Dreaming of Butterflies on the Beach?
Rajanaka News for March 23, 2024: Zoom Sessions & Good Company
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Aho’ Rajanaka,
I hope this finds you well. We’ve got a few more Sessions of Tantric Ganesha Mantra and I’m going to extend our course in Buddhism for some extra weeks because it’s just too much fun. You can join either of these anytime, each Session has its own joys and there’s hours and hours of recordings available too. The links are below I hope to see you whenever that’s good for you. Weather permitting, of course.
So, about the weather…ever been to the Roc in March? Picnic baskets are optional but Chuang-tzu is (almost) mandatory.
For the past nearly forty years, during this very same week in March, I’ve taken up the incomparable Daoist writer Chuang-tzu. I love this University course since its invention in 1986, and it’s never skipped a spring semester: “From Confucius to Zen.” Rochester students call it “C2Z” (at least when students still took it.) Every year I make time to do the readings, not feeling duty-bound or clinging to self-proclaimed virtue, but just ‘cause I still love every bit.
And this week with Zhuangzi (that’s the modern spelling), well I need this even more than I need Zen come May. You see by the time we get to Zen, there may be cherry blossoms in the courtyard. But now, in late March, we’re going to need some other way to swish, wag, and wield sanity in face of the never-ending (*until it does? Thank you, Zhuangzi) winter in Rochester.
You may recall that Zhuangzi is famous for dreaming he was a butterfly only to wake up wondering if he were a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. This is the story most often recounted, somethingsomething about illusion, reality, followed by an incredulous smile, end. Can we watch Netflix now? Not yet. But it’s March and snowing and reallyreally cold and we’ve been in this house since ever. Listen for a sec, remember Zhuangzi? Dream with me a bit. It’ll be fun.
I’m here to tell ya’ that Zhuangzi isn’t puzzling out the world, not even butterflies. That’s precisely what he’s decided not to do. Instead, he’s put living first--- at least for a time. He’s going to leave the news behind, allow others to manage the mishigas, and just be in the weather, whatever that may be. This is a teaching that you really need right about now. Maybe no matter where you are? After all, the weather isn’t only what’s going on outside.
Since we can’t determine much less command, control, or guide the weather, we’re left with the other possibilities. Zhuangzi won’t mind if we choose to complain (not just the weather) if that’s how we’re really feeling. But he's more inclined to do what comes next, choose (sometimes) not to choose, participate without intention or enterprise.
Sure, your responsible Confucian self says he’s just checking out, but his idea is also to invite us to check in, all the way in, so far in that there is no longer an outside or an inside, only the weather. Living with ourselves is always life’s most challenging challenge. Zhuangzi suggests we forgo the challenge part and get right to the living. At least for a time.
What evaporates like snow in the winter sun is the desire for anything else or more: no strife or conflict, no need for expectancy, aspiration, or even hope. We are no longer what we invent but instead what we receive. Zhuangzi won’t need to bask in meaninglessness or to revel in his own indifference. He suggests we experience what comes before we insist life must do our bidding. He’s not interested in being rational, but neither is he mystical: one good laugh will be worth 10,000 serious words. There is nothing unusual about feeling what is. There’s nothing privileged about being human except that being human is how you get to be. Let’s do that. Let’s be human. The world will not wait for us but just for a time, even if it’s a dreaming moment, we can let the weather be: not be a question, an obstacle, or even a quandary.
My students invariably protest that Zhuangzi is impractical, impossible to understand, and likely even mad. Precisely, I say, because sometimes, at least for a time, that could be just what we need. Nature shows no favor, has no plan, needs no purpose, and expresses no preferences. If we appreciate these truths, nature can show us another way to live with ourselves---not the only way, not the better way, just another way that might come in handy. It’s not really sustainable--- ‘cause nothing really is--- but if we listen to Zhuangzi we just might have a bit more life to live. This time of the year, I might dream of sandy beaches, warm sun, and butterflies. But it won’t be bad if I just love the weather, whatever it is. Even here. If you decide to stop in, you’ll be most welcome. Zoom can bring good company.
So again, Buddhism tonight, Saturday, March 23rd at 5pm Eastern. This is an introduction and we’re going to make early Buddhist traditions come to life. Here is the correct links for the Zoom and the Archive. (There was some trouble with Dropbox, it’s fixed.) Join us. The weather is great in here---
ZOOM: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/95057662268
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yted2ht281tfrn74ig0c2/h?rlkey=d9ut9dmpqvrha6d3aevq32r6j&dl=0
MORE Tantric Ganesha this coming Thursday, March 28th at 7pm Eastern
ZOOM: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/98183733328
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/aj2q0pqv6k62vaxy2h810/h?rlkey=ag6ijieez888x4yi9kjggthq2&dl=0
Mahabharata Sunday at 5pm, Eastern, tomorrow March 24th until Ever.
ZOOM: https://rochester.zoom.us/j/314987250
ARCHIVE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/wn3icbb418qcsrjqhk6ke/h?rlkey=nzdh43ld5xitb96duffoflhlg&dl=0
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Much more below the line. Write to me about anything: douglas@rajanaka.com
Saprema, Douglas
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If you’d like to try to say “Zhuang-Zhou” or even “Zhuangzi” this is the correct pronunciation: https://www.pronounceitright.com/pronunciation/zhuang-zhou-12954 )
· We will have SUMMER CAMP in Bristol, NY. Dates are July 11th-July 15th. That’s the weekend after the 4th. More about this soon. Put is on your calendar. We’re going to have a topic and a plan to make this fly. Worth your effort. There’s nothing like it.
Can we participate in "From Confucius to Zen" online? It sounds wonderful.
savoring your history of Buddhism alongside chaplaincy training, thank you for these perspectives.