The grammar of interconnectedness

My first reading of Zion Earth Zen Sky by Charles Shiro Inouye

Photo by Bruno Bergher on Unsplash

New reader? Here’s what I set out to do with this blog.

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Zion Earth refers to people of one heart and one mind, under Christ, who dwell in righteousness (Moses 7:18). Zen Sky is an obvious reference to Buddhism. The title of the book, Zion Earth Zen Sky, with its absence of punctuation, implies the connectedness of these things, and of all things.

Inouye writes, “Zen Earth Zen Sky. I walk the horizon where they meet, not knowing which is up and which is down.”

The first half of the book is about his earlier years, and I feel a tinge of annoyance when reading about what a good son and student he was. Inouye was the school photographer, cocaptain of the wrestling team, captain of the track team, “Most Preferred Man” among the females and so on. When I was in high school, I hung out in the stairwell with skinheads and dropped acid with freaks like myself. I refused to go on a mission and left the church for a time. I ended up on the streets, then lived in a group home for two years. The same two years of Inouye's life were spent serving a mission in Japan. 

So yeah, Inouye and I had different upbringings, and we made different choices. Yet here we are. We both find sustenance in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in Mahayana Buddhism. We both experienced divorce, the raising of children, the death of loved ones, and had profound spiritual experiences (although his far exceed mine). He has become a conduit for God's love, a “jar for the jam” as he puts it. I desire the same, but I often get in the way.

Inouye offers remedies for this common impediment. They are choosing compassion over justice and becoming empty—in both the Christian and Buddhist sense. These things, if practised, if burned into my psyche, will make me a more effective servant of Jesus Christ.

One more thing

This week I also finished another interreligious project called Tongue Trainer. It’s available now, so do have a look. I’ll be writing and podcasting about it on a different blog.

I’ll update you soon with my thoughts on reading number two.