One knows when there is nothing more to say really about the nature of what is a spiritual life or an enlightened life, what it is to be awakened in body mind and spirit into this very moment when one's fingers raps from key to key to make this post as the story needs to be shared, it is not over even when you think you have the marbles into the right holes, no sir, you may feel like you can connect the dots and solve the puzzle but I feel that it is just the beginning, the journey has just begun. Death stands two shadow lengths in front of you, so slow down, you are in no hurry to catch up with you are in no hurry to get anywhere. Silence the mind from making these notations about what is transpiring in the very realm of our personal existence, a silent observer sees more and feels with authentic clarity than with a mind full of chattering. There is no observer nor anything to be observed, take no note of what manifest from moment to moment except for the purpose of learning and teaching; in silence we can communicate, we came inform, we can warn, we can correct, we can shift and sway one another while we are on this same path. We can lend a helping hand share a space in small corner of our hearts for some one to take refuge in; practice Compassion without expectations of returns and become The Lord of Mercy, yes we can, it is our inherent nature, become aware of what we are and what we are capable of alone or collectively. There is no doer in this! Become free from attachment to all actions, become free from identifying with each and every as moment is an act, as every breath is a motion, in short give up all hope and enter...The Gateless Gate, be daring to take that 'one step beyond!'
I have problem understanding what i just wrote so don't feel bad. Rest assured I will come to make some sense out of this non-sense eventually, stay with me. I was responsible for splitting the Han into two at the Green Gulch Zen Community Center. The Han was the original thick piece of wood from the days of Suzuki Roshi, the founder of the Soto Zen School in California. What is the Han? Why am I telling you this? Just another story of days and actions gone by.
In most Zen Temples in Japan and later in other countries including the US there is this block of wood that hangs by a rope to a man's height and it is about two by one and about three inch thick, made out of a special kind of hard wood that resonates sound when hit. Along with this piece of wood is the hammer also made from the same wood and it is used to call the monks to the zendo for a sitting or any activity that concern the community, it is a loud hailer. In the Muslim way the traditional mosques, the kampung suraus or smaller mosque have a kind of wooden drum usually mad out of a hollowed piece of tree trunk and accompanied by the same hammer for striking . The Christian churches has the bells, the 'Church bells are ringing, "The toll of the iron bell calling the faithful to their need.' Islam has the Bilal or the crier who calls out loud the time for prayers or the azan and presently in Malaysia it has become an ongoing source of complaint from among the non-Muslims as the azan is being played from the loud speakers going full blast, as they say in the hood, cranked up way up and has become quite an issue to the ears. It is in issues like this that I would take the middle path, neither for or against. Only simple common sense is enough, it don't need a genius or an enlightened mind to figure it out...it is all an entertainment of the ego mind.
So I find myself back at square one time and again repeating the same old routine and call it practice, a way of life of living, call it the Buddha's way or the way of the Prophet of Allah, the way of the Tao or the Way of the Great Spirit, and just when I am about to give it all up, the reminder comes of the fact that i have a vow to keep, that of the Vow of a Boddhisatva; I have a purpose for being here in this time space and physical form realm that the Buddhist knows as the Nirmanakaya of the Shakyamuni Buddha; what is reality? I ask of myself how far or how deep have I dived into this, this that I call my practice, my path, my journey from birth to death and rebirth. What is time but just waiting. Time is from here to there ed infinitum. 'To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn , turn. A time to change a time to remain, a time to give and a time to receive, a time to live and a time to die..." From a lyric to a song from the oldies. The impermanence of life is considered by the Buddha to be the second cause of suffering. The realization that nothing last forever or eternal, that life ends with death is the reminder of how fragile we really are while living out our existence on this plane of existence. From cradle to grave l live my life as a form of practice, of observation and analytical evaluation, I experiment with my life by doing the best and the worse that a man can do without harming himself beyond repair and live to share it with others.
" Bye bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry... This will be the day that I die, this will be day that I die...The day the music die.." lyrics that keep coming into my consciousness from the You Tube as I am typing this post, what else is there to do on this Monday morning but just chill... this after all is a crucial part of my practice of late, to sit back and watch the grass grow... if you are still with me then we got somewhere to go with all these ramblings, if not see you on the other side of what is...
" Circumstances makes man, not man circumstance." and someone once said
"When thinking about life remember this: no amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future..."
We live in this day and age where the wisdom of the ancient is readily available at our fingertips, however it is a matter of whether we choose to seek them out or let them be wasted into the graveyard of time... for my martial arts instructor {Pa'Abu Johan}, once said," When a master dies, he takes with him the final cut, the hit that can kill or the defense that is impeccable, this final secret he kept for himself and take it to the grave with him."
No matter from which angle you see me I am who I choose to be.
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