Yesterday
in the evening
with blue sky
sunshine
AND strength.Ah! The climb
The view
from the top –
on the way down
From the Nine Standards Rigg
Congratulating myself on this evening expedition a woman I know strode up towards me. I HAVE to run down she said not even breathless, So I will pass you. Bye! There is always the opportunity to compare oneself (unfavorably) with somebody else. But it’s not necessary to take up the opportunity!
Here are the opening four lines of Genjo Koan. But first a reminder from me.
Read.
Be still.
Be very still.
And watch your mind as you read.
And then let it go!
I’ll say no more.
When all things are just what they are [apart from discrimination], illusion and enlightenment exist, religious practice exists, birth exists, death exists, Buddhas exist, and ordinary beings exist. When the myriad things are without self, there is no delusion, no enlightenment, no Buddhas, no ordinary beings, no birth, no extinction. Since the Buddha Way from the beginning transcends fullness and deficiency, there is birth and extinction, delusion and enlightenment, beings and Buddhas. However, though this is the way it is, it is only this: flowers scatter in our longings, and weeds spring up in our loathing.
Francis H. Cook, Sounds of Valley Steams
I am no Dogen scholar. A book fell into my hands this morning and opened at Genjo Koan. I read it, I read it again. And then came back to it again this evening. All I can say is, This is profound. And simple.
Better get to bed now. Please don’t lose sleep over this!
Where have you been?
There and back again
To see how far it is.
That’s what we would say as kids when asked where we had been. I have been there and back and there and back several times in the past days. All good stuff except for time spent in the rain admiring the wild flowers on the side of the M6 motorway while waiting for the rescue truck! No photos of the flowers however here’s a couple of pictures for you.
This post is for all those who find themselves suffering from overload, especially health care professionals. And most especially for S.