What's What?

With respect,


Good Morning Everyone,



Work with what is in front of you. Sometimes we don’t like our work, the book we are studying or the person we are within the moment. It’s all understandable and our first inclination is to change work, texts, or people in order to make a better situation. This is relatively easy to do, but is it the right thing to do?



In Zen we are asked to work with what’s presented to us. We are taught that everything has value, everything is our teacher and/or a dharma gate. This is a very important invitation as it offers us a teaching or two. First, everything is, indeed, a dharma gate, and everything is, indeed, our teacher. Second, our response to these things is also a practice point. The nature of our relationship between things is critical: do not overlook it. Is it hierarchal or horizontal? Are we “knowers” or “learners”?



How can we appreciate our lives if we cannot appreciate our actual life? As we practice not to live in a dream, to see “things as it is,” we are more able to see what is there for itself. To not do so disrespects what is there, while at the same time deprives us of a learning opportunity.



A child at play is a most excellent example for us. She plays with a pot and it becomes a drum. She plays with a box and it becomes a house. She does not think, “pot” or “drum,” “box” or “house.” She simply explores the possibilities and learns from them. We adults, on the other hand, “know” a pot is a pot and not a “drum,” or a box is a box and not a “house.” This is unfortunate. Our learning has the potential to deprive us of an open heart.



May you be a blessing today,

Daiho