Zen is Aperspectival

Zen is aperspectival: Perspective in practiceDharma Talk10/6/13When we say Zen is aperspectival, we don’t mean merely that we try tounderstand the world or a situation from someone else’s perspective. Flint or Iwill sometimes ask you to tell the story you’ve just told us from the perspective ofsomeone or something else in the story. That “horizontal” shift is only a verysmall part of what it means to be aperspectival. Today, I’m going to suggest justa few more of the perspectives that are available in any moment, and thequestions and concerns that signal them.1. Intrapersonal perspective (Dogen: study the self)• How am I doing?• My distracted thoughts and triggered feelings• The cells and systems in my body: their experience of being nourished,rested, exercised, quieted• My special experiences• My “progress” or lack of progress• My painful body and messed up mind• My aspiration• My effort• My longing and clinging• My opinions and feelings about the Buddha, the teachings, the teachers, thecommunity• My willingness and also my resistance to practice• My trying to be a better person somehow• My issues of childhood conditioning, work with parts, and the innerlandscape2. Interpersonal perspective (to forget the self)• Oh, there are others!• I can feel the energy in the room when we sit together---2• That person seems to know what he’s doing. I’ll watch him• That person annoys me• I’m afraid of making a mistake and embarrassing myself, or making peoplemad at me• Are we having a disagreement? Who is right?• Does the teacher approve of me?• What should I ask about in practice discussion?• Can I lend a hand helping this new person feel welcome?• I am having difficulty in a relationship• issues of trust, care, connection, shared meaning and purpose, and mutualdiscovery3. Social perspective (to be awakened by the myriad things)• What is this community about? Do I want to hang out with these people?• Do I feel safe in this group? Do I belong?• What if I don’t want to do what the group is doing?• Will I be blamed? Will I be punished?• What is my role in the group? How can I be special here?• Can I trust the people in charge to make wise decisions?• Should I follow the forms or rebel, or just ask questions?• What are we learning from each other?• How can I make a contribution to this work?• Who is experienced enough to help me?• How can I connect with people here?• How can I explain why this is important to people who don’t have a cluewhat it is about—people I care about?• Issues of harmony and disagreement, community formation, the wealth ofshared wisdom, compassion and clarity only available together4. Global (systems or ecological) perspective (no trace of realizationremains)• How does this practice, this community, these teachers reflect the largerstory of Zen and its evolution in the West?---3• What is our role in healing the suffering of the whole world: wars,environmental degradation, climate change, violence, drugs, politicalinsanity?• How can we address the systemic issues that create unwholesomeenvironments: in politics, in the media, in schools, in the workplace, withequanimity and resourcefulness?• How can we provide a deep well of wisdom and compassion to nourish allwho come to this place?• How do we create a sangha that does not replicate the worst features ofspiritual institutions and organizations, yet honors and preserves thetraditions and teachings that give life and meaning to our practice?• How can we convey, clearly, accurately, and truthfully, the deep teachings ofZen for the next generation? And how do we do that with heart andpassion?• How do we encourage and inform people new to these teachings, so thatthey are supported rather than alienated, inspired rather than worshipful,and energized rather than withdrawn?• How can we learn ways of skillfully connecting with others who areskeptical, disapproving, fearful, or unlearned about this path?• issues of the larger purpose and stories we are creating and part of5. Buddha perspective (and this no-trace continues endlessly)• You are not who you think you are. Your thoughts, feelings, and bodilysensations are irrelevant to the transformational process of this path. It is apath you can only discover step by step, a path laid down in walking, aformless field of benefaction.• The others around you support you in myriad ways, especially when theyannoy you. Indeed, everything in the entire universe conspires to supportyou.• Sanghas are subversive agents of social change. The direction of change istoward wholesomeness, well-being, harmony, and ethical behavior.---4• Issues are of alignment with the and surrender to the boundless, intimateweb of all being, which is how we can stop suffering, both for ourselves andfor others• Globally, all is exactly as it should be, a complete and perfected expressionof everything that is arising at once. However, we have a very limited view,and it is selective and filtered according to our conditioning. This limits ourfull participation in the absolute display, the full manifestation of universalintelligence or pristine awareness.Temporal perspectives are yet another potential for opening to new vistas:The view from within a moment: a heartbeat, a sideways glance, the stoplightright in front of you, the words that were just spoken, right now. What you do inthis instant, what you say, will change your life forever.And yet, there is also:The perspective of a year from now, a decade, a lifetime, a hundred years, fivehundred years, 2500 years, a million years.Sometimes a shift of time perspective can radically expand your view: if you areworried about spending a lifetime with this person or this difficulty or thissituation, try thinking just in terms of this moment. If you are stuck in a matrixright now, take the long perspective: how much will this matter in five years? Inone year? In a couple of hours?Our minds are completely blown open when you read something like the LotusSutra, with its monumental time scales of millions of years, billions of years,incalculable eons of world contraction and world expansion, as the Buddha putit. How important is the slight someone at the office gave you, the difficulty yourparents are having, the stupid traffic you’re stuck in at that time scale? Thenagain, just when you fear some terrible situation will go on forever, somethingshifts, and you drop right into the endless now that is gone before you can drawyour next breath.---5Don’t miss your life because you get stuck in a single perspective, a view ofvastness through a tiny keyhole. Practice will teach you just how provisional,dynamic, impermanent, and limited any perspective must be.Zazen is the end of fixed views. So if you are wedded to your perspective—the“right” view—or if you are seeking the certainty of an absolutely unshakable view,or if you think any teachers or teachings can show you the “correct view”beware. This is a fundamental error the Buddha warned against over and overagain. Not because fixed views are wrong or bad, but because they are cripplingand punishing, both for ourselves and for others. They lead to a stunted life,painful and contracted, fearful and anxious and protective.You can see the costly damages simply by opening a newspaper. Everything wehave come to think about as “bad news” originates somewhere in fixed views.And liberation from such brokenness, pain, greed, anger, and confusion beginswith aligning our view of reality. This doesn’t mean replacing the “wrong” viewwith the “right” view. Being aperspectival in Zen doesn’t mean not having a view,or even that all views are equal: some are clearly misaligned with reality.“Right view” is about calibrating our instruments for seeing and knowing fromevery place, from every person, beyond every story we can imagine. It is aradically open view, and through that view, what we say next, what we do next,and what we think next are truthful, clear, compassionate, and wise. We may notbe skillful, we may not be perfect in our expression of this dharma, but it willalways be coming from that place that is our deepest aspiration. From that placethere is no settled view or favored story or foundational belief about ourselves orothers. There is only this moment, and now this one.