Wise Words II: Susan Murphy

And then Dr. Susan Muphy Roshi. From Finding the Earth, Mending the World: Zen and the Art of Planetary Crisis:

"...we are all caught in a ridiculous posture right now. The posture of living 'normally' as we destabilise climate, trash seas and earth and atmosphere and decimate species, while chanting a mantra of perpetual growth and unrestrained human population increase and watching all these accelerate in a runaway chain reaction. It is ridiculous to pretend it is not happening, and almost equally ridiciulous to mention it, since no one can personally hope to change its course, and no one much wants even to hear about it. Our position as a species is now so untenable that it verges on rudeness to mention it in polite company".

"The crisis facing us all right now is a tremendous koan set for us by the earth, speaking to us plainly but in words we cannot yet fully comprehend, caught as we are in the frame of the past that cannot conceive of this emergency. To respond we need to free ourselves from a too narrow sense of self and an unquestioned assumption of self-entitled priority as a species." 

"Medicine and sickness heal each other. The whole world is medicine. Where do you find yourself?
 – Zen Master Yunmen, 9th century China".

Lovely, lovely book. [NOTE: I have been working with Murphy Roshi (thx, Susan) since January of this year on Case 1 from The Gateless Gate: Joshu's Dog, aka "the Mu obstruction" (see Mu, and then start carrying this koan around with you 24/7)].

Zen and the Art of Planetary Crisis

Lovely, lovely book. Dr. Susan Murphy is the founding teacher of the Zen Open Circle in Sydney, Australia, dharma heir of John Tarrant Roshi (Pacific Zen Institute) and Ross Bolleter Roshi (Diamond Sangha - Robert Aitken), a radio producer, a film director - and a terrific writer. Hard to pick only a few illustrative passages, but:

"The crisis facing us all right now is a tremendous koan set for us by the earth, speaking to us plainly but in words we cannont yet fully comprehend, caught as we are in the frame of the past that cannot conceive of this emergency. To respond we need to free ourselves from a too narrow sense of self, and an unquestioned assumption of self-entitled priority as a species."

"I see the great adventure of our time as not losing heart or going crazy but regaining humanity in the course of fighting for a planet where our children's children can safely flourish".

Me, too. This a great book, and I highly recommend it, and you can buy it here. 

[NOTE: Beautiful cover design by Gopa & Ted2, Inc].