Steve,
The below account is the story of how I became involved in Zen, but is by no
means the most 'important' (a hundred candles together illuminate the cave more
than one, but the first candle separates us from the dark). I welcome your
question because I also welcome your words on what I have to say. Please
forgive
the clumsiness of my words, although my excuse is that the spoken/written word
can never convey the ineffability of my story.
I came to Zen thru an event that happened to me about 10 years ago. At that
time
I was not involved in Zen, or indeed, any 'spiritual' practice whatsoever. In
fact, I was an ardent socialist and materialist. One evening, while watching tv
by myself, something clicked (literally, as in the sound) and all before me
suddenly transformed. The objects in front of me were the same, but the labels
and web of concepts we give things (cup, table, chair. 'me', time etc) just
vanished. What remained were 'things' (forms), but in there natural state or
'suchness' before we label or conceptualise them. Although the sense of an 'I'
to experience this had also 'dropped away', there was an
overwhelming acknowledgement (and gratitude) of "This is it!" and "no mind",
and
that this 'state' was not only Real, but was also so completely obvious. What
followed can only be described as a full blown kundalini experience, but after
the fact I intuitively felt this was not as important as the initial
'experience' of clarity/awakening. I'm missing *alot* out here, but the next
day
I researched what had happened to me and the nearest thing to it (gleaned from
other peoples' similar accounts) was the kensho/satori experience described
in Zen literature. Of course, it could also be described as a run of the mill
mystical experience and that's ok. I think what keeps such 'mystical'
experiences from becoming just another memory (although a profoundly pleasant
one) is if it transforms how we live in the world. And it did for me.
Mike
.
