Settle Into Quietness

Osorno, near Puerto Montt, Chile

When I took my Zen Buddhist vows I was given the name So Enjaku by my teacher, he pointed to a mountain; unmoving, settled sitting in quietness.  Lately I have been seeking to return to that peacefulness, to find my center and abide in stillness.  Tragically I had let it all slowly slip from me over the past two months,  allowing my ego to run amok within my life.

Now, things are quiet.  I'm able to once again sit in stillness and stare down my ego when needed, watching as if a parent were monitoring a young child playing in the park.  Ever mindful. 

I have just finished Harvey Cox's When Jesus Came To Harvard.  It turned out to be a wonderful book extrapolating moral choices from the time of the historical Jesus and applying them to the world that we share today.

In my pack I also have a copy of Lama Suyra Das' Awakening the Buddha Within; and SIT, The Zen Teachings of Master Taisen Deshimaru.  Both books I've read before, especially Surya Das' which remains a beacon in my on-going yearly pilgrimages toward greater spirituality.

Central to it all is simply sitting, quietly and peacefully, watching my thoughts as they erupt from my mind like a movie theater popcorn machine.  The breath comes and goes.  I sit and watch.