I made my usual Sunday morning trek this morning to my local zendo for our weekly zazen. The sensei gave a teisho (i.e., a “wisdom talk”, aka “sermon”) as he usually does. But he made a somewhat unusual observation today in his teisho. He said that he recently decided during one of our sitting periods to observe the sangha members around him, as they sat on their cushions and focused their over-active minds on breath, as per his teachings (even if it was OK for him to take a break from it as to look around). He noticed how serious everyone looked; he described our expressions as being “like people in a cancer ward”.
Yes, well . . . sitting in silence, a person can sometimes sense the texture of being, of sheer existence itself. (That is, if the meditator is not looking around at her or his fellow meditators). One can almost hear the clock of one’s life ticking. One comes face to face with one’s mortality. It is serious business.
But according to our teacher (and his friend, a fellow sensei from a sister Zen sangha in the next county), we should focus on joy during our sittings; we should be smiling. » continue reading …