No Room for Self Centeredness

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,

If you want to live an authentic life, you must be willing to live completely. This means living with your mind, heart, body, and environment so thoroughly integrated that there is only one. By environment, I include Big Mind, the Absolute, i.e., God.

In Judaism we practice Hitbodedut in order to experience Ruach HaKodesh, the spirit of God, which, like Big Mind, is everything. In order to experience this we must open our hearts and minds in stillness. This is the equivalent of zazen.

There is a real resistance to opening. Its as if somehow if we open ourselves we will either disappear or be injured. So we try, but retain that last bit of wall to protect us.

Such protection is the self holding onto Self. It prevents us from joining the Universal.

When we practice, we should therefore reduce the threat.

In Zen we do this by reciting the san ge mon, the prayer of repentance, and the Three Refuges, san ki rai mon. In these verses we acknowledge our sins, their source, and let them go, while also affirming our willingness to reside in Buddha (Awakened State), Buddha-Nature (Dharma, Reality), and a Sangha (Community of spiritually minded human beings).

In Judaism, we do some of the same sort of thing, though more extensively. In the daily liturgy, we thank the Absolute for pretty much everything, we bless His name, we speak about our gratitude for all the things in the world and in our lives, and we ask for healing for those in need.

All of these are an attempt to make it not only OK to let down our small and large walls, but to make letting go of small self desirable. There is no room in Zen or Judaism for self centeredness, selfish wants, or a separation from the Infinite.

When we are not separate from the Infinite, both Self and Non-Self are understood in their proper relationship. They are the same stuff, but operationalized differently. Riding the bike is being one with the bike, whilst simultaneously riding the bike, enjoying the scenery, the effort, and all other aspects of the activity. Its this simultaneity that is key.

Be well..