Zen of the dog
Our zen group did a mini-retreat today, very powerful indeed. McDermott and I have named our group the SouthCoast Zen(dog) Meditation Group. He quips how no one ever questions the dog reference - perhaps out of respect, polite confusion, or simply not noticing it’s embedded in the identity.
The reference is to one of the famous sure-to-spark enlightenment questions (called koans): Does a dog have buddha nature?
One acceptable response, aside from barking out loud at erratic intervals during meditation, is acknowledgement that every sentient being has buddha nature - wholeness, uniqueness, impermanence. Hence the appropriatness of Zen(dog). Now we just need to establish the local Happy Dog as the zen pub of choice.
