a lesson learned
“The saddest word
in the whole wide world
is the word almost. He was almost in love. She was almost good for him. He almost stopped her. She almost waited. He almost lived. They almost made it.”
ask - my faaace - home
Henry L. Phillips Collection, Bequest of Henry L. Phillips, 1939
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Medium: Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper
The purpose of a Zen practice is to find peace of mind. Buddha’s great insight is that through working with your mind you can find peace. The flip side of that insight is that the reason that you do not have peace of mind is because of your thought habits. Zen is a tradition of practitioners coming to realize what the Buddha realized. In the two and a half thousand years since Buddha, Zen has picked up a lot of baggage. It has travelled from India, through China into Japan, Korea, Vietnam and throughout the world. Zen has developed distinct practices in every country and in every practitioner. That is all baggage. The realization that Buddha had is the same simple realization today as it was when he had it. Put down all of your baggage and experience your essential nature.
The problem we encounter when we try to put down our baggage is that we don’t know how. When we feel the weight of our baggage and go to put it down, we can’t tell what is us and what is our baggage. We have spent a whole lifetime accumulating baggage and we can’t imagine ourselves without it. When we suffer from anxiety and depression, we become so identified with our baggage that we may think we don’t like ourselves. What we don’t like is our baggage. We don’t even know ourselves. If we knew ourselves apart from our baggage, we would not only like ourselves, we would love ourselves.
To put down our baggage, we practice meditation. That is the most basic Zen practice. The Zen devices that are designed to help practitioners put down their baggage, the koans, the robes, the shaved heads, the tea, the chanting, the paradox can become baggage too. Baggage is complicated that way. To cut through the complication of baggage, simplify things. Put all your baggage down. Don’t worry if you accidentally put yourself down in the process. Don’t worry.
Anytime you feel the weight of your worry, reorient yourself to your surroundings. You can take an hour, or three seconds, depending on how eager you are to pick your baggage up again. Simply breathe in and out and be absolutely perfect in that moment, no baggage. You will find peace right there in your mind. Even in your mind.
Oh gosh me too man. I have quite a few of them on a wish-list. So since I was kinda bored I decided to share the links if anyone wants to look up/buy the books for themselves as well.
Understand : You are part of the natural world.
The same force that allows trees to grow and flowers to bloom exists within you. Whether an early or late bloomer, you too will come to blossom in your entirety …
You will lose yourself over and over until you find yourself again. Some losses will become lessons, others good omens. You will lose countless people before the right people find you. Let the seasons change, until those arrive who inspire you to bloom from where you once bled.
I wish you an empowered day … Our Journey to Balance
