When you ask
how you can get
from where you are
to Nirvana
a wise teacher will
tell you there is
no there.
There is only here
and this is Nirvana.
Then he will ask
you the greater question–
who are you really?
How will you answer?
A reflection on Case 31 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)
You know where you want to go,
which is the first step in getting there,
but there are countless routes
you can take with a variety
of obstacles which you cannot see
until you have committed
to that route, and there is to be
no turning back once you choose
the route you intend to take.
Think about your selection,
do you want the route which seems
to be the shortest, or the longer one
which might have fewer obstacles
to overcome, or so it is said.
Or do you want to reconsider
going there, for the effort may
be great and the reward nominal,
so perhaps it is best if you simply
remain here in a place you well know.
Wherever you are
you are there,
but if you
arrive there
and there is
no there,
despite you
being there,
where are you?
A Reflection on Case 72 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye)
If you desire to get
from here to there,
it helps to know
there is, and
for that matter
where here is,
for if you do not
know where here is,
you cannot get
from here to there
for with one step
here has moved.
And if you do not
know where there is
everywhere you go
is there even if it
is not the there
you wanted to go.
A thousand steps,
one hundred thousand more
along the path
and the goal
seems ever farther away.
Stop
and rest
in perfect stillness.
You are there,
it has walked with you.
A reflection on Case 86 of the Shobogenzo (Dogen’s True Dharma Eye)
birds
do not know
or accept
boundaries
demand
freedom
to fly where
and when
they will
they acknowledge
here
and there
look down
on people
sadly, knowing
gravity is
our prison
and we
draw lines
to keep
others out
ourselves in
our space private
birds have
infinite space
and freedom
and pity
for us
George Harrison said that if
you don’t know where you
are going, any road will
take you there, and on reflection
it was obvious he was correct..
Today, rising from the cushion,
the four vows recited, Buddha
put back on his small altar,
Harrison’s words echoed loudly
for he understood in a moment
what it has taken me years
to grasp, for all roads lead
to enlightenment if you
simply stop searching for it.
Somewhere the spirit
of our departed George
was laughing with me
in this moment.
He never wants to leave this place.
He never wants to leave
wherever he is at that moment.
Moving is the hardest thing
for him, arriving is easy.
She points out that you
cannot arrive here
without leaving there.
He reminds her that
something being easy
is not the same thing
as something being desired.
He can and does arrive, but it
is easy only by comparison
to the greater pain of leaving.
She says, I am leaving now,
but you can join me.
He says I cannot even bear
the pain of that thought.
Between now and eventually lies all of history. We are unable to see it
though it lies in our field of vision. That’s the problem, we only know
how to look backward. We are barely able to see where we are. It isn’t
that we don’t want to be here, merely that here is difficult to see, for
we have a tendency to block our vision. Imagine a map with an X or other
marker saying “You are Here.” Yet seeing that we know we are not there for
in that instant we will look down and see where we truly are. But the better
statement to the “you are here” sign is not to call it wrong, but rather
to simply ask it, how did you know. It will answer, your visit was history
lying between my now and my eventually.
He no longer cared when
it would happen, he knew
it would or would not according
to its own whims and desires
and it would happen when
it chose to do so.
He could not control who
would be there, it might be him
or might not, so if he was, fine,
and if not, so be it.
And he knew not to stand still
assuming it would happen there,
for it was likely to happen there
or somewhere else, a place of its choosing.
It would have its own reasons
and he could ascribe a reason
and it might suit him, but
he knew at a deep level that
he would be engaged in the sort
of self-delusion he so
despised in others.
And when he understood all of this,
he knew exactly what he needed to do
and retired from the news
uncertain who he would be,
where he would go or when,
what he would do and why
anyone would care, and he was happy.
an old writer and his words 