Mugo White, Rev. Master

The following was written in 1985 and reflects the language style used at that time as well as the thinking and understanding of a relatively young monk of four years standing living at Shasta Abbey, California. It is published now since there is relevant teaching and guidance on what continues to be a tricky aspect of religious practice; namely to tread the middle way, neither becoming overly zealous nor too lax in following the Way. The text below has been extensively edited. Rev. Master Mugō.

Currently (2021), at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey, twice a month the resident guests and monks join together for a ceremony called The Renewal of the Precepts. When this article was first published this ceremony was not part of the liturgy and was only adopted a number of years afterwards.¹ The closest we came in the early 1980s to a public Precepts ceremony was during the annual Lay Ordination Ceremony at Jukai. All present renewed their commitment to keep true to the Precepts as well as vowed to be contrite while reciting the contrition and confession verse.² The ceremony during Jukai continues to be a deeply significant one for new ordainees, for those who already have received lay ordination and for the monks as well. With the advent of the twice monthly Renewal of the Precepts ceremony which highlights the necessity to regularly rededicate oneself to training, the broader religious meaning of ‘renewal’ is brought to the fore. In the context of the ceremony, to keep true to the teachings of the Buddhist Precepts.

Currently the weekly schedule allows for a more relaxed time typically scheduled on a Monday and during Thursday afternoons called ‘renewal days’. It occurred to me recently how very valuable renewal days are in training, for renewal works on many levels and is an example of where the kaleidoscopic view³ can be exercised with great benefit. There is much about renewal days that can be taken up and used by lay people training at home. Simply by setting time aside, even an hour each week, one is saying to oneself, via one’s actions “Yes, I’m human. I need to remind myself to turn towards that which is most important in my life. To dedicate myself to the mind of meditation in all that I do.”

For each person what is good to do during those dedicated times of practice, ‘renewal time’, will be different. The practical aspects and the inner spiritual needs of one’s renewal times will also change as one goes on in training. For example, whereas once it was good to be out digging holes in the garden, now it is good to sit quietly sewing or reading. And again in the future, it may be good to be digging holes! One must always keep in mind both the underlying purpose of renewal – to recommit to one’s intention to know the Truth – and also the kaleidoscopic view, thus allowing the teaching in Rules for Meditation⁴ “all activity is permeated with pure Zazen” to become a reality.

I will outline the renewal day schedule I first experienced. (This has evolved over the years and what is described here is not exactly the schedule in 2021 at Throssel). Rising time is later than usual with no formal meditation period. There is a shortened morning service, followed by a clean-up period. It is useful to note what is done; while a crew prepares brunch, individuals and departments catch up on work they would not normally be able to do during the rest of the week, the not-absolutely-necessary-jobs which are, nevertheless, good to get done: building storage shelving in the new, enlarged Main House attic, overhauling a piece of well-used kitchen equipment, spring cleaning an office or room.

For a brief period before coming to Shasta Abbey I worked and lived with my parents. We seemed to work all the time. Gradually, however, I noticed that on Sundays things were different and, on reflection, not unlike our renewal days. My parents would get up later and take a hot bath; the linens would be changed. My father often could be found during the day mending a door hinge or putting up a long awaited cupboard. My mother would take time out from the garden to dust her beloved collection of porcelain or bake a batch of cakes to see us through tea time the following week. The point is they set aside a day to ‘make new’: to renovate, clean and relax. Though much of the day looked like work, it was, in fact, a day of renewal.

On our monastic renewal day after brunch there is a formal shaving ceremony for the younger monks after which there are no more scheduled activities until dinner at 6:05pm. For the most part monks and lay guests are free to follow their own personal schedule until then. Often there are a number of conflicting needs to be attended to and, since one can easily be overwhelmed by these loose ends (especially if too many have been left for too long), it is helpful to have a plan, making sure that physically/mentally relaxing is included, since the latter tends to be relegated in the face of pressing practical needs.

