A Buddhist monk said to Master Joshu, "I've just entered the monastery. Please teach me." Joshu asked, "Have you eaten your rice porridge?" The monk said, "Yes. I've eaten." Joshu replied, "Then, you need to wash your bowl." On hearing this, the monk was awakened.
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We have moments of conversion, or awakening. Quakers refer to "openings." I was raised to think we have one such big opening. Yet, we may have many openings - conversions, awakenings, spiritual breakthroughs.
We cannot predict when these moments will occur or how. An opening may be mild to pronounced; one may markedly change our life, another subtly. One may be scary, another fascinating, or one both.
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The above story shares surprises. We would not, for example, expect a spiritual awakening from the instruction, "Then, you need to wash your bowl," would we? That does not sound holy or spiritual enough to prompt such an opening, does it?
Another surprise is the monk had just become a monk. He was not a veteran. He came as a beginner, requesting teaching. He did not say, "I want to be awakened now." He did not mention wanting anything but instruction from a wise Teacher.
Often, Zen stories share such awakenings through means that surprise us rather than means we would expect. Why?
Zen focuses on the ordinary. Hearing instructions to wash dishes can be an opening to Life equal to sitting in meditation for years, chanting a Buddhist sutra thousands of times, traveling on pilgrimages to holy sites, or worshipping daily for decades.
Similarly, spiritual wisdom teaches us the necessity of preparedness. The inquiring monk was ripe for the opening. Another monk might hear the exact words and go wash their dishes, not experiencing any awakening, for they are not ripe for it. One person may go to a church for many years and show little or no evidence of Christlikeness; another may be relatively new to the Jesus way and shine brightly with the Light.
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In a spiritual path, we are not to be awakening chasers. In pursuing openings, the aggression blocks receptivity. Gentle receptivity is key. It is like reaching to grab something, so the hand closes. The Way is the wisdom of open hands.
Progressively, as we continue in our practice, we grow to feel an absence of the need or wish for awakenings. We have learned they are experiences that come and go, and no more true than being intimate with this moment, this breath, and the person I am looking at this moment.
I sit in a recliner writing now... the rain falls outside, feel of wet shoes from walking in the damp grass, sound of traffic on the moistened pavement, white noise of a fan heard ... this is it! But it took decades to see this. How about you? Why wait?
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Spiritual practice is the act of ripening. We ripen by cultivating ourselves to be more sensitive and open. Sooner or later, based partly on our dedication to the Way, partly on what we cannot name, everything becomes light, even the darkness. Openings may come, may not... we are content.
Intimacy is fulfilling. Wholeheartedness leads to satisfaction. So, we are content with the quiet bliss of just this - and this is what is experienced here and now and, yes, so much more, too.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
