Green Grass.
- clearstreamzendo
- Sep 29
- 2 min read
This weeks topic for reflection is the grass is greener on the other side. I think we all must have had the idea if only…… I had that other job, that other relationship, lived over there, had this or that. Maybe sometimes we do need to make a change for the better but this need for something greener is different. Sometimes it might feel like a desire for a life without suffering and difficulty. Please think of times when you have dreamt of a much more perfect life, free from your current hardship. What are some examples? If you obtained them, how did that work out?
I was a runner when we first moved to Oregon. I would put on a pair of running shoes and run up the driveway, up the road and out logging roads through forests near our house. It was so beautiful and exhilarating I could barely believe I lived here now. As I ran along in my state of bliss I absent-mindedly slipped on a rock and twisted my ankle. As the familiar pain shot up my leg and down my foot, reality took hold of the situation. I could move away from L. A. but I could not escape the pain and difficulty of life. I’ve looked for the escape hatch in life and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t exist.
It’s good to try to be comfortable when possible. We get into trouble when we need a level of comfort not obtainable or obtainable at too great a cost. I’ve seen people who were comfortable to the point their life became flat, boring or colorless. Like they weren’t very alive. So what’s the point to being alive anyway?
Native Americans have something called the seven directions. The first six are north, south, east, west, up and down. What could be the seventh direction? Each of us are the seventh direction. Right where you are, you are always the seventh direction. Right now, right here, you are the path forward. And it’s wide open. There’s no need for the other side, a better side, a greener side. As Maezumi Roshi often said, “Appreciate your life.” It’s wonderful even though it’s difficult. The pain and sorrow pries open our heart to live life more fully. This seventh direction includes everything. “Green grass grows all around, all around. The green grass grows all around.”
Please join us for morning Zoom zazen from 7:00 to 7:30 Tuesday and Thursday, and Sunday morning Zoom zazen and discussion of the topic for reflection blog from 8:00 to 9:00 Pacific Time. Here’s the Zoom link:
Meeting ID: 811 6100 3357
Passcode: 278259
Gassho,
Futai
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