With palms together,
A cold and rainy morning greets us in southern New Mexico. I am reminded of the koan where the student complains to the Master about heat and cold and the Master replies, to paraphrase, "Go to the place where there is neither hot or cold."
Where is that place? I wonder as I sit outside with the cold and rain. Hot and cold are simply words we apply to a feeling, rather, a sensory perception, and as such gives rise to thoughts and feelings. Isn't our brain a wonderful thing?
Sometimes.
It can warn us, bring us pleasure, pain, joy and sorrow. It is hard-wired to do so. As Zen practitioners it is up to us how we respond to its messages. We can complain, as did the student, we can deny the messages, and we can accept the messages for what they are: just thoughts. It is our relationship to our brain's messages that is so important: accept, deny, cope, or deal. The choice is ours and it is that place we should go.
The place of release, rather than mastery. As Master Uchiyama taught, we are to "open the hand of thought." Grasping is like tightening the bonds that hold us captive, recognizing we are our own jailers and practicing to release ourselves from our self created bonds is the way.
How? Releasing our thoughts is to let go of our thoughts, to let go of our thoughts is to settle into our bodies, turning our attention to what may be our three freedoms: posture, breath, and mind. And to do this, we simply stop: sit upright, breathe, and release the chain of thought.
Of course there is another answer to the question of hot and cold: cover or uncover our bodies as the temperatures require :)
Gassho
Be well.
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