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The Great Matter: Walking the Zen Way

The Great Matter: Walking the Zen Way

Last updated on: October 21, 2026 at 6:00 am by James Ford

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The Great Matter: Walking the Zen Way 2026-10-20T16:57:45-07:00 James Ford

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Riding Home
Zen Ox Herding Pictures, number 6
Tenshō Shūbun
15th century

(This talk was delivered by Dharma Holder Mo Myokan Weinhardt at the Empty Moon Zen half day zazenkai on August 29th, 2026. She has graciously permitted me to reprint it here.)

My Grandpa Jer was an absolute bear of a man — especially to me, a little 5-year-old Mo. Grandpa Jer was larger than life. Big, thick handlebar mustache; well over 6 feet tall; had a frame like a football player; and he was the most gentle, soft-spoken man I’d ever met as a child. His hugs really were like bear hugs, getting scooped up and completely enveloped by his arms — lifted off the ground, and gently squeezed with his whole heart. He always had a way of making us feel safe – no nightmare or monster in the closet could withstand the warmth of his presence.

Grandpa Jer worked in an auto factory in Kansas City, MO, spraypainting cars. They never wore masks. And although he’d quit by the time I was old enough to have memories, he was also a long-time smoker.

Grandpa Jer died from lung cancer when I was 6 years old. My parents took me to the family viewing; it was the first time I ever saw a dead body. I remember touching his hand in the coffin, and being unsettled by the cold, papery feel of his skin. Even though it just looked like he was sleeping, it was viscerally clear that he’d gone somewhere else. This body was no longer my Grandpa Jer — it was just something he’d left behind.

For a variety of reasons, the Great Matter has been right up in my face recently; this Great Matter of life and death. This Great Mystery of being alive, here and now, in this body, place, culture, and time.

Taego Bou, a 14th-century Korean Zen master, once cautioned that we pass from life to death in the time it takes to breathe in and breathe out.

The very harsh truth is that none of us are promised a morning or an evening. Everything can change — or end — <snap> just like that.

The longing in my heart for the many people in my life who’ve died… the pain I feel in my knees… the deafening sound of the mountain cicadas in August… the meows and headbutts from our two kittens… my husband quietly squeezing my hand as we walk…

I’m struck by the gift of each moment. Even the moments I experience as excruciating. It all just goes by so quickly.

I mean, wasn’t I five years old just a few days ago, holding hands with Grandpa Jer and climbing trees with my little brother?

Didn’t I just graduate from college, and start my first full-time job at a K-12 school?

Weren’t Tom and I married only yesterday, on the spring equinox, with James officiating, surrounded by sunshine and snow and loved ones at the Providence Zen Center?

All of these younger selves are indeed all me, even though I am no longer them.

It all goes by so quickly. What time do you think you have?

None of us are promised a morning or an evening. Whether we choose to face it or not, the Great Matter is always right here. And while in some ways that might be deeply uncomfortable, sad, or unsettling, in other ways, actively paying attention to this truth is the greatest gift at all.

So much of this practice comes down to just paying attention. Whether in zazen, on the phone with a friend, or out running errands — how we cultivate our attention changes everything about how we move through the world.

And the ecology of our inner life shapes literally everything about how we perceive reality and those around us.

With that in mind, I’d like to ask a few questions — not to hear any of your answers, it’s frankly none of my business. These questions are strictly for your own personal reflection:

What kind of life are you living, right here and now?
What do your actions reveal, as opposed to the stories you tell yourself?
How do you actually direct your time and attention?
And with whatever time you’ve got left, what’s truly important to you?

Understanding the Buddhist concept of oneness is merely the beginning. We have to go deeper. What happens when you truly realize oneness — when you experience this fully, with your entire heartmind?

We all look different and unique, because in the world of form, we are. But don’t let appearances fool you. In the world of emptiness, the world of boundlessness, we are all cut from the same cookie dough; forged from the exact same stardust; intimately connected through a shared ground of being. Beyond all concepts of “me” and “you.”

It reminds me of a classic optical illusion: is it a duck, or is it a rabbit?

Is it form, or is it emptiness?

