Organ Mountain Zen



Saturday, September 11, 2010

Ripples

With palms together,


Good Evening Everyone,



My partner cannot stand a single ripple in things. I am not so oblivious to ripples myself. When we practice our zazen, we see things rise and fall. They come and go with the ease of waves at the ocean’s shore. When inside a wave, there is no wave. However, if we fail to practice and stand outside of the wave, something changes. Waves become disturbances in the placid, serene nature of the ocean of our mind.



How so? Serenity is the unification of Mind.



And in this a ripple is not a ripple until we say it is. This descriptive word and this assignment of meaning, makes a ripple what it is. In other words, waves need a point of comparison to be “waves” such as flat, still water, and vice versa. It is our mind that creates this point and, without it, the ocean is just the ocean as it is.



So, the natural state of things is serene, even in the midst of cataclysm. The universe, like the ocean, unfolds and folds, it expands and contracts, all in accordance with itself. Even as a star goes super nova, or the coffee pot fails to work, they do so without the thought of disturbance.



Our world is our own: we create it and we can recreate it.



Be well.

1 comment:

  1. This is a work in progress for me too...I try to go with the flow and sometimes very successful at it. Other times not so much. Now I find at least that I am aware when I am trying to stop a wave and try to body surf...

    ReplyDelete