| |
without doing; you are trying hard to do something. You are trying to pull yourself by shoe-strings -- to pull yourself up.
Zen is the way of the spontaneous -- the effortless effort, the way of intuition.
A Zen Master, Ikkyu, a great poet, has said: I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines.
This is what Zen is all about. You cannot see clouds a thousand miles away with the logical mind. The logical mind is like glass, too dirty, too covered with the dust of ideas, theories, doctrines. But you can see clouds a thousand miles away with the pure glass of intuition, with no thoughts -- just pure awareness. The mirror is clean and the clarity supreme.
You cannot hear ancient music in the pines with the ordinary logical mind. How can you hear the ancient music? Music once gone is gone forever.
But I tell you, Ikkyu is right. You can hear ancient music in the pines -- I have heard it -- but a shift, a total change, a change of gestalt, is needed. Then you can see Buddha preaching again and you can hear Buddha speaking again. You can hear the ancient music in the pines because it is eternal music, it is never lost. You have lost the capacity to hear it. The music is eternal; once you regain your capacity, suddenly it is there again. It has always been there, only you were not there. Be here now and you can also see clouds a thousand miles away, and hear ancient music in the pines.
Change more and more towards the right hemisphere, become more and more feminine, more and more loving, surrendering, trusting, more and more closer to the Whole. Don't try to be an island -- become part of the continent.
Ancient Music in the Pines
Chapter #2
Chapter title: A thousand and one bifurcations
22 February 1976 am in Buddha Hall
Archive code: 7602220
ShortTitle: ANCIEN02
Audio: Yes
Video: No
Length: 101 mins
The first question:
Question 1
YOU TOLD ME THAT MY MIND IS IMMATURE. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A MIND THAT IS MATURE?
To think that you know is to be immature. To function from knowledge, from conclusion,
|
|
|