Although the mind loves to categorize and split things apart — a useful skill when paying the bills — underneath the surface, we’re all fundamentally one body. The right hand cannot take an action that doesn’t somehow affect the left. There is no separation.

What happens to other beings, happens to us. What we do to others, we do to ourselves. For every wholesome and unwholesome action we take, this is equally true.

This entire practice is about opening our hearts, again and again, with presence and compassion — toward ourselves, and all beings. As our guiding teacher James Myoun Ford says, “If you’re lucky, your heart will break” — and when we drop the false choice between the duck and the rabbit, we take a step into the wilderness of that heartbreak. That heart-opening.

Into the wilderness of genuine intimacy.

What meaning and purpose can we possibly make of all this?

There’s a fascinating poem by James McCrea called Instructions Before Visiting Earth. It goes like this:

In the event that you wake up

and find your soul separated from Source

and manifest into material form, don’t panic.

Your condition is only temporary.

You have been selected for the opportunity

of human incarnation.

This 3D simulation is designed

to break up the monotony of eternity

by giving you a fully immersive experience

as a distinct ego identity.

Your body will serve

as your physical avatar

as you navigate a dense and dramatic reality.

There will be many distractions

causing you to forget your true nature and origin.

You will experience a range of emotions

from joy to loneliness to despair.

But remember – no matter

what trials and traumas you encounter,

your soul remains perfectly safe.

At times you may feel lost or afraid.

This is totally normal.

If you ever need guidance,

simply slow down your busy mind

and bring your awareness

to the quiet place

inside yourself.

On this planet, nothing is permanent.

People and things will come and go.

You will fall in love and form sentimental attachments

only to lose everything you hold dear.

So cling to nothing too tightly, even yourself,

and when it’s time to let go, let go with grace,

for nothing is owned, only borrowed.

As you walk among

the people on the planet,

try to be a good guest.

Tread lightly. Remember

that you are only visiting.

Don’t make a mess.

Listen more than you speak.

Give more than you take.

Don’t keep your soft heart

locked inside a glass cage,

protected from wear and tear.

You’ll never make it out alive

and time passes quickly.

So come back with some battle scars

and good stories to tell.

The poem asks us not to keep our soft hearts locked in a glass cage. My Grandpa Jer never did — at least not in the brief time I knew him. But how do we actually do that? How do we tread lightly, and live with grace, when the Great Matter is right up in our faces?

I want to leave you with two invitations for your practice this week:

The first invitation is Metta Practice.

This is a practice of actually breaking that glass cage. It’s a tool for dissolving the boundaries between self and other. Grandpa Jer taught me what this kind of “holding with the heart” feels like before I had words for it — safe, unguarded, generous, and in that moment, complete. Metta is one way we can learn to generate that same warmth for ourselves, on purpose, and then intentionally expand its reach to hug others across space and time.

To do this, find a comfortable position. Take a few deep breaths, calm your body, and settle your mind.

Begin by directing loving-kindness toward yourself. Don’t just think the words; genuinely feel them. Be enveloped by them.

Repeat the phrases:

“May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be safe. May I live with ease.”

Take a breath. Then, expand this to others, one at a time. Feel each line as you extend your heart to a loved one; to a neutral person; to a difficult person; and finally, to all beings. Imagine your compassion spreading out like ripples across a vast pond.

The second invitation is The Five Remembrances.

If the James McCrea poem reminds us that we are only visiting, these five truths are the ultimate reminders of how to be a good guest. I invite you to recite them, and become intimate with them, every day:

I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me, and everyone I love, are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My deeds are my closest companions. I am the beneficiary of my deeds. My deeds are the ground on which I stand.

The Great Matter is always right here. Pay attention to this. Find ways to honor the abundant gift that is this very life — the joys, the suffering, every fucking moment.

May we pay ever more attention; because our deeds are the ground on which we stand.

Our time passes quickly. Break your heart free from that protective glass cage; give and receive as many bear hugs as you can. And when it’s time to return to the boundlessness from which we came, may you return with gifts of abundant gratitude, well-earned scars, and some good stories to tell.

Thank you for your practice, Bodhisattvas — and for the warmth of your presence.

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