{"id":810,"date":"2009-12-09T11:26:13","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T11:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/treeleafzen\/2009\/12\/people-will-be-people.html"},"modified":"2009-12-09T11:26:13","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T11:26:13","slug":"people-will-be-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/treeleafzen\/2009\/12\/people-will-be-people.html","title":{"rendered":"People Will Be People …"},"content":{"rendered":"

( Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook – XXVIII)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

We continue with Master Dogen’s Tenzo Kyokun …<\/p>\n

Today, I happened to hear from a couple of people who were disappointed by someone in their lives … friends, family members, co-workers who let them down a bit.<\/p>\n

Master Dogen provides a good perspective on this …<\/p>\n

… Hey buddy, don’t forget to look in the mirror before pointing fingers at others … See the dignity and worth of all people … People are people, and act like people … Know that there are days when we are all foolish, and how we were yesterday is not necessarily how we will be tomorrow. <\/p>\n

Also, know how to stand beyond opinions of right and wrong …<\/p>\n

We cannot always control what other people do to us … but we have control over how we react to what other people do.<\/p>\n

Joko Beck<\/b> Roshi, in Everyday Zen<\/i>, tells the ’empty rowboat’ story I mentioned …<\/div>\n

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Suppose we areout on a lake and it’s a bit foggy-not too foggy, but a bit foggy-andwe’re rowing along in our little boat having a good time. And then, allof a sudden, coming out of the fog, there’s this other rowboat and it’sheading right at us. And…crash<\/em>! Well, for a second we’rereally angry-what is that fool doing? I just painted my boat! And herehe comes-crash!-right into it. And then suddenly we notice that therowboat is empty. What happens to our anger? Well, the angercollapses…I’ll just have to paint my boat again, that’s all. But ifthat rowboat that hit ours had another person in it, how would wereact? You know what would happen! Now our encounters with life, withother people, with events, are like being bumped by an empty rowboat.But we don’t experience it that way. We experience it as though thereare people in that other rowboat and we’re really getting clobbered bythem. …<\/big><\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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