While Guatemala was burning literally, I was burning away delusions figuratively, in my mind, by sitting in countless hours of meditation for a week. These silent retreats, called Sesshin, are intense experiences that truly cannot be explained.
PRACTICE
Things happen naturally if we allow them to happen and don’t judge them. Trying to live in wisdom, doing things to help others, and choosing awareness over egoic behavior are constants no matter what happens in the external world. The inward view is a constant, outward is out of our control. Yet they are the same.
This practice comes first. The art comes second. I cannot fully commit to making art unless I am fully committed to meditation, mindfulness. It is no news that to live is to create. We are constantly creating new life, right down to our cellular structure.
A wise master once said, “Set up your life so you can sit well”. This means, for a student of Zen, (and I think everyone), your meditation practice and mindfulness practice should be of primary importance in your life.
Mindful walking or the practice of kinhin (walking meditation) takes place after a round of seated meditation ends, before the next round of sitting practice.
Fuego Volcano, always looking down on us, always watching us, is a constant reminder of the transient and ever changing nature of life. Fuego takes on many moods, sometimes silent, sometimes burning bright and beautiful,...