the practice of no practice

I haven't been too buddhist lately. I haven't done a lot of the things I used to. I haven't been sitting regularly, I haven't been going to sangha and I haven't been reading a lot of buddhist literature. For a while i considered myself burned out but I realized it isn't that. A little bit ago I started reading about dudeism, which is this religion based around the character the dude in the movie the big lebowski. They draw a lot from buddhism as well as other eastern religions and philosophies. Mostly what it's about and what I think my practice is about mainly these days is a sense of going with the flow and taking it easy.

fender bender

In the Zen tradition there is a practice in some lineages of monks walking behind meditators (usually other monks) and striking them with a stick. A few days ago life hit me with a zen stick.

It's kind of funny because I was sitting in traffic, and in my rear-view mirror I noticed a minivan behind me with a dashboard full of Beanie Baby stuffed animals. I sarcastically thought to myself, "Great, I'm going to get rear-ended by a bunch of Beanie Babies."

soto zen

On Sunday I went and meditated with a local Zen group. My prior practice experience has been with vipassana and Korean Zen groups. This new group I visited is Japanese Soto Zen, affiliated with the larger Everyday Zen group out of California. They wear dark colors, there is chanting (mostly in English), and there are brief periods of walking meditation (kinhin) in addition to the actual sitting (zazen).