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The one training to play a piano, as example, thinks about the right way to play. Over time, that same one forgets about the right way to play, having grown into oneness with the act of playing itself. So, one cannot divide between the pianist and the piano and the musical score ... everything becomes one, even the audience and the physical place in which one is playing. Playing, then, is not about playing correctly, correctly has been absorbed in the whole context itself. Hence, one is beyond 'right' or 'wrong' way to play. The parts have been absorbed into a prior unity, and the paradox, then, is everything is a part and is the whole, at the same time. An entire performance changes with the loss of one ingredient. And, without the pianist showing up for his or her performance, no performance. The pianist must be present, must play. So, we have to show up, we have to show up to our own lives. That is the way of the Way.
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Yet, there are no Precepts or Commandments on how Life must be, ought to be. Even in rowing, you are part of so much happening, you may still not end up in a favorable place, you may still get stuck or a strong wind blow you off-course into a rock. Yet, how you experience the Way will totally shift, for say, even marooned, you are with Life marooned, not fighting what has happened. That is, in Grace, you are being and becoming graceful; and, you find, Life is seen to work much better that way. So, rowing is part of the Flow, shifting how one is with the Flow, but not taking responsibility for our life is not with the Flow.
And, blaming anyone else is not with the Flow. Others act in ways that affect you, and vice versa, but blame is counterproductive, not proactive, but reactive. Also, blame is surrendering your power as a rower, rather than remaining devoted to the gift of being blessed to row in the boat, on the water, under the sky, with other rowers and boats sharing the Way with you.
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Roshi Dainin Katagri, in You Have to Say Something, brings together this paradox of your place in the boat but this not being your place. I have called this communion; indeed, Life is wholly communion, for including the whole. You are you within the whole, and the whole is the whole as it is for being that in which you are.
The place where you are is not just your place. If you actually see where you are, you will see that you are one with the boat, the water, the near shore, and the far shore. You are one with the sky, the birds, and the motion of the boat. In other words, you, the boat, the water, the near and far shores, and the sky are all moving together. Where you are is completely beyond your control. And yet you still have to row the boat.
And, really, we could say, "If you do not row the boat, that is rowing the boat." Even the choice not to act, is action. The Way keeps being, keeps moving. Life, in a sense, stands before you, every moment, even when you are sleeping, saying, "Now, you must do something with me, this you cannot not do."
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