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<\/a>Flee the chit chat with others,<\/p>\nexcept as an act of charity.<\/p>\n
Love people very much.<\/p>\n
Talk with few.<\/p>\n
Talk with moderation.<\/p>\n
Put nothing or no one between<\/p>\n
you and the Source.<\/p>\n
Do not let the love for the creature<\/p>\n
get in the way of love for the Source.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Love, in a Disciplined Way.<\/strong><\/p>\n Compilation of Zen Buddhism and Katherine of Siena, 14th<\/sup> C.<\/p>\n _____<\/p>\n This advice is at the heart of love, discipline <\/em>and fleeing vain talk. <\/em>If only we could remember, that vain talk aggravates the mind and leads to suffering. AND that\u2026fleeing the chit chat of vanity is an act of charity. <\/em>Chit chat gets in the Way of love for and from the Source.<\/p>\n What would it be like to speak from the Source, from the immutable, Supreme eternal?<\/p>\n When I contemplate this Awareness, I imagine Dogen\u2019s 13th<\/sup> century world.\u00a0 I imagine it to be very quiet.\u00a0 No planes overhead, no background traffic sounds, no pushing a button to get a movie or TV show, no phones to call someone anytime day or night to talk to.\u00a0 It sounds wonderful, the silence which quiets the mind.<\/p>\n During this pandemic, however, many of us are struggling with staying put; not jumping into our cars to go somewhere.\u00a0 In Dogen\u2019s time most people lived their whole lives not leaving the place where they were born or if they went somewhere, they walked.\u00a0 So, in this \u2018silent\u2019 world, what was the vain talk Dogen wanted people not to engage in?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think he was saying \u2018don\u2019t talk.\u2019\u00a0 I think he was saying don\u2019t engage in gossip, demeaning or condemning talk. Don\u2019t get caught up in opinions or judgments. \u00a0This kind of talk must have been as present in the 13th<\/sup> century as it is now.\u00a0 This talk is all about \u2018me-my-mine.\u2019\u00a0 This kind of talk engages us in picking and choosing\u2026right or wrong\u2026good or bad, making judgments, reaching conclusions.\u00a0 We take a stand and make our mind small and stingy. We speculate about the future and yearn for past that lives only in our minds.<\/p>\n What I think Dogen is encouraging us to do, is to talk from awareness.\u00a0 Pay attention to the words that come out of our mouths.\u00a0 To paraphrase a line from the movie Bambi:<\/p>\n \u2018\u2026if you can\u2019t say something<\/p>\n inspiring, comforting, encouraging,<\/p>\n sobering, enriching, unselfish,<\/p>\n informing, clarifying, questioning,<\/p>\n wise or nice,<\/p>\n don\u2019t say anything at all.\u2019<\/p>\n This is where we start, better to step away from \u2018me-my-mine\u2019 talk, than be a blow hard of opinions. We stop the worrying about whether it is the right thing to say…the worrying about what someone else thinks about what we say.<\/p>\n It releases us from wanting to look smarter\u2026wanting to impress\u2026wanting to have the last word.\u00a0 We are free to concentrate and focus on what is right in front of us\u2026not looking backward to defend or to the future to protect.<\/p>\n In this last Awareness, Dogen is doing what he did in his seven other teachings. He is encouraging, exhorting us to be aware.<\/em> Right here, right now.\u00a0 He wants us to have few desires, be content, enjoy quiet, be diligent, remember, meditate and concentrate, be wise and watch how we talk.\u00a0 Unless or until we do this, we are stuck in the material world.<\/p>\n Without continually practicing these Awarenesses there is no \u2018jumping clear.\u2019\u00a0 Without practicing these Awarenesses we cannot begin to study the self in order to forget the self to be awakened by myriad things<\/em>.<\/p>\n Dogen shows us eight ways to know deeply that whatever comes into our lives comes to awaken us. It is a simple teaching. Flee the chit chat, the vain talk with others, showing off what we know or how to do something, blowing our own horn, or lording it over someone else with the latest news or the most entertaining gossip.<\/p>\n It is love to stop our babbling. We stop the babble and love in a disciplined Way not in the way of the material realm of fascinating subjects or juicy gossip, or the latest bad news. \u00a0We keep our nose out of others business. We offer succor when asked. We offer our words from the higher source of knowledge and not from our puny ideas and beliefs.<\/p>\n It’s a practice. A disciplined practice which is difficult to do, but not impossible. Discipline, our restraint of our mouth, is needed to do this practice. My encouragement is for each of us to consider it and begin to use our self-control. To watch how we often jabber needlessly and feel sickened afterwards. This is love \u2013 and to love in a disciplined Way.<\/p>\n Author: Lao di Zhi Shakya<\/p>\n Old Earth<\/p>\n Zen Contemplative Priest of the Order of Hsu Yun<\/p>\n ZATMA is not a blog.<\/p>\n \u00a0If for some reason you need elucidation on the teaching,<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n