Conceal/Reveal
Posted in ashtanga yoga on 11/24/2007 01:18 pm by karenYes, I know. How many times is she going to mention Freeman’s talks? Well, I don’t know. But how can I not, after this:
I was out in the back yard, cleaning up all the stuff that blew around in the tremendous winds we had last night. As per usual, when doing household tasks, I was listening to a podcast. Loose Ends and Stinky Mats. How delightful is it, to hear RF talk about parkour? Quite. And then he mentions that he’s been thinking about how to practice in old age, and when one is very sick, or dying. I am really happy that he’s on this job, and I hope he keeps sharing what he comes up with.
Which makes me think about this idea that talking about practice is bad. Actually, on my zen calendar, this month’s quote reads, “Conceal your practice, work inside.” This is one of the last lines in Song of the Bright Mirror Samadhi, by Dongshan (Tung-shan Liang-chih), founder of the Soto school of zen.
I don’t know the answer for this one. Talk about practice, don’t talk about practice. Maybe an okay thing to talk about it, but not so great to expect or imagine people will understand. Or even that you will…