So I had an interesting thought bubble up during zazen last night. Sort of a rouge koan. It caught hold of me before I could notice it.
The thought was: "What if everyone I know is getting exactly what they need. And what if I am getting exactly what I need? What then? How does that change how I see the world? How does that change how and when I feel I need to act?" Huh. My first reaction was that it was interesting how so many of my actions were focused on "fixing" things and trying to give them what they need. So much of what I do, and think, is centered on overcoming deficits that I see. So many of my panicked moments of self indulgence come from fear that I will not get what I need, that I am not getting what I need, and that if I do not act, I never will. So what happens if I just practice trusting that life is constantly and perfectly providing me with precise that thing that I need in that moment? I feel calmer, less urgency around me. And I feel less inclined to offer advice, or criticize someone, and more freedom to just enjoy them. But I will also admit that the first thought was disbelief. "This can't be right. Surely these people are broken. Surely I need to be improved". It was truly disorienting to have silenced that relentless sonar pinging of "what needs to be done....what needs to be done....what needs to be done".
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Author(s)“A Course on Koans” is the delusion-riddled work of Chris Kufu (“Wind in the Void”) Wilson, who began practicing Zen in 1967. He regards Taizan Maezumi, Robert Aitken, and David Weinstein as his root teachers. Each of them pecked at his shell until he “completed” the never-ending koan curriculum of the Harada-Yasutani lineage. Get posts as they are published:
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