Point blank he asked, “Where is God when you see a tree,” and rang the little bell that meant the interview was over. I immediately knew what he was getting at. I already had decades of practice. I knew that there was no way of answering that question verbally. At the next interview, I acted as a tree. This amused him.
By Angel Roberto Puente
I receive a newsletter from Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and in their Summer 2024 issue of the Insight Journal there is an article on the “Dharma of Plants.”
As I read this title, I was taken back to a seven day “sesshin” (retreat) I did with Joshu Sasaki Roshi. Although I practiced for years at one of his centers, I had never met him. At the time I was in my early 40’s.
This very classical teacher of Japanese Zen also had (unbeknownst to me at the time) extensive experience teaching Christian monks. For 10 years, he had visited the monastery led by Father Thomas Keating, one of the creators of centering prayer and leader of Contemplative Outreach.
Inspired by my dharma brother, zen priest Shozan Jack Haubner, (@zenconfidential25) who has written two books about his experience at the monastery, I venture to speak of my experience in dokusan, the private interview with the teacher in the Rinzai tradition. The first surprise was after the introduction. I told him my name and that I was a Tai Chi teacher. Roshi didn’t speak much English and, in Japanese fashion, answered, “Oooh Roberto, Tai Chi,” assenting with head movements.
Point blank he asked, “Where is God when you see a tree,” and rang the little bell that meant the interview was over.
I immediately knew what he was getting at. I already had decades of practice. I knew that there was no way of answering that question verbally. At the next interview, I acted as a tree. This amused him. He shook his head up and down and, like Yoda, grunted a satisfied, “Uuuung.” He had probably seen this answer hundreds of times. He quickly turned the question around and rang his bell.
Before you think I’m pretending to be a great enlightened being, let me be theoretical. As a reference, I’ll use Georg Feuerstein’s, Yoga Sutra of Patañjali.
One of the fruits of good meditation is that by quieting the mind, you are able to achieve what in sanskrit is called samadhi. Feuerstein translates it as “enstasy.”
“Basically, samadhi represents an alternative mode of experiencing to our day-to-day consciousness in which subject and object are always distinct. This fundamental dichotomy is overcome in enstasy, and the object is experienced from within, as it were. The characteristic feature of entasy is thus the experiential identification of subject and object.” (pg. 37)
Even without meditation, millions of people experience this without recognizing what it is. It’s the, “I became one with… ” experience that many athletes get hooked on. Meditators have the possibility of making this a constant occurance.
There are degrees to this experience of oneness:
1. With object- becoming fused with any of the perceptions coming through the senses.
2. Completely devoid of objects- it signals the complete detachment from objects appearing in the mind,
“Upon the abandonment of the objects of knowledge, the mind becomes dissolved. Upon the dissolution of the mind [all that] remains is the aloneness [of the Self].” (pg. 58)
During the seven days of the sesshin the Roshi twisted and turned the question, “Where is God?” He even tested my physical response to commands ( this really blew my mind). They were so immediate, I was surprised. In the last interview he asked, “Where is God right now?” I worded it clumsily, “I am God” was my answer. My experience told me this was true but a better wording is “God is I” or “God and I are one.”
The Roshi gave that “Uuung” answer again and said, “Yes.” He then acted out a haughty sitter saying, “Not,” putting on a smug prideful face and swaying his body,”I am God.” All I could do was agree by nodding my head.
I was forever inoculated against spiritual pride. He then extended his arms and we hugged. God among us.
Photo: Pixabay
Editor: Dana Gornall
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El amor de Ángel Roberto Puente por la investigación comenzó desde su infancia cuando desarmaba los juguetes que recibía en Navidad. Lo único que consiguió después fueron juegos de montaje. Una experiencia temprana de lo no conceptual lo llevó a un viaje para reconciliar una educación cristiana con la práctica de Zazen y los estudios de Psicología. Habiendo logrado una solución cómoda, ahora se sienta con Morning Star Zendo. Un grupo zen dirigido por un sacerdote jesuita/Roshi. Como introvertido maduro, todavía separa las cosas, y ahora los conceptos y las creencias. Check out his site here.
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