Sangha Expressions: Be Hollow by Scott Wanless

By Scott Wanless, Zen River Sangha member, excerpted from the October 2018 ZRS newsletter

An everyday experience in Zen practice

For me, the best advice to quiet the normal chatter during a sit is to breathe and repeat the word “listen.” This advice also has practical application.

For example, the results of my most recent health check showed slightly elevated risk factors due to sloppy habits. The doctor suggested a set of unnamed prescriptions, and I bristled at this. I favor meditation first and home remedy second where possible, and so far, take no prescription medications. I respect Western medicine. I just steer clear of it if possible.

I sat with this challenge and was fully ready to listen for any advice from Intuition. On my next Thursday night sit, the phrase “Be Hollow” exploded into my entire being. Very compelling, but I needed a little more specific instruction.

The next Thursday, the word “subtract” arrived. This is better, as I now had an action verb. But still not specific enough.

Next sit, a still more specific suggestion with the phrase “subtract sugars in three forms.” After a little web surfing, I found those three forms. Fortunately, they all start with the letter “s,” making them easy to remember. They are sugar (i.e. processed), stealth sugars (sugar that goes by an alternate name such as sucrose, fructose, maltodextrin, nectar, etc.), and syrups (e.g. corn syrup, rice syrup, barley syrup, cane syrup, etc.).