2024-10-15 I Inquiry I Take Time for Integration I Flint Sparks

Appamada

Jukai Reflections Ryan Van Wyk What is this vow that invites us to somehow be both more and less at the same time? Not exactly restrictive or prohibitive and yet something is relinquished. There is a paradox here; in committing to embody these qualities that have been passed on and lived out by generations of ancestors, we are also committing to be more truly ourselves. Perhaps this vow is as simple as wholeheartedly embodying the unique expression of love that we are, and to again and again and again releasing all the habits, conditions, lessons, beliefs, reactions, and patterned behaviors that obscure that expression. This vow is fulfilled in the moment by moment shining of the natural loving light that is actually who we are. When we are ourselves, Zen is Zen. So my friends, let us support each other in taking up the vow to again and again return to meeting the world, each other, and ourselves from a place of uprightness, to waking up to what we do, and to letting the flower of our life force bloom.