Renounce evil, practice good, benefit all beings. But how? This is the question considered in my Dharma talk from October 16, 2014 at the Village Zendo in New York City. My inspiration was a lecture by Zen Master Bernie Glassman that I attended in June of 2014. Bernie teaches not knowing, bearing witness and loving action. Here is the talk in it’s entirety 19 minutes long:
At the end of the talk I feature a poem by William Stafford called When I Met My Muse. Here is the text of the poem:
When I Met My Muse
I glanced at her and took my glasses
off – they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. “I am your own
way of looking at things,” she said. “When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation.” And I took her hand.
Artwork: “Cooking With Bernie” Watercolor on paper, 7 x 10 inches, January 5th, 2013
Brandon
I love your new piece there.
You just have a creative talent of taking even mundane subjects and turning them on their head. Emotion always seems to be your greatest theme throughout your gallery and you sure know how to “Paint it on your sleeve”, as it were.
That sure does remind me of BeardBurger…with less burgers and more caring.
I am particularly fond of the ingredient, “Not knowing”. It feels like understanding can’t come without first not having. Which everyone has. Whoa…that was deep.
Thank you once again for your time.
Musho
Dear Brandon,
Thanks for a thoughtful comment. You are absolutely right, that “not knowing” is the first ingredient. I like the way you put it: “understanding can’t come without first not having.” It is deep, and wonderful whoa!
(also a note to my website friends who don’t know “Beard Burger” is a fun character from a video game “Parappa 2” that I worked on. No relation to Bernie Glassman.)
Musho