Since many of us have busy lives to lead, there is the temptation to try to do six things at once. Continued over time this has an erosive effect on one’s daily practice. Armed with a list of things to do, I was pleasantly surprised recently to rediscover the simple teaching of doing one thing at a time, thus reacquainting myself with ‘Every-Minute Zazen’⁵. What, at first sight, appeared to be hours of hard work to ‘get through’ changed into work permeated with the peace of meditation: the work became a means of spiritual renewal. I am sure lay trainees can identify with having a seemingly endless list of things that need to be done. Experience shows that, on the practical level, projects left undone gather momentum: the longer they are left, the more work they require to make ‘as new’ again. On the spiritual level, the longer one has allowed various and sundry ‘wants’ to creep in, the more difficult (and painful) it is to cut through the attachments that have formed. On whatever level, it is good to catch them quickly, and renewal time can be used as a period of grace when we can do just this. The important thing, whether it is a renewal day or not, is always to consult one’s heart by asking, “What is the most important thing to do?” and then do it, single-mindedly.

Relaxing while keeping up one’s training may seem like a contradiction in terms. So often to relax has meant to indulge or overindulge, which usually has meant to break the Precepts. Understandably we approach relaxation with caution and frequently there is fear mixed with guilt. To overcome this we have to work at relaxing in much the same way as we work at any other aspect of training. We have to push into our particular historic relationship with regard to relaxation. A senior monk mentioned recently that he had at last learned how to relax with a book. Pressed for further information he said he had simply ‘pushed it,’ first reading one chapter then another, pushing to read just a little more. People with another kind of temperament will have to watch themselves carefully with regard to an activity such as reading for relaxation so as not to get caught up in it and continue reading when it would be good to stop and do other things. In any activity there is always the potential for falling one side or the other of the razor’s edge into indulgence or fear. In finding the middle way we will inevitably fall from the razor’s edge many times; 1000 times down, then 1000 times we pick ourselves up.

Understanding the place of letting go can be especially difficult for those new to training. The sincerity of purpose and often sheer desperation to relieve what one perceives as ‘my suffering’ can lead them to spend all their spare time doing formal meditation and see relaxing either alone or with others as a slackening of the vigilance of training. The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi⁶ says “never come too close nor put yourself too far away.” It is helpful to keep in mind that meditation in daily life is not something one has to look for or find; in truth it is that which is always there, within, and simply that which one keeps in touch with.

One needs to be prepared for a bit of a rough time during renewal days as finding one’s way with the problem of what to do next is likely to arise quite strongly on a more relaxed schedule. When one trains, the distinction between work and leisure, common in our culture, begins to fade and past tendencies will arise in order to be dealt with. Feelings of despair, boredom, restlessness, greed, and the like will arise and each of us has to find a way of ‘pushing through’ them. My way of dealing with the feeling of ‘nothing satisfies’ (greed) is to look to my belongings: clothes, shoes, books, etc. to see if anything needs mending or cleaning. In the process of caring for my belongings, the unrest tends to dissolve; for it reaffirms that giving and receiving are one movement: giving with open hands, one receives; taking with closed hands, nothing satisfies. One does, however, have to make a deliberate decision to deal with troublesome states of mind on the spot, even on renewal days. When they are particularly difficult or chronic, then some extra formal meditation is in order. When mending and ‘making new’, one can also find a tendency to get involved to such an extent that the activity takes on an addictive quality; it tends to take on a life of its own, driving one on when those ‘inner promptings’ indicate it is better to stop. Any project – sewing, woodworking, and gardening – can also take on this addictive quality if one is not very careful.

