Editorial
Welcome to the summer edition of Myoju. This time our theme is ‘Awakening to the Reality Within’ and this being a Zen magazine, it is of course something of a riddle. What is ‘awakening’, what is ‘reality’, what does ‘within’ mean? It is all too easy to get lost.
In Osho-sama’s Teisho talk, ‘Zazen and Awakening’, he cuts right through by suggesting that we are already awake. “Awakening exists within your experience every morning. The moment of awakening is every morning.” So simple! There is a parallel to this in Dogen’s Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendations for Zazen). Dogen begins his commentary on the Way by saying that it “is never apart from one right where one is – what is the use of going off here and there to practice?” So, if we are already awake, what are we awakening to?
In ‘Wisdom of Doing the Dishes’, an article of great sensitivity, Karen Threlfall suggests what that might be. And finally, Hannah Forsyth’s Shoki talk, ‘Right Effort’ is a reminder that the Zen practitioner’s work is never done. Whenever we have gaining ideas and whenever we want to get something special, we need Right Effort to accept where we are at and what we have got. These are just some of the wonderful contributions from Jikishoan members and friends that you will find in this edition. I hope you enjoy them.
Azhar Abidi
On behalf of Ekai Korematsu, Editor and Jikishoan Publication Comittee