Fewer people showed up and Ejo was sick so an intimate smaller group this time.
We started by talking about the koan from last week. People really responded to not knowing. One man talked about his experience listening to jazz. When he first listened to a particular musician (can't remember the name), it all sounded like mud to him he said. He kept with it for a long time and one day, he just got it! One woman talked about how it is for her when she is willing to suspend certainty for awhile and let things be as they are. It's amazing to experience people, speaking slowly, searching for the words, not knowing, as they unfold their understanding right there on the spot, the rest of us hanging on every word.
This week we did Sixteen Bodhisattvas Take A Bath. We started by passing a bowl of water and people really liked that. We focused on the cause of water part and the subtle touch as we passed the bowl around. Lots of people related to how much they are water people. Some said they were Pisces. One woman spends all the time she can in her hot tub. She said her husband rigged up a little desk to go on top so she does her work there. We all experimented with touching the water, feeling the tensile, tactileness and trying to talk about it; that point of contact; where do we and the water begin and end? A few people really related this to what was my face before my mother was born and we all experienced the strangeness of that and the cause of water. This time it was all conversation, give and take back and forth. The circle format broke down of its own accord so we could talk about the cause of water and sharing in the bath.
How cool is that?
2 comments:
Hey, Karen, it would have been cool if you all just took baths! :) Your group is clearly in the spirit of the koan work. how is it for YOU as the facilitator, and trying to stay clear of being the Answer Woman? Do you find people try to make you the Answer Woman anyway?
Sorry for the late reply, I'm just seeing this now. Actually that has not been much of an issue. There was some curiosity about my experience the first time we met. Since then I'm mostly like anyone else in the group except I do comment on some things, try to tie things together when that seems right, things like that. Other people in the group take off from what other people say as well so it seems like a good balance. I still found it helpful to pass an object around the circle the first time around and then it's open for whatever back and forth happens after that. Thanks for the inquiry.
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