Today is day two of this May 2023, two-day sesshin and we'll start with a story. I warned you yesterday that there is no limit to what I will use. The story is called it's from the book Fables by Arnold Lobel. And it was the winner of a Caldecot Medal in, I think it was 1980 or 1990. It's called the Crocodile in the Bedroom. A crocodile became increasingly fond of the wallpaper in his bedroom. He stared at it for hours and hours. Just look at all those neat and tidy rows of flowers and leaves, said the crocodile. They're like soldiers. There is not a single one that is out of place. My dear, said the crocodiles wife, you are spending too much time in bed, come out into my garden where the air is fresh, and the sun is bright and warm. Well, if you insist for just a few minutes, said the crocodile. He put on a pair of dark glasses to protect his eyes from the glare and went outside. Mrs. Crocodile was proud of her garden. Look at the hollyhocks and the marigolds. She said smell the roses and the lilies of the valley. Great heavens. Cried the crocodile. The flowers and leaves in this garden are growing in a terrible tangle. They're all scattered. They're all messy and entwined. The crocodile rushed back to his bedroom in a state of great distress. He was at once comforted by the sight of his wallpaper. Ah, said the crocodile. Here is a garden that is ever so much better. How happy and secure these flowers make me feel. After that, the crocodile seldom left his bed. He lay there smiling at the walls, he turned a very pale and sickly shade of green. And because it's a fable, there is a moral. Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order. And that's the end of the story. And next, we're going to turn to awakening to Zen by Roshi Kapleau. And we'll be reading from a chapter and I won't be reading the entire chapters too long for our purposes. The chapter is called discipline and naturalness. And it was from a talk probably a teisho that he gave in 1973. And this is how it begins. Many people wonder about the benefits of a disciplined life of doings Zen, of planning for certain regular activities. Many people look upon this kind of thing as a natural. It seems to be taking away from the enjoyment of life. To live a disciplined life seems perhaps egotistical. And then he says some of the inner conflict or what people say to themselves, when they are living a so called discipline life. Well, I should I should do that. Or I shouldn't stay out beyond such and such an hour because I find it hard to get up in the morning. Or I shouldn't go out with these people because they love to talk. Or I shouldn't go out and do such and such because it might lead to such and such. And then he says, To practice Zen seriously, seems to make for a joyless, antisocial life. Life isn't celebrated with love, drink and laughter. Besides, Zen seems to have an ego trip of its own and uncomfortable painful damming up of the joy of life. Instead of it's bursting forth and fullness. This sounds terribly unnatural. I'll continue. The trouble is that most of us today lead such unnatural lives to start with that we don't need that we don't know any longer what naturalness really is This, this seems to be true of our culture as a whole. If we take natural to mean spontaneous, free flowing without compulsiveness, without regret or remorse, then we begin to see this, what is it like not to be driven by the ambition, perhaps, to do certain things, or to achieve certain goals