Spiritual Practice in a Human Body (Myosho Ginny Matthews)

Zazen is a practice that involves the body in ways such as working with the breath. Joshu Sasaki Roshi came up with the phrase, “Buddha is the center of gravity.” Rooting ourselves to the earth through the hara, the abdominal area, is an aspect of Chan or Chinese Buddhism that came to be known as Zen in Japan. We unconsciously absorb negativity that denigrates the body in our culture. There is a symbiotic relationship between spirit and the body in ancient systems like yoga, tai chi, and qigong. There is a traditional analogy of a chariot (the body), horses (our will and energy), driver (the ego that is in connection with the world), and passenger (the Self or witness). The ego needs direction from the Self. When we get beyond busy-ness we can hear the messages of the Self and the body. In Buddhism, it is not desire but unexamined desire that is suffering. The vessel has been referred to as the receptacle of the soul. Do we relate to the vessel with tenderness or judgment? Judgment pops up over and over; it is ingrained and patterned in our bodies. With deep meditation experience we understand that we’re not just the human body. In spiritual practice, relationship to the body is often ignored. The Middle Way does not deny or punish the body with ascetic practice and does not indulge the body. This way has got to look different today than when Buddha lived in 500 B.C. The focus on the evolution of consciousness can last right up to the end of our lives. A koan is a practice of a dying activity meant to dissolve the sense of a separate self. When we have compassion for ourselves, it spills out to other people. Myosho Ginny Matthews was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi for 40 years. She took lay ordination in 2000, leads retreats on practice, is a dance teacher and choreographer, and is featured in the book, The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness.