chant “May the mind flower bloom in eternal spring.”  That is, we remind ourselves that human beings can touch the eternal spring in each moment.

Yes, may the mind flower bloom in eternal spring!

If you imagine the mind as a radio, what we’re doing in Zen practice is dialing the channel of awareness away from what’s rote, fixated and oppressively dull and familiar on our personal airwaves. We’re practicing tuning in to life and our place in it just as it spontaneously arises now.

In the process, we eventually see that each present moment is a moment of renewal, fresh and welcoming and regenerative as spring rain. When we pay attention, we discover that we, just like every other season in nature, can always begin again. So, we don’t habitually or unconsciously surrender our attention to our time worn biases and reactivity.  Our attention is a gift we give to what’s actually happening now.  This means we learn to experience freedom in life’s changes and to simply be where each breath of our life is lived. This is meditation. This is mindfulness practice.  Zen practice.

RAIN
by Sandor Weores

The rain’s pounding away
at the rusty eaves.
Twirling, sliding, bubbling foam—
well, that’s rain.

You too, and I should walk now
as free as that
on cloud, on air, the meadow
and the vapor roads.

Move around up there and here below
like this liquid thing,
flowing into human life on rooftops
and on shoes.

Translated from the Hungarian by J. Kessler

Of Rain And Air
by Wayne Dodd

All day I have been closed up
inside rooms, speaking of trivial
matters. Now at last I have come out
into the night, myself a center

of darkness.
Beneath the clouds the low sky glows
with scattered light. I can hardly think
this is happening. Here in this bright absence

of day, I feel myself opening out
with contentment.
All around me the soft rain is whispering
of thousands of feet of air

Invisible above us.

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Please visit a Sweeping Heart Zen event.  We’re in historic Gloucester on Boston’s North Shore.  Here’s a link to our calendar: sweepingheartzen.org/events/

I hope you have a wonderful week!