This letter is published with the authors permission.
Dear Rev. Mugo,
Re your comment that one needs to “trust that doing nothing is worthwhile.”
This reminded me that when I was at the Forbidden City in Beijing, our guide pointed out a Buddhist inscription over a doorway that translated as “Do Nothing.” I was stunned: in the middle of this vast monument to ambition and activity, a reminder not to strive but just to be.
Here’s a thought: one’s “old stuff” is one’s personal Forbidden City, a seemingly indestructible monument built of ambition, craving, negative thought, etc. Somewhere in the middle of it is the doorway of “Do Nothing.”
See you Sunday morning for the retreat,
Gassho
Yep! And the door stands wide open.
But what is the doing that is doing nothing?
Dear Walter,
That’s a good spiritual question and one that will be answered, in your own heart.
It points to the same, seeming paradox, of ‘moving mountains’ and, as in one of our scriptures: ‘the wooden figure sings and the stone maiden dances’.
In simple terms, ‘you’ll not be able to get your head around it’.