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Wisdom Saying
In reading the following, by Ruben L. F. Habito, a Jesuit and Zen practitioner, recall that in Zen zazen is sitting meditation, while kensho is an enlightenment experience:
One who practices zazen for a considerable period of time tends toward a greater integration in one's life, bringing the pieces together, so to speak, toward a wholeness that is also wholesomeness.
Enlightenment is not, of course, attained solely by virtue of the sheer amount of time one spends in sitting practice, though this sitting certainly helps. To put it in Christian terms, kensho can only be described as a marvelous work of grace. We cannot bring about this experience through our striving, rather we can only dispose ourselves toward the occurrence of this event of grace by means of assiduously practicing zazen, attending to our breathing, and attuning ourselves to the here and now.
*Living Zen, Loving God
Comments
St. John Cassian (360-435), a Desert Father, speaks of where the Kingdom of God is ~ thus, there we will discover it, or be discovered by it:
For everything lies at the innermost recess of the soul. When the devil has been chased away from it and when sin is no longer in charge of it, then the kingdom of God is established there. This is what the evangelist conveys to us when he says, "The kingdom of God will not come as something to be observed nor will people cry -Here it is! There it is! - Amen, I tell you the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17-20-21).
*The Conferences
What we discover in regard to the Kingdom of God, or Presence of Light, is that This is simply another idea until we receive enlightenment. But, then, what is the way to the enlightenment?
Enlightenment is not something we achieve, we receive it. We discover the Kingdom, or That discovers us. Enlightenment is just this discovery ~ just This. Then, and only then, This is everywhere, for This is the discovery within yourself.
Much Christianity is sadly ineffective, not in that the Christian way itself is ineffectual, but for it being merely a nice, devout idea in the mind. Then, along with that comes those sweet affections. We mistake both these wonderful ideas and delicious feelings for the awesome, graceful God-experience.
To receive spiritual enlightenment, we need to do one thing, and we can do nothing less or more: dispose ourselves. This disposing will prepare for the mysterious visitation of the enlightening Grace.
Over thousands of years the practice of Silent Meditation has been the chief means of disposing ourselves for Grace. The mind and heart, in the sense of thought and feeling, are two principle obstacles to enlightenment. Until I surrender my own thoughts and feelings, including religious or spiritual ones, such remains between me and the Light. Meditation prepares us to receive, by Grace, transforming union with the Triune Mystery.
I have experienced a paradox in my own journey. I have become more devoted to Christ, after years of meditation, and I have become a more whole and wholesome person. However, Christ has been reshaped for me ~ not by me ~, for Christ, now, for me, transcends the Christ that many hold in a religious-cultural image. To see the Kingdom of God everywhere is to see Christ everywhere, not just in my faith group or its teachings ~ yes, and the Word was before time and all faith in time.
The Way, Truth, and Life is where every paradox is resolved in a simplicity of blissful, awe-inspiring Love. Here, love, loving, and the Lover are one.
But as creatures we must live within the paradoxes of That that Light discovers within. So, being enlightened allows us to be true both to the space-time bound images and teachings of faith along with the immense background that gives That contours, shapes, and colors for us to discern the Immaculate Light.
So, surrender of my thoughts and feelings does not entail becoming a thoughtless, emotionless zombie. Such surrender is not abdication of thought and feeling, only consecration and subordination of such to the One. I, in Christ, disown all such thought and feeling ~ and all else ~ as mine. Is this not what Jesus entailed in teaching that we must die to ourselves? Have I died to myself, while clinging to my?
No one can give this experience. The enlightenment arises for us each through disposing ourselves to Grace, and Grace allows the disposing, too.
And no one can describe this enlightenment, or how it might happen for another person. This establishment of the Kingdom within, as Cassian reminds us, happens to us, not by us, and only after we have faithfully worked to purify our minds and hearts. Without this devotion to inner and outer purity, we cannot receive the bliss of enlightenment. We will remain in the outer courtyard of Divine Love. And no religion or sect can open the door to the Sanctum of Joy.
Looking into Sky,
Clouds, focus of eyes,
Until, until that moment the raindrop falls;
The face feels beyond feeling ~
Living Water!
No more looking
Seeing
Then, both one.
*Brian K. Wilcox
Lent hints of this disposing ~ disposing for a moment, many moments, when we can exclaim "Living Water!"
Reflection
In what ways does Lent hint at your disposing yourself for Grace enlightening?
For Brian's on-line audio sermons, go to www.wherethelightshines.org and select Pastor's Corner; on the following page is his weekly sermons given at Christ United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL.
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For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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