We don’t have to look far to realise that there is great commercial potential in leisure-time activities; relaxation has become a highly marketable product. On close examination, however, what is being sold are the ‘favourable conditions for relaxation,’ not relaxation itself. There are specially designed furniture, clothes, and equipment, as well as that which falls under the general heading of ‘entertainment,’ all of which have their value and place as long as we don’t mistake favourable conditions for relaxation itself. Commerce has also helped shape a commonly held view that relaxation ‘just happens’ and that one will somehow miraculously ‘slip into it.’ Clearly, most of the time we have to organize and plan in order to create the favourable conditions for relaxation; as with all aspects of training, a deliberate decision is usually needed. For example, I know of one person who, on certain renewal days, dons a particular sweater which has the effect of putting them into ‘relaxation mode!’ For another, skilful means may mean going out and buying a warm pair of slippers. One can employ skilful means in all aspects of training, including relaxation.

Dinner on renewal days is informal; instead of the usual silent meals we have during the rest of the week, we eat and talk, relaxing the guideline of doing one thing at a time. Instead of formal meditation there is a period of spiritual renewal when the Meditation Hall is available for monks to do extra seated meditation. At tea, which starts earlier than usual, we are offered a variety of television viewing; sometimes there is popcorn and, on festival days, perhaps a special dessert. One of the favourite ways monks relax at community teas and gatherings is to crack jokes and exchange interesting ‘facts’. If there is a saving grace in training it is retaining a sense of humour, for it helps one keep a sense of proportion in the face of sometimes overwhelming appearances.

Although the renewal day is an essential part of training and a time set aside from one’s usual weekly round, it is still a mistake to cling to it. Daily practice and spiritual renewal embrace each other, for at the very heart of training is a heart in repose; there is no room here for distinctions between ‘rest time’ and ‘work time’. Proving this true for oneself is an endless process and can take some interesting twists and turns. For example, I remember well an incident a few years ago which taught me the painful consequences of clinging to an idea of ‘rest time’ and ‘work time’. One day I found myself working through a long, post-brunch, kitchen clean-up encouraged by the thought of a mug of hot tea at the end. Just as the mug was about to touch my lips, the Head Novice arrived and enlisted several of the novices, including me, to do some extra cleaning work. There are times such as this when the opposites arise in one’s daily life with such clarity that one is propelled into the third position, or another way of putting that, beyond the opposites. The above event, while painful, had just such an effect on me, for I remember realising clearly that THE important thing is to be present where one is and to ‘answer the call’, in this case, to go and do some cleaning.

I was once taught that in order to test a piece of fabric to see if it is silk one balls it up into a closed fist and then releases it, palm up. If it springs up brightly out of the opened hand, then it is indeed pure silk. So often we hold ourselves as if in a closed fist. Relaxing the fist of our fondly held selves we allow our original enlightenment to spring up, full of life. This kind of relaxing is at the heart of renewal.

Notes

1. Found in Serene Reflection Meditation, by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett and members of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. pp 51- 55. https://shastaabbey.org/pdf/SRM.pdf
2. 2. Confession verse from the Shushōgi “All the evil committed by me is caused by beginningless greed, hate and delusion: all the evil is committed by my body, in my speech and in my thoughts: I now confess everything wholeheartedly.” (The Shushōgi is a compilation of Great Master Dōgen’s teachings, put together by the Sōtō Zen School in Japan at the end of the nineteenth century.)
3. 3. The expression a ‘Kaleidoscopic view’ has been used to describe a multifaceted and rapidly changing mind which is able to move freely from one viewpoint to another. (Based on the kaleidoscope toy consisting of a tube containing mirrors and pieces of coloured glass or paper, whose reflections produce changing patterns when the tube is rotated.)
4. 4. Great Master Dōgen, Fukanzazengi: Rules for Meditation (a chapter from the Shōbōgenzō). Read as part of daily services in OBC temples and available in booklets Scriptures and Ceremonies and online here https://www.shastaabbey.org/pdf/IntroSRM13.pdf17.
5. 5. Master Daizui MacPhillamy, “Every-Minute Zazen,” The Journal of Shasta Abbey, Volume XII, nos. 5 & 6 (May-June) 1981): 18-22.
6. 6. The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi is a much revered poem written by the Chinese Master Tōzan Ryōkai which is recited regularly in Sōtō Zen temples worldwide. See https://throssel.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/03a4mostexcellentmirr.pdf