Time to rake the sand in my garden..

I strongly feel that unless we have done our footwork or homework, our 'inner engineering' or our research into our self thoroughly and fully comprehend our inherent nature, the Unborn Buddha Nature as the Buddha called it, we will never touch the immensity of our true Being-ness. I feel one has to have not a single doubt in the mind and fully become merged with the'observer' before we can the universality of our human consciousness or as some people would have it as saying 'we are the Universe,, observing ourselves through this Being-ness. We have tor remove the veils of ignorance layer by layer until there is no veil between our sense of perception and that which we perceive.. We are not this physical form nor are we this mind and mental formations, what are we? This is what we are looking for, the answer to this insignificant question or so it seems and in order to find the truth to the answer we have work to do.

Talking about work, I find that working doing something albeit for our survival or simply for the joy of working is one of the best form of healing, Working on ourselves, mentally, physically and spiritually is a whole different kind of work, it is self imposed, it is simply called self discipline. Working on yourself takes a whole lot of discipline because there is no one making us do it, it has to happen through our own initiative. We make it happen, We do not get paid nor are we appreciated for doing it, however do it we must if we are to become awakened from this slumber we call life with all its dreams and nightmares. Carrying out work of any form, whether mental spiritual or physical, keeps the mind occupied at least more focused than scattered as it always is. A scattered mind can never find its way to the true nature of itself much less of who we truly are. We are all capable of collecting and accumulating knowledge, but few can assimilate and become the knowledge itself or by letting go of all that we think we know is one way to better know the unknown,(death and afterwards).

If everything you do on a daily basis, cooking, cleaning, driving, planting, fishing,,, whatever, is done in a focused if not meditative mode, you are freeing your mind from what is called a 'scatter brain,' or in Buddhist term 'the monkey mind.' You have four horses pulling a chariot and each horse has its own mind to go in its own direction, how can you get anywhere?  Hence you have the whip and the reins to keep them in line all headed in one direction that your desired destination. This is accomplished through work and discipline and most of us today do not have the time nor the inclination to take on this work or practice. The Japanese people in my experience of having lived in the country for three years, have mastered this art of living closely with nature, most inherently practice either Shintoism or Zen Buddhism, both of which emphasizes the importance of being rooted in the present moment while performing any activity. The need to watch the mind drops once the mind is set focused on an activity that it has become one with through tedious repetition; like raking the sand in the garden.
#Unborn Buddha Nature,#Shintoism,#Zen Buddhism.