With palms together
Good Morning Everyone,
With life as it is, comes life as it is. When we expect it to be different than it is, we suffer. Yet, this isn’t quite true, is it? Suffering is a result of expectations held close, not expectations themselves. We go through life with expectations based on assumptions about the world. We must have such assumptions in order to get out of bed in the morning. It would be a challenge to get out of bed if I did not assume it is safe to do so, or that the world would not treat me fairly, or that if there was not going to be a certain amount of predictability in it. The world as we know it would come to a halt. It isn’t these that are the cause of suffering, but our investment in them.
When we encounter an unexpected change in our day, what does it feel like? How do we respond to it? Does it cause us a certain amount of anxiety? How much anxiety? Do we get angry or annoyed?
Holding on to an idea about how things should be creates suffering not the idea. Thoughts are just thoughts and feelings are just feelings. We practice to experience them as completely as possible, but then to let them go. If we do not we carry them into the next moment and, as a result, that moment suffers from its intrusion, and we suffer with it.
Do not hold onto expectations: hold them with an open hand.
Be well.
For me expectations and assumptions are not necessary mental phenomena. It is just a type of lazy practice that allows these type of delusions to be an active part of practice. This is the problem with modern zen. It wants to include delusion in everyday practice. We do not experience these sates of mind when we have reached "samadhi" or "empty mind" in meditation so why include them in waking life? This type of teaching is for those who wish to "have it all", not conquer their untamed mind.
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