{"id":628,"date":"2009-04-06T10:06:19","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T10:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2009\/04\/embrace-celebrate-and-sink-rig.html"},"modified":"2009-04-06T10:06:19","modified_gmt":"2009-04-06T10:06:19","slug":"embrace-celebrate-and-sink-rig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/04\/embrace-celebrate-and-sink-rig.html","title":{"rendered":"EMBRACE, CELEBRATE and SINK RIGHT IN!"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I sometimes talk about an aspect of our Zen practice I call<\/font> “<\/font>acceptance without acceptance<\/i>” …<\/p>\n

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By that I mean an approach to all the ugly and painful aspects of life and this world which are just so hard (perhaps impossible) to accept.
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We can accept and not accept simultaneously, repair what needs to be repaired.<\/p>\n

I recall, for example, a dear zen-friend of mine who, facing a serious illness, accepted the<\/span> condition fully, accepted that it is natural for us to all get sick sometimes – yet fought the<\/span> good<\/span> fight<\/span> for<\/span> a<\/span> cure<\/span>. <\/p>\n

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That is acceptance without acceptance.<\/p>\n

Today, I would just like to add another perspective that makes us the mystics which we are …<\/p>\n

For besides merely accepting while not accepting  … we might EMBRACE, CELEBRATE<\/span> and SINK RIGHT IN!<\/span> (and that includes the worst of it)!<\/p>\n

Any garden is flowers and weeds … life is beauty and ugliness (some ofit heartbreaking). Yet we see ALL of that as life’s nature. We not onlyaccept and tolerate … we GIVE THANKS FOR<\/b> all sides of it. <\/p>\n

There are stories of Hassidic Jews giving thanks and praise to their God while standing to march into the ovens during the Holocaust<\/span>. Simple thanks for the time they had, and all until that moment. Asking nothing, needing nothing more. <\/p>\n

Now,don’t ever get this point wrong: Praising the weeds and wars and wrongs, and being thankfulfor all of it … that does not mean we do not set to pulling weeds,fixing this world, righting wrongs. <\/p>\n

Remember that in our Zen Practice, we areoften tasting life from many perspectives at once, some downrightopposed, some downright so crazy … that it’s as sane as sane can be.<\/font><\/p>\n

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(remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells;<\/u><\/div>\n
a sitting time of 20 to 35 minutes is recommended)<\/u><\/p>\n

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