This weeks’ topic for reflection is differences. Take a moment to reflect on all the differences. Start with yourself or your body. There are different hands, fingers, feet, eyes, internal organs, legs, tongue, lungs and the list goes on and on. Every part has a different function and position. This body is also constantly changing. On top of this every person is different and unique. How many different kinds of organisms are there? I have no idea but it must be a lot. Think about how vast and complex the universe is. We are just beginning to get a sense of this. Everything is different and made up of differences.
Along with this there is a tendency to try to make things familiar or similar. It’s a need to put things in categories or similar groupings. In other words to label. There is a need to say this is desirable and that is undesirable. Or I already know these people and they are a certain way. Perhaps they were that way before but are they that way now? Maybe they are more complicated than that. It’s a way of making things predictable or certain, known.
A small predictable world shuts out the experience of the vibrancy of life. The same, the same, the same lulls us to sleep. We become indifferent. Differences are what makes life interesting and alive. Curiosity plays a big role in making this possible.
Try returning to somewhere very familiar. Then look around more thoroughly. Open all your senses, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. What do you notice that you haven’t noticed before? Being curious is being alive, refreshed.
I recently sat a six day Zen retreat or sesshin. The main activity is to sit still together and be present. I have done many Zen retreats like this and even though they are designed to be very simple with a strict schedule I always learn something new I didn’t expect. Something different. It’s as if all I need to do is show up, be patient, open and present and the moment teaches me something new that I didn’t expect. It helps to not stick to what I already know. Not looking for what I already know opens up the possibility to experience something new. Isn’t everything new and different anyway? How much do you trust the present moment?
What is the difference between between being alive and being dead? I was able to experience the difference a year and a half ago when I got very sick. I was able to move back and forth between alive and dead quite easily a number of times. I found both to be equally interesting. I moved from the ICU embodied in human form to not embodied without any form. These two ways of being are quite different and also not in conflict. I found being not embodied, (I don’t like the term dead) interesting, wonderful, beautiful and imbued with love.
It seems people are often afraid of death and dying. I think it is because of a fear of not knowing what will happen and who they actually are or for that matter who they are not. We may be temporarily embodied but the organism we call my body will obviously change and no longer function as a living organism. We label this change death but is this actually true? The organized processes of the body stop and other living processes take over. As this happens you will no longer be embodied. Who you truly are does not die. All you need to do is show up, be patient, open and present and the moment will teach you something new and not expected, which is who you are. This is always true. Differences are a given and everywhere. How comfortable are you with this?
Please join us for morning Zoom zazen from 7:00 to 7:30 Tuesday and Thursday, in person zazen at the McNail Riley House Saturday morning from 9:00 to 11:00 and Sunday morning Zoom zazen and discussion of the topic for reflection blog from 8:00 to 9:00 Pacific Time. Here’s the Zoom link:
Meeting ID: 811 6100 3357
Passcode: 278259
Gassho,
Futai
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