Shelter according to the dharmaOur practice focus September - December 2025As we move into the last section of the year, we also move into the last area of focus for this year’s practice theme, Tangible Thusness. We spent the first four months considering nyoho clothing, the next four on nyoho food, and now we take up nyoho shelter. You can review the basics of nyoho here.
The central question of nyoho is: does this thing create attachment? Is it made or used in a way that encourages clinging, either to the thing itself or to who we are in relation to that thing? We know that craving and attachment and clinging are the basis of suffering; can we encounter things simply as they are, without adding our own greed, anger and ignorance to that encounter? We might think that it’s a strange idea, applying this nyoho question to shelter, which traditionally means a temple. How can there be individual attachment to a temple, which we don’t own or use like food or clothing? This intersection was at the heart of our ancestor Kodo Sawaki’s discernment about his approach to practice. The book The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo relates an episode of his life as a novice when he heard of a lawsuit caused by a conflict between Dharma brothers over who got to be the abbot of a nearby temple. He realized that a temple could be an object of greed. Over time he saw this happen with other people and even within his own dharma family, and he resolved never to have a temple himself. Practicing with a nyoho approach means attention to both the way we make things like food, clothing and shelter and also the way we understand that these things are themselves dharma. Nyoho practice goes beyond our own construction of things like robes and meals. How do we understand a temple that we didn’t have a hand in constructing? How do we understand the nature of clinging to things we simply encounter? This year we’ve seen that there are certain characteristics of nyoho things. We pay attention to tai, shiki and ryo—color, materials and amount--and whether those are appropriate. Nyoho things are generally unassuming and unpretentious; they make use of what’s here, or what we already have, and they help us maintain some connection to the past, or the larger context of precedent. There’s lots we can dig into related to the intersection of these characteristics with shelter. We can consider the colors in a building, the atmosphere or tone that those set and the effect that has on life and practice. We can think about materials, not unlike our consideration of ingredients in our discussion of food. Maybe we’re interested in green building materials and processes, or simply being economical and careful with financial resources. We can consider size, the amount of space we really need to support whatever functions or activities we need to do in that space. If it’s too big, we have a hard time taking care of it, or it costs too much. If it’s too small, we don’t have enough storage, or we can’t accommodate all the people we want to invite in to share it with us. Shelter can be aesthetically appealing and still be unassuming and unpretentious. It can be functional without being baroque and creating some pride. It can make use of what’s already here; maybe we can incorporate some architectural salvage, or reuse some existing furniture, or if we have the skills and equiment, we can cut trees on our own land to make into boards and build with that. It's another opportunity to consider how we encounter thusness as tangible in the world. |
Hoko on this temple as the only temple
Hoko on the shichido garan, or seven hall temple: a concrete look at temple design Hosshin on being without boundaries within walls Hoko on sheltering in sacred space |
