A student of the Way said to the aged Zen teacher Zhaozhou...
I have just entered the community [of monks]. Please teach me.
Have you eaten your morning meal?
Yes, sir.
Wash your bowl.
The student had a glimmer of understanding.
—Gateless Gate, case 7
* * *
Spiritual awakening - whatever that is - is rarely with bells and whistles. Rarely any fireworks. In fact, spiritual awakening is mostly a happening that takes place when we are relaxed with what we are doing and just doing that one thing wholeheartedly, like meditating or washing dishes or sweeping the floor or raking the leaves, rather than something grand and out of the ordinary life routine.
The wise teacher says, rather than chasing a spiritual breakthrough that shakes your being to its foundations, or lifts your heart into the heavens, some mind-blowing or spine-tingling something, "Wash your bowl." He says nothing about reading scripture or chanting or meditating or going on a pilgrimage or begging rounds with other monks.... nothing particularly holy-impressive. Just, "Wash your bowl."
Now, that could be disappointing to this aspiring buddha guy. And, is that too simple? Does it not sound enlightened or holy or spectacular enough, "Wash your bowl"? Just imagine going for spiritual guidance and a friend later asking, "What did you learn?" "Something." "What?" "Well, I don't know what I learned, but I did, and she just told me to wash my bowl."
You can meet with God when you wash your dishes, or you can wash the dishes just to clean them. You can wash them alone, or you can wash them with Christ or Buddha or all beings seen and unseen, here or wherever.
The aspiring buddha guy got a "glimmer of understanding." Do we ever get more? Possibly. Possibly not. You cannot fit the ocean in a cookie jar. Yet, the taste of one drop of the Sea can change your life, and it does when you attend to it with grace and gratitude. The key is to be awake enough to know when it happens or to be so awake it no longer matters for you to know when it happens. When you become so heart-familiar with Love, it rarely, if ever, grabs your attention as prior. The Love-Atmosphere becomes your natural abode. It is as simple as, "Wash your bowl" or "Enjoy your breathing" or "Have an uninhibited, wholehearted belly laugh" or "Pushing the buggy among the aisles at the grocery store."
