With Palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
I am wondering about what some might call "Ultimate Reality" as opposed, I presume, to an "ordinary reality" or simply, reality itself. I suggest anyone that posits an "ultimate reality" is, in my opinion, deluded as such a person has, perforce, mentally and spiritually divided reality.
While it is true that in Zen we have an Absolute and Relative, it is equally true that when penetrated these are realized as one. When understood as two, this understanding is also deluded. We don't move toward "the Ultimate" we realize that "the Ultimate" and the ordinary are one and both are simply a fiction created by a brain that quite naturally perceives itself as separate from the world around it. So, we might ask, what is “reality” before our brain senses the world around us? Yes, what was your face, the face you had before your father and mother were born?
We might say, “nothing.” Literally, “no thing” as thingness is an attribution of cognition. Our original face, that which is neither born nor unborn is the essential all, the “ultimate reality” of that which is before perception, but this is intellectual. We cannot say what ultimate reality is without killing it and revealing our relative mind at work. We must, as the old koan suggests, show it.
When I paint, draw, ride my Harley, bow, pour coffee, and otherwise mindfully live out my life, I am living out ultimate reality. If I think about these activities as I do them, I am lost from that reality, I am in the relative reality of dualism. Moreover, if I practice mindfulness, per se, I am equally lost. I must simply do, completely and wholeheartedly without separating myself from that which is. Very tricky and on an on-going basis, impossible as my brain won’t allow it.
I am extremely wary of those claiming “Big Mind,” “Enlightenment,” or any other such esoteric hype. As any such claim creates the dualism, “I am “X.” We seem attracted to such guru types, however, and I believe this is in part due to two motives: our need for evidence of the success of our practice and, more often, our steadfast refusal to realize the everyday is what it is and realizing this, penetrating this, is this elusive “ultimate reality.”
Seeking after enlightenment takes us away from awakening. Attaching to enlightenment kills enlightenment. Our practice is to be free and easy, open and non-grasping, fluid and vulnerable, in touch, but not holding. Don’t let those enlightened masters dupe you: live out your life awake by simply and deeply appreciating your life.
Be well.
Local Note
This week at the Clear Mind Zen: Monday at 4:30 PM Zazen in the park in front of City Hall, Wednesday morning at 6:45 AM zazen in the zendo and at 5:00 PM zazen in front of the Federal Building, Thursday at 1:00 PM zazen at the City of Hope and at 7:00 PM zazen in the Zendo, Friday at 9:00 AM zazen at Veteran’s Park on Roadrunner and Sunday zazen at 10:00 at the Zendo.
Good Morning Everyone,
I am wondering about what some might call "Ultimate Reality" as opposed, I presume, to an "ordinary reality" or simply, reality itself. I suggest anyone that posits an "ultimate reality" is, in my opinion, deluded as such a person has, perforce, mentally and spiritually divided reality.
While it is true that in Zen we have an Absolute and Relative, it is equally true that when penetrated these are realized as one. When understood as two, this understanding is also deluded. We don't move toward "the Ultimate" we realize that "the Ultimate" and the ordinary are one and both are simply a fiction created by a brain that quite naturally perceives itself as separate from the world around it. So, we might ask, what is “reality” before our brain senses the world around us? Yes, what was your face, the face you had before your father and mother were born?
We might say, “nothing.” Literally, “no thing” as thingness is an attribution of cognition. Our original face, that which is neither born nor unborn is the essential all, the “ultimate reality” of that which is before perception, but this is intellectual. We cannot say what ultimate reality is without killing it and revealing our relative mind at work. We must, as the old koan suggests, show it.
When I paint, draw, ride my Harley, bow, pour coffee, and otherwise mindfully live out my life, I am living out ultimate reality. If I think about these activities as I do them, I am lost from that reality, I am in the relative reality of dualism. Moreover, if I practice mindfulness, per se, I am equally lost. I must simply do, completely and wholeheartedly without separating myself from that which is. Very tricky and on an on-going basis, impossible as my brain won’t allow it.
I am extremely wary of those claiming “Big Mind,” “Enlightenment,” or any other such esoteric hype. As any such claim creates the dualism, “I am “X.” We seem attracted to such guru types, however, and I believe this is in part due to two motives: our need for evidence of the success of our practice and, more often, our steadfast refusal to realize the everyday is what it is and realizing this, penetrating this, is this elusive “ultimate reality.”
Seeking after enlightenment takes us away from awakening. Attaching to enlightenment kills enlightenment. Our practice is to be free and easy, open and non-grasping, fluid and vulnerable, in touch, but not holding. Don’t let those enlightened masters dupe you: live out your life awake by simply and deeply appreciating your life.
Be well.
Local Note
This week at the Clear Mind Zen: Monday at 4:30 PM Zazen in the park in front of City Hall, Wednesday morning at 6:45 AM zazen in the zendo and at 5:00 PM zazen in front of the Federal Building, Thursday at 1:00 PM zazen at the City of Hope and at 7:00 PM zazen in the Zendo, Friday at 9:00 AM zazen at Veteran’s Park on Roadrunner and Sunday zazen at 10:00 at the Zendo.
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