Marc Lesser's Blog, page 36

Our Work Is Our Spiritual Practice: Our Spiritual Practice Is Our Work

When my son was twenty, he once said to me, "Look at you, Dad. You are old, short, balding, and have crooked teeth. You have the responsibility of caring for children, and you run a business and own a home. I don't think I want to be anything like you." I felt tremendous love and affection from and for my son. I could see that he was struggling to understand his own future and the decisions and choices that would confront him as he...

What Do You Call The World?

There is a famous story from Zen literature that goes like this:

Teacher A asks Teacher B, "Where do you come from?" (Sometimes a trick question.)
Teacher B replies, "From the south." (Ah, a safe answer.)
A asks, "How is Zen practice in the South these days?"
B responds, "There lots of discussion."
A states, "How can all the discussion compare to planting the fields and cooking rice?
B asks, "What can you do about the world."
A replies, "What ...

The Practice Of Wonder

It seems strange to think about needing to practice wonder. I've read that in some cultures there is a belief, or understanding that just being born as a human being is enough – this alone is a tremendous gift and miracle. No more striving is necessary. But we humans are strange creatures. It seems that we forget. Here are two short pieces of writing, one by Paul Hawken, and another by Norman Fischer that help me to remember:

"There ...

When You Are Hot, Be Hot; When You Are Cold Be Cold

A student asked the teacher, "How do you avoid the discomfort of hot and cold?" The teacher said, "Go to that place where there is no hot and cold." The student asked, "Where is that place?"The teacher responded, "When you are hot, be hot and when you are cold, be cold."This story can be read literally, but mostly I believe it is intended as metaphor. The real, or underlying question is – How can I avoid anxiety or difficulty? Or, mor...

Tenacity

Growing up I always believed that my family was wealthy. Though I didn't want much as a child, it always seemed like I got most of the things I wanted. When I was a junior in high school I was accepted to early admissions at Rutgers University. I was excited to inform my parents, who were very happy for me. Then my mother looked at me and asked how I was planning to pay for it. She informed me that our family did not have any money to c...

All The Grudges And Sorrows Have Now Passed

A Strange Feather, by Hafiz

All

The craziness.

All the empty plots,

All the ghosts and fears,

All the grudges and sorrows have

Now

Passed.

I must have inhaled

A strange

Feather

That finally

Fell

Out.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the quality of awareness of paying attention in a particular way:

- With purpose

- In the present moment

- Non-judgmentally

Mindfulness includes the capacity to notice and observe bodily sensations, thoughts and feelings, to decrease reactivity to challenging experiences. Mindfulness is a way of increasing awareness, and being less on autopilot. The focus is more on our experience then on the labels and judgments we...

Cooking Kale: My "Signature" Dish

I once had about 25 people to my home for a fundraiser to support the organization A World Without Armies. I decided to cook a large pot of steamed kale, seasoned with nutritional yeast, garlic, olive oil, and salt. I was in my kitchen stirring the pot, when Ed Brown, author of the Tassajara Bread Book (and many other books) walked into the kitchen. "What are you cooking, Marc?" Ed asked. "Kale" I responded. "Is this your...

Searching For Answers

One night, after reading a story to my then 10-year-old daughter, she looked up at me and said, "Daddy, when we die, will all the answers to life be revealed to us; like when you play a game and the answer is at the back of the book?" The truth is, I don't remember how I responded.

What I hope I said is that I think we don't need to wait until we die in order for the answers to be revealed. Perhaps the answers are revealed in many...

Not Knowing Is Most Intimate

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Two Zen teachers meet; one is carrying his bags. "Where are you going?", inquires the first teacher.

"I'm going on a pilgrimage", the other teacher responds.

"What's the purpose of pilgrimage?" asks the first teacher.

"I don't know." he responds.

"Not knowing is most intimate." Replies the first teacher

This phrase, "not knowing is most intimate" could be said to be the heart of Zen philosophy. It is also much like the second part of the "...