Saturday morning I returned to the Chogye International Zen Center which is literally around the corner from my house. If you recall, I have made the determination to spend as much time as possible in formal practice and visiting other sanghas in the month that my family will be away. As part of my aditthana I have decided to become formally involved with the Kwan Um school of Korean Seon and with the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism as well in order to break down my own clinging to views and to open myself up to the living heart of the Buddhadhamma: the desire to escape suffering and the endless wandering on.
Saturday morning at the temple is a marathon of bowing, meditation and chanting punctuated by short breaks and the ringing of the bells to signal the next interview. Like most traditional Zen centers the emphasis on decorum is an aide to mindfulness. There is a prescribed way to bow, to greet the teacher, to chant, to sit, etc…Of course, there are parts of the the liturgy that I’m uncomfortable with ( such as the lines of the Heart Sutra that frame the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara as giving advice to Arya Sariputta) but I have always been able to find something with which I disagree wherever I go whether it is an orthodox Theravada vihara or a lay Dharma center. My solution so far has been to simply remain silent when there are parts of the chants that I have issues with and to try to practice as earnestly as possible.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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