Gain

With palms together


Good Morning Everyone,



Mushotoku. This is something we all need to practice. It means practicing with no aim at all. It is, as Phillipe Coupey says, the philosophical essence of Soto Zen. What does it mean to practice with no aim, no idea of gaining anything, not even satori? It means releasing oneself from ideas.



We practice to practice and practice is all there is. In everyday life our practice is to be awake and present to everything: the feel of water on our hands as we wash them; the feel of toilet paper; the scent of the person we are sitting next to. Nothing escapes our attention and nothing sticks.



We might take issue with this. We might want more. We might come to this practice to become better people, healthier people, less troubled, less angry, or less stressed, but these will act as stains on our practice. Our want needs to drop away.



This practice begins and ends with you. In the beginning it is the small you, the “small mind” of your existence. In the end, it is the big you, the “Big Mind” of the universal that is present.



What was your face, the face you had before your father and mother were born? Is it possible to harm this face? Is it possible to kill this face? To abuse this face?



Hopefully a whisper in your ear: “No.”



Be well.