Understanding a Frog

Last Fall, when I was in SLC, I got a chance to see the American Literary Icon, Peter Matthiessen, speak and read from his latest award winning book Shadow Country. I was there for a Zen Retreat with Genpo Roshi, who graciously excused us from his Thursday night talk so that we could go see Matthiessen. I was torn but thought, “I can always see Genpo Roshi’s talk on ZenEye later.” Thus, with the miracle of modern technology I got to see both men speak that night. I have always known about Peter Matthiessen the author, reading At Play in the Fields of the Lord as a young man changed my life. But it has only been in the last few years that I have begun to discover some of the other books and teachings of Roshi Peter Muryo Matthiessen. Roshi Muryo is a successor of my dharma uncle Roshi Bernie Glassman Recently, I was at Bookman’s and Nine-Headed Dragon River: Zen Journals 1969-1985 jumped off the shelf at me. This book follows the American Zen world during that time and much of it is specific to my lineage, the White Plum Sangha. And then these lines at the end of chapter four pierced me. "(Shunryu Suzuki Roshi said, If you have truly understood a frog, you have understood everything.) Zen is life, each moment of our life, thus Zen is everywhere." - Roshi Peter Muryo Matthiessen

Maezumi, Matthiessen, Bernie at Matthiessen's Ordination (1982) Picture from ZenPeacemakers.org