Suzuki Roshi says that we practice Zen to purify our love. What does he mean? As we grow up to spiritual maturity we move from where love was once what we could get or gain out of it. It becomes what we can give. Or it goes from at worse, exploitation, to grow into nurturing love. That is a lot of growth. But it would fit me when I was young and what happened from a spiritual practice. As a young guy I thought I was loving and giving, but in fact, as I look back, I was about getting my wants met by the girl. If I was lonely, her job was to make it go away. Her job was to look good so I would look like a winner. And so on. It took me a long time to become a true listener and to try and nurture someone else. Compassion came late to me. I think mediation has helped me because it is less about “give me this or that,” and more about self-emptying and waiting.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I struggle with this because I think love is about giving and receiving no? My mom used to say Love is Sacrifice. There is truth in that AND it is important not to neglect oneself in service of another. Lose oneself maybe but not neglect.
ReplyDelete