Facing our demons
Feeling trapped or disappointed or unable to express ourselves as fully as we would wish are some of the reasons we first come into Zen practice. For many of us we then hope that we can put aside our feelings of isolation or limitation and quickly experience interconnectedness and wisdom. With one leap we will be free! We will throw off body and mind and self clinging. That this is generally not how it is, is one of the most difficult discoveries of our spiritual path. Inevitably the practice involves struggling with our grooved patterns and resistance to life over and over again. We discover then that the way forward to embracing our lives comes through facing our limitations and pain not from turning away from them. We may then find that there is really nothing but this unborn, undying ‘one’ just freely doing without obstruction. Not seeing this is called in our tradition ‘looking away.’
To see this requires steady and constant practice. In doing so your life may begin to vibrate in a new way and now the wish to practice arises naturally and without resistance. Stop and start (like throwing water into a simmering cauldron) very rarely works. If the present conditions of your life allow you to practice may I encourage you to do so. Time really does pass swiftly by and conditions can change in a flash.
Kind wishes,
Keizan Sensei
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