#26 BIG SKY COUNTRY

 Montana Zen!  I only found about three Buddhist groups that existed in the state, so was glad when I zoomed in to the Bozeman Dharma Center, which, bless their souls, hosts an insight group, a zen center, and even Adyashanti and Thich Nath Han groups.   Today it was the Bozeman Zen Group, hosted by Soto priest Karen Decotis, student of Mel Weitsman previously of Berkley Zen Center.  

I was warmly welcomed to the group of about 15 persons.  We began with 30 minutes of Zazen (just sitting), followed by a discussion on Everyday Zen by Joko Beck. 

I was especially taken by our reading that included the following with a few quotes from the Diamond Sutra: 

As we sit having our lunch, where is that breakfast quarrel? Where is it? “The mind of the past is ungraspable.” Where is it? The dinner, when we’re going to really fix all this up (to our satisfaction, of course), where is it? “The mind of the future is ungraspable.” It doesn’t exist.

What does exist? What’s real? There is just my upset right now, at lunch. My story describing what happened at breakfast is not what happened. It’s my story. What is real is the headache, the fluttering in my tummy. And my chattering is a manifestation of that physical energy. Outside of the physical experience, there is nothing else that’s real. And I don’t know if that’s real, but that’s all we can say about it.

Now just one thing and one thing alone creates this hostile world, and that is our thoughts—our pictures and our fantasies. 

Continuing with the food images,  Karen noted that we 'make our relationships into a dish of ice cream, expecting the unpleasant to not be there.'

I reflected on the recent and sudden death of another young cat of ours.  'My story about what happened,'  says Joko,  'is not what happened.'    

Am I brave enough to read and write the true book of my life?