Wading across water

"It helps you wade across the river when the bridge is down. It accompanies you to the village on the moonless night." A very beautiful verse.

It by now you all know what "It" means - Buddha Nature. This is very slippery. Very elusive. Very difficult to pinpoint. Buddha Nature, Mu, helps you across the river when the bridge is broken. The human journey is a pilgrimage.We are all pilgrims, and on the way there are hills, mountains, fields, deserts and rivers. To be more precise, anxieties, frustrations, confusion, death, separation, illness, insecurity, broken bridges whether we like it or not. It helps us - Mu helps us, Mu realization helps us - to cross the river when the bridge is broken. Quite often the bridge is broken."

Eido Shimano Roshi
Excerpt | Points of Departure - Zen Buddhism with a Rinzai view