Well spoken, Fudo. Very beautiful. Gassho, Ryunen
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], fudo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > AC wrote: > > > > > It is much harder to get up off the bottom of the floor and to try > > again than it is to see others and the rest of the world as being > > wrong. A person fails because he did not measure up to the standard or > > he can believe that others conspired against him. Is there anyone here > > who has never failed at something? > > > > > Dear Al, > > Of course life will knock us all to the floor, We came in with nothing > and we will go out with nothing. If you have ever watched someone die > you learn that process is one of losing everything one gains through > life. Even children and spouse must be left behind eventually. This > process may be sudden or gradual, or concious or unconconcious, but it > will happen. > > One can say that it matters not that you are knocked to the floor, but > rather whether or not you get up, but it is my opinion that whether or > not you get up life will continue to its end. You might hasten the > process by refusing to get up, but that is like holding your breath. As > soon as you pass out you breath or someone moves you off the floor. We > go on. We have no real choice in the matter of the journey. We can do > what we can to fight off the end, or do what we can to hasten the end, > but the process is basically the same for all..we aquire, we lose. Even > Alex's vaunted knowledge will have to be given back in the end. > > As a Monk I am admonished to only only a bowl and three robes. Even this > will be left behind. > > What is it that distinguishes then if the journey must be completed by > all? The ones honored in Japan are the ones who were just knocked down, > and just got up and kept going. Some were given death sentances by the > universe. Some had family and even the robes and bowl taken away, but > they just kept going, like water that will always find its own level no > matter the obstacles placed in front of it. This is described in many > ways..like being a cork that can be submerged but will always pop to the > surface whenever whatever is forcing it under releases the cork. Being > like water...frozen when it is below freezing, steam when it is hot, but > always H2O. We are life. Potential life when we are egg and sperm, > living for a time, and then life that is ending and life that forms new > life. We are still life on the floor. Then, like now, the question is > what kind of life will we be right here, right now? Will we be the kind > of life that nourishes those around us? Will we be the kind of life that > drains the assets of those around us? Soto Zen at least teaches us to > take care of our life in each moment, and to take care of those things > and people that interact with us, because we only exist in relation to > and because of these things. To be as much of an asset and a resource as > we can be rather than a drain and a burden. No matter what our > situation, no matter how far down we are we still have this choice. > How will I be in the world right here right now? I will always honor > those who make the choice to be assets over liabilities, resouces over a > drain, no matter what the universe has handed them. Life will keep going > to its end, we have no choice in this. It is not our choice as to > whether to take the journey or not. How we take the journey is always > our choice. Even hanging over a cliff with tigers above and below, can > we take the moment to share the lesson of the taste of a strawberry? > Will the stiking of emptiness even here echo down through the ages? or > will we just depart without a comment for those who follow? Can we take > care of even this moment, suspended between tiger and tiger? Or will we > miss the opportunity to strike emptiness and leave an echo that will > reverbertate long after there is anyone left alive to hear? There will > always be tigers. Tigers are no excuse. Circumstance is not an excuse. > There is no excuse..there never was,and there never will be. We always > have this choice in each moment of our lives. > > Rare is the moment that any one of us can strike emptiness and share the > lesson with the world. Great masters practice a lifetime to do it just > once in a way that will reverberate throughout all time. It is sort of > wierd that we might think that we must or should be able to do it every > moment without fail. We can strive in each moment to do it only once in > our lifetime, and should we be blessed enough to strike it even once, > there will still be the effort to, like Ummon and Joshu, manage a couple > of such moments in a hundered year lifetime. > > Be Well > > Fudo ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. 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