Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘People in the past lived in the remote mountains and practiced far away in the forests. Not only were they free from nearly all worldly affairs, but they also relinquished all relationships. You should learn the heart of their hiding brilliance and obscuring traces. Now is the time for the fire on your head to be brushed off. Is it not sad if you waste this time, concerning yourself with secular affairs? Life is impermanent and unreliable. No one knows where and when this dew-like existence will drop from the grass. Not recognizing impermanence is truly regrettable.’ (Shobogenzo Jū-undō-shiki)

The Dogen study group has moved on to one of the fascicles that focuses on monastic conduct; we had a lively debate as to how much of this is valid for the practitioners of the 21st Century.