Conflict

My experience with Zen has been something of an uneven relationship. But the truth is that the uneven nature comes from myself not from Zen. There are days that when I do zazen, it's like gliding down a gentle slope on a bike. I sit down, rock to the left, rock to the right, counting the breath or breathing Mu and there is no problem. It's just cruising or like vanishing.

But then there are these other times... I go to sit and it seems like I've brought storm clouds with me. Sometimes it is things that have happened at work, or minor things that came up during the normal course of the day. But no mater what it is, my mind can get stuck to the distraction, like crazy glue. When this happens to me is the instant where my sitting can be difficult and in extreme cases, terrible, because my mind can get so divided.

So then the question becomes, "how do you return to we pointed undivided stabilized mind?" The answer is simple (but the execution can be difficult). When you notice your mind is astray, just return to one, mu or whatever your practice is. Do not bother debating about how we got there, or what it means. That's of no use. "Just return to one," is what I was taught. Others have instructed me, "when monkey mind (a brain that ceaselessly chatters and seems to leap from branch to branch) appears, give it no energy and it will dissipate on it own." If you pay attention to it, it becomes louder, stronger and eclipses everything.

I might add, that this applies to our day-to-day life. When I recognize that I've gone astray in some aspect of my life, I just come back to one. In this way when conflicts or problems arise, I am less attached to them, than in the past and they resolve with little intervention from me.

Gassho

Jaye Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO