Seeing to the bottom

Once when talking to one of my friends named Jamie about aspects of Zen practice he shared an idea with me. He said, “see a glass jar, that is filled with pure clear water. Next see yourself pouring a cup of dirt into the water. “ He then asked me, “what will happen to your water?” It becomes foggy and you cannot see through it, as you could before. He said, “Now see yourself putting your hand in the jar and stirring the water. What happens then?” The foggy water becomes worse, more dense and it’s impossible to see through it. He then replied “true is true.”

Jamie then stated, “And this is how we are. We are like this clear water, but then we pour in our fear, anxiety, frustration, worries and we contaminate our mind and everything in between. Every thing becomes foggy to us. But if we removed our hand from the jar and stop stirring things up and we let it sit and sit and sit, eventually the dirt would settle to the bottom and though the mud is still there we would have clear water again. Zen teaches us to let our own mud settle by not stirring up our negative emotions and we not only see ourselves as we truly are, but start too act as we truly are.”

Maybe our Zen practice is not about gaining so-called “enlightenment.” Maybe it is nothing more than allowing that which is in us to settle down, so that we can gain enough clarity to see to the bottom of who we truly are.

Namaste'

Jaye Morris, Curator
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