|
* * *
So, the Way calls us to being attentive to where we are and what we are doing, one step at a time. The Way is everything and that one step. And, part of the relaxation is we are faithful here, without thought of how we compare to others, without feeling competitive. This is highlighted by late Zen teacher Kosho Uchiyama in The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo.
In our modern world, most people think of their lives in terms of competition with others in a struggle for existence, money, status, or power. But a true way of life has nothing to do with competition. We are the self that is only the self. We do the self that is connected with the whole universe. Whoever and whatever I encounter is my life. We just do things with the pure life force of the self and without expectation. We actually want to live out such a self. We don’t have to weep when we fail or fall behind in some kind of competition. There’s no need to pursue or escape because of a desire to gain happiness or reject sadness. If we restlessly run after or away from things, this way and that, our lives are always unstable.
See, again, the self acting, or rowing, is the self selfing the self. I must be one with the act of rowing. In being one with the rowing, I am one-ing with the oneness that already is with my place in the whole Way, happening now. So, if I end up being thrown against the shore due to a storm or being pulled along under the calm and sunshine, I am becoming, and the Way is becoming. Becoming, see, is the Flow, is the Wholeness becoming. Even the decision to row is a becoming, a holy evolving, a choice to participate in communion happening, the Way expressing in the many ways.
Continued... |
