1. We admitted we were powerless over greed anger and delusion and that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to understand that a Power within ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of The Nobel Eightfold Path.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. We are entirely ready to have practice remove all these defects of character.
7. Diligently practice to remove our imperfections.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through practice and meditation to improve our conscious contact with ourselves, praying only for knowledge of the truth, and the power save all sentient beings.
12. Moving towards a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others suffering from greed anger and delusion, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
I am a big fan of AA and NA as I have known it to have helped many people practice cessation from their vices. This offering could likely use some more editing but I think there are some folks out there that may benefit from this right now so I have thrown it up. I would love to see other Ideas on this.
Be well and Happy!
Gassho,
Jordan
5 comments:
Hey Jordan,
You never cease to amaze me. I happen to be a member of A.A. (shhh, don't tell), and have been using the twelve steps for a few years (last November was 20 years sobriety).
I like your version of the steps (you clearly have taken some time to get to know them). I would only offer a couple of alternate wordings (not substitutions).
In step two: "... a Power greater than our "self" could restore..."
In step three: "...to the care of that Power as we understood it..."
In step five: "Admitted to that Power, to ourselves, and to another human being..."
In step six: "Were entirely ready to allow that power to remove..."
In step seven: "Humbly surrendered all these defects of charachter to our practice."
In step eleven: "Sought through study and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our True self, seeking only awareness of Right Action in the present moment, and the power to carry that out."
In step twelve: "Having had a spiritual awakening AS THE RESULT of these steps, we tried to carry this message to all beings, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Thanks for the post.
Gassho, Ted
Dear Jordan,
I am Kuma san, A froogy zen monk in Japan, you may remember me. To answer your question on Nishijima roshi's blog, I wanted to let you know that the following book is great to understand where Fukanzazengi comes from...
Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation
by Carl Bielefeldt
Reviewed by Ryuichi Abe
Philosophy East & West
V. 42, No.3 (July 1992)
pp. 538-542
Copyright 1992 by University of Hawaii Press
Hawaii, USA
You will get all the sources and the various texts Dogen gets his stuff from.
Be well
Kuma san
Jordan,
You may have already read it, but as a solider you might like to take a peek at the Bhagavad Gita.
M
PS - Love the pic with (what looks to be) a gopher turtle. When I lived in Florida I saved many by stopping traffic to scoop them up and carry them across the road...
Wow! Jordan! How insightful! Who would have thought you'd be the deepest thinker in our family?!
I absolutely love this and will share it with my sponsor who has also explored Buddhism.
Thanks for writing it!
Ted,
Congratulations on 20 years of sobriety.
I thought it interesting that you would change this to reflect back on “a power greater then our “self.” But I think I understand.
Thank you for your comments.
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Kuma san,
Thank you for your recommendation.
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Siren,
I have not read the Bhagavad Gita. And although I am a Marine not a soldier I appreciate the recommendation. I have found it for free here: http://www.gita4free.com/english_completegita.html
The Tortoise in the picture is actually a Desert tortoise I came across in 29 Palms California while on workups prior to my last deployment. He was crossing the road when we were on our way out of the training area in a 7 ton truck. I am thankful my driver’s sharp eyes spotted him in time to stop. Waiting for it to cross the road (you are not allowed to touch them on base) was a wonderful photo op. This is one of my favorite pictures too.
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Mom,
Thank you for your comments, I think I come from a lineage of deep thinkers, please let me know what your sponsor thinks.
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Everyone,
Be well and happy!
Gassho,
Jordan
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