I wrote this about the day:
I started out the day meeting with friends from my Sanga, “listened” to John Cage’s 4’3”. I thought about the Zen monk who taught a single word of Zen by just raising a finger and enlightening a student. I shared this with friends. What a powerful idea, to play music without the sound of music or to teach using a word unspoken. Both of these methods can “trick” the mind into awareness and hopefully, at some point, the observer becomes aware of the awareness and the process of enlightenment continues. Instead of viewing this as a path towards realization, we can also see it as the falling away of egoic identity. Each goal is the same; as the false self put forth by the cognitive mind dissolves, realization of enlightenment becomes more apparent. This can be a long and arduous process for the householder who still clings to the vestiges of the manifest objective self out of fear of losing one’s grip on what has been attained or what is yet to be acquired. Yet this path too, the path of desire must be fully examined before we can conclusively say that its end is always the same: fear, suffering, and unsatisfactoriness.
The following I believe to be a teaching from my inner guru:
Another approach is to simply lose oneself to the truth of desirelessness. This has always brought with it a sense of liberation beyond that which any coveted object has ever relayed to the possessor. Our brother knows this to be true yet still clings to the idea of creating a better something or destroying that which hinders progress. Neither formation nor eradication is necessary to find our way home to the peace where we reside. Simply know that you are there and that nothing is necessary for you to share in the joy of this moment but your willingness to let go of the yoke of what is.
In our seemingly endless quest for that which is better than this, we will find ourselves always falling short of the goal that we desire. This undefined pinnacle, a precipice of great price, will never be as we expected nor satisfy the ego’s desire for more. Put away the tape measure of the mind and come and be at peace with me. I have never wished a punishment upon you nor evoked condemnation of your being to suffering of any length. Length itself is but an illusion and you, my child, are always welcome at home where elements in dimension and degree are met only with a joyful laugh and sympathetic knowing. That knowing is the boundless love that I would share with you in this very moment and that moment is now.
Zen Momentum 