Signs of Attention

[Guest guest]

Teahouse practice means that you don't explicitly talk about Zen. It refers to

leading your life as if you were an old woman who has a teahouse by the side of

the road. Nobody knows why they like to go there, they just feel good drinking

her tea. She's not known as Buddhist teacher, she doesn't say, "This is the Zen

teahouse." All she does is simply serve tea - but still, her decades of

attentiveness are part of the way she does it. No one knows about her faithful

attention to the practice, it's just there, in the serving of the tea and the

way she cleans the counters and washes the cups.

 

~~by Jane Hirshfield

>From "Fooling with Words:A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft" by Bill Moyers

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/5/00 9:37:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, glee

writes:

 

<<

Teahouse practice means that you don't explicitly talk about Zen. It refers

to

leading your life as if you were an old woman who has a teahouse by the side

of

the road. Nobody knows why they like to go there, they just feel good

drinking

her tea. She's not known as Buddhist teacher, she doesn't say, "This is the

Zen

teahouse." All she does is simply serve tea - but still, her decades of

attentiveness are part of the way she does it. No one knows about her

faithful

attention to the practice, it's just there, in the serving of the tea and the

way she cleans the counters and washes the cups.

 

~~by Jane Hirshfield

From "Fooling with Words:A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft" by Bill

Moyers

>>

 

Thank you for giving us this. This is the way l'd like to be when l

grow up. Not talking spiritual, just being spiritual -- disappearing in one's

acts with no trace of self consciousness. Guess that's why l always was drawn

to zen. jerrysan