Personal Narrative: My Awakening

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My Awakening began with a visit to the Missouri Zen Center in Webster Groves. I have a family connection to Zen Buddhism through my niece and nephew. This piqued my curiosity of what it was like inside a temple or center for Buddhism. I made the decision before going that I would follow Eihei Dogan’s quote and “To forget the self is to be awakened by all things” this way I would have a clear mind of my experience. The center is in a tranquil setting in a Victorian house tucked up a hill surrounded by aged trees. I arrived early thus allowing time to read over the instructions for beginners posted on the front door. Other novices began to trickle up the walk until there was about fifteen of us. The student teacher opened the door promptly at …show more content…
The hour was late for me and I feared getting too relaxed and falling asleep. He rang a bell, not the Han, the flat wooden board you strike with a wooden hammer, I saw on the front porch. I was a little confused but was reminded of Buddha saying not to be concerned with trivial matters, so his house, his rules. It was time to clear our heads. “Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box” and the rest of lyrics of my favorite Beatles song kept “drifting through my opened mind.” And of course I start to have a couching fit about fifteen minutes into the meditation. At the end of the 20 minutes, another bell was heard and we opened our eyes to see the Reverend Dr. RosanYoshida had appeared, “My! People come and go so quickly here!” We had been told earlier that the abbot of the Zen Center would join us for the last thirty minutes of our visit. To the right of the Buddha alter sat the Reverend, a Japanese man in his late seventies in a traditional layered robe. He founded the Missouri Zen Center in 1979 after years of study in the United States and his homeland of Japan. He explained that Buddhism for others who identify with another religion find the Buddhist emphasis on meditative practice a powerful supplement. Upon his own enlightenment, Buddha was in seated meditation; Zen practice returns to the same seated meditation again and again. For 2,500 years that meditation has continued, from generation to generation; it’s the most important thing that has been passed on. Buddhism is a practice-oriented not ideological and our meditation was for calmness and clearness allowing the mind and body to relax releasing us from all the clutter of the day; It is important to center your attention in the hara. The hara is a place within the body, located two inches below

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