Questioner: I'm working on getting back to my source; that's why I want to begin practicing Zen. I figured it would help based on the books I've read. I'm hoping you could give me some suggestions.
Seiho: What is it that you're assuming is at the source?
Questioner: Enlightenment.
Seiho: What's your definition of enlightenment?
Questioner: I don't know, really.
Seiho: Then what would make you work so hard for something that you've merely heard or read rumors from others about and have no idea what It is? That's crazy. Bummer!
Questioner: (appears silent)
Seiho: I have a question for you. How can you get to a place that you've never actually left?
Questioner: I don't know what you mean.
Seiho: Precisely. So zazen zazen zazen. I strongly invite you to let go of the thoughts the mind is holding about enlightenment and the expectations that usually go along with it.
The practice is simple, yet difficult... mostly because it's so simple. We sit... We breathe like the Buddha we are, instead of the bumpkin we pretend to be... pay attention... listen... and notice Reality as It is, without going along with what the mind tells us It is.
Thinking is shit. People say all day long... "I think this... I think that. They claim to feel such and such, which, if they are mindful and alert, would notice they're not feeling, but thoughts masquerading as feelings because of the intensity of thought. This is obsessing on a spectrum. And so because giving attention to the intrusive thinking... what I sometimes refer to as "Pseudo life," they fail to recognize that not only are we at the "Source," but each of us, in our own Way, is the Source Itself. That's why we cannot get back to It. We cannot leave what we are.
Question: Fuuuuuu@! I never thought of that.
Seiho: Obviously. Why would the mind allow you to see Reality? Then it's delusion that's out of a job. The mind... ego... is gaining its sense of life from you. It's similar to a parasite that feeds off a host. Being a meat puppet for the mind can suck... AKA suffering.
Questioner: Where do I begin?
Seiho: With the practice instructions I already gave you a moment ago. Practice for a while, and we'll talk about that experience rather than ideas and philosophies in your head. They're useless.
Questioner: How do you know?
Seiho: You sought me out, I didn't seek you.
Questioner: True.
Seiho: Practice well.
--We Are the Practice Itself
Calligraphy Note:
源 | Gen | This character holds the meaning of being "Source" or "Origin," which is functionally who and what we are, despite the appearance of that not being so.
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