Fall Practice Period: Too Busy For Dancing?

Here is a little e-mail encouragement I wrote for our Heart of Wisdom community as we are about 3 weeks into Ango.  We are observing this by making commitments to increase or Zazen time, and also to look at the things in our lives that might make it harder to do this.  People can participate in a discussion group on Voluntary Simplicity, and / or they can investigate the Koan, Yunyan Sweeps the Ground.  It's been a while since I've posted, so I just thought I'd share.

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Our Fall Practice Period is a time to increase our Zazen time.  How often have we felt "too busy" to focus on spiritual practice?  One way to look at being "too busy" is to examine the Koan, Case 21 of the Book of Serenity, sometimes called "The One Who Is Not Busy"

This koan features Yunyan and Daowu.  They lived and practiced together in a monastery in 9th Century CE China.  We chant Yunyan's name in our service honoring the ancestors: "Great Teacher Yoon-yan Tan-shung (Yunyan Tansheng)"

Some sources say Yunyan and Daowu were biological brothers as well as Dharma brothers. There are a few koans about their interactions.  They seemed to have a relationship with sibling energy that included a friendly banter, sometimes challenging each other's understanding of the Dharma.

Yunyan Sweeps the Ground

As Yunyan was sweeping the ground, Daowu said, “Too busy.” 
Yunyan said, “You should know there's one who isn't busy.” 
Daowu said, “If so, then there's a second moon.” 
Yunyan held up the broom and said, “Which moon is this?” 

Yunyan was the younger of the two.  Imagine you're the little brother absorbed in sweeping the ground, and your older brother walks by and casually offers you a challenge.  It's on!

Yunyan and Daowu's exchange points to the absolute -- formless, timeless, boundless awareness.  In pure awareness, how could there be busy?  But it also points to the relative.  The stuff we are doing in our day to day lives, like sweeping the ground.  If we separate the two into "busy" and "not busy", it's like saying there is a second moon.  As our chant says, "the absolute and the relative fit together like a box and its lid".  Our day to day activity, permeated by awareness is available right here, right now.

COMMENTARY 
“Without upset there is no solution, without struggle there is no expression.” Here as Yunyan was sweeping the ground Daowu casually tested him. Yunyan said, “You should know there is one who isn't busy.” Good people, as you eat, boil tea, sew and sweep, you should recognize the one not busy—then you will realize the union of mundane reality and enlightened reality; this is called simultaneous inclusion, naturally not wasting any time." 

There are some wonderful ways to work with this koan, and explore simultaneous inclusion here and in Darlene Cohen's wonderful book, The One Who Is Not Busy.

Who is the one who is not busy, and why can't I hire her to do all this stuff on my calendar?  We have all experienced our own very busy minds even in the stillness of the Zendo.  No matter how still we make our lives on the outside, busyness can creep in.  Is there one who is not busy in the daily activities of our lives?  Can we be that one?  Here is one personal example of working with this koan:

Jomon Mops the Cafeteria 

Work is a valuable opportunity to test-drive our practice; bringing the mind of awareness to the activities of work.  Who is the one who is not busy?  Assigned to mop the cafeteria floor at Great Vow this past sesshin, here is a chance to look, to notice, to inquire:  Do I feel busy?  How do I know that?  What are the thoughts and sensations that seem to create this "busy"?

Busy seems to be, at least in part: Mopping And...  Mopping and hoping I am doing a good job.  Mopping and wondering what people think of me.  Mopping and hoping a good treat will appear on the tea table later.  Mopping and judging work as a chore.  Mopping and wondering if I can get the whole cafeteria done in the allotted time.  Busy!

With awareness to the sensations of mopping, the activity of mopping becomes just sensation.  The rhythmic movement, the sensation in hands, feet, arms, body swaying side to side.  It turns out, this movement is much like dancing.  How is this mopping different from dancing to the marimba band with Bansho*?  Dancing and mopping can be experienced as just sensations in the body.  In this way both dancing and mopping are an expression of this moment, just doing what is in front of us to do. Expressing love and joy, being giver, receiver, and gift in each activity.  In this way, everything is our spiritual practice.

Are we "busy" dancing?  Maybe, if we're busy thinking of our calorie count, our cardio efficiency, what people think, or how we look.  Or maybe we can be just dancing?  Just feeling the breath, feeling the body, even in activity.  Can we just be mopping?  Just drinking tea?  Just listening to a friend?  Just moving through our day and our calendar items.  In this way we appreciate the one moon, the one moment that is all we really have.

The past few weeks of our Fall Practice Period are gone.  We can start again, right now, and put our Ango commitments in front of us again.  May your practice go well!

Love,
Jomon

*Of course, Bansho is a much better dancer than the mop at Great Vow.