Not Content to Wait
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 6:30AM When I was a kid, I played Little League Baseball. One of the lessons that Coach Hunter Nelms stressed was, "You always have two choices, when your on the field. When the ball is moving, you can either wait for it to come to you or you can go to it. To play this game well, most of the time you're going to have to go to the ball. That's what I want you all to do, whenever necessary. I've seen a lot of games lost, because the players hesitated and didn't meet the circumstances of the game. If you're not willing to meet the circumstances of each play, You're gonna cut you from my team."
It wasn't until I was 24 or 25 years old that I realized we kids should have called him, Zen Master Nelms, because of the tools he gave us to face our life. Coach Nelms' guidance wasn't just applicable to baseball. It expresses the nature of our day-to-day life which is meant to be lived well.
If I need to eat, I'm not content to wait for a meal to appear, I'm going to have to take action. If dishes are placed in the sink, they won't wash themselves. If the clothes need of being washed, someone is going to have to take the time to do it. If the clothes are folded and in the laundry basket, they won't put themselves away. If our job sucks and we're miserable, we don't have to wait for some job to come to us. If we're having a difficult relationship with someone, waiting to see if it will mysteriously get better, that really doesn't happen. A life lived well requires the right effort.
To have a fulfilled life, we have to show up not just physically but psychologically and emotionally as well. We are not meant to be bystanders in the unfolding mosaic of particles that is called our life. Instead of waiting for our life, we need to go to It and be with It.
It's timely to remember and rejoin the words of Bassui Zenji. "If you want to realize your own Mind, you must first of all look into the source from which thoughts flow. Sleeping and working, standing and sitting, profoundly ask yourself, "What is my own Mind?" with an intense yearning to resolve this question. This is called "training" or "practice" or "desire for truth" or "thirst for realization." What is termed Zazen is no more than looking into one's own mind...
If you don't come to realization in this present life, when will you? Once you have died you won't be able to avoid a long period of suffering in the Three Evil Paths. What is obstructing realization? Nothing but your own half-hearted desire for truth. Think of this and exert yourself to the utmost."
We can be fully engaged in our life. We can do what we need to do, rather than procrastinate, hoping that our so-called, "Real-life" with just show-up without the exertion of true or right effort. We can have the faith/confidence and trust within ourselves that we can become-complete.
When the Buddha held up the flower on Vulture Peak, he was showing right at that very moment, "Look here! This flower is not content to wait! It blooms, seamlessly! Wake up!"
Please do not be content to wait. This is Your life, not someone else's. We can drop the half-hearted efforts. You're not alone. I working at stopping the pattern of being a spectator in my life too. With patience, courage and right effort, we will fully bloom. Just don't give up on You.
Your's In Zen,
Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
digitalZENDO
Reader Comments (2)
Yes, Seiho. Like you, I have decided life is too precious to not be lived consciously, using the tools passed on to us, by wise men and women before us. Most notably, the Buddha. I still wonder, why me, why you? How come we have been blessed with the gift of awakening? In a way, that is life's only true injustice. May all beings awaken, some day. Thank you for this gentle call to your brothers and sisters.
mu!
-banzan