Jundo
02-20-2022, 02:25 AM
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https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7438&d=1645745707
A cherished, ancient image of the mind in Zazen is that of the clear mirror, boundless, extending everywhere. This mirror holds within and displays whatever comes, accepting all without preference or rejection: both the beautiful and the ugly, the welcome and unwelcome, scenes of war and peace, friends and enemies, moments of life and death, the whole world all embraced and enveloped by the mirror without resistance or judgement, in thorough peace and equanimity. The mirror does not prefer sweet over sour, sunshine but not rain, here instead of there.
Even our stormy emotions are shown in the mirror as just passing images: moments of fear and sadness, loss and longing. Some may think that the mirror only shines when all such distress and despair is removed from it, when the mirror is wiped perfectly clean, but the mirror does not distress and despair. It neither pulls the pleasing in, nor pushes the displeasing away. Its light and clarity holds and reflects the shapes of whatever comes, both the light and the dark, which are somehow --all-- the mirror's very illumination. Mysteriously, by this very acceptance, even the darkness somehow contains a light. Mysteriously, all life's broken pieces are known to be whole.
In other words, the mirror does not need to be made free of the ugly, shielded from the hard to witness, our problems and worries, the times of a broken heart, tears and terrors which we may be feeling. Rather, even those may sometimes appear in the mirror, and they shall be welcomed and embraced as just more passing scenes. So powerful is this peace and equanimity that the glass embraces all the smooth and all the broken things of life just the same. Scenes of lightness are the mirror's light, but scenes of storm and darkness are the mirror's light too. Not only while sitting Zazen, but when we go back out into the world, our eyes can be mirrors, as we see all the world's struggle and chaos. We will sometimes be blind to the fact, but the endless separate things and scenes of this world are all, always, the mirror even when we forget this truth and cannot see the light.
Of course, we should try to make this world better, turning the ugly into the beautiful as best we can, cleaning the rivers and seas, planting flowers, trying to end the wars, searching for cures to diseases, comforting the lonely and afraid. We put down our own greed, anger, jealousy and the like. We do not ignore the suffering, we must not tolerate the earth's filth, we do not stir up or wallow in the mud of our own mind. When we sit Zazen, we let all rest and all be, but rising up from the cushion, we set to work to help this world: As best we can, we should try to bring lovely images to the mirror, polishing away the dirt and dust. We are not complacent. Master Dōgen said that the very act of polishing is itself the mirror, is Buddha polishing Buddha, is enlightenment polishing enlightenment.
But the mirror reflects all of it, even our act of polishing is met with its equanimity and welcome, as was the dust met with complete equanimity and welcome too. Though we polish away the grime and dust, be aware that even the grime and dust are the mirror's light, the light is the grime and dust, the polishing is the light and dust ... for the light is everything.
In his Shobogenzo 'Ancient Mirror,' Master Dōgen reflects on this old story:
A monk asks, “What is the ancient mirror like before being polished?” The master says, “The ancient mirror.” The monk says, “What is it like after being polished?” The master says, “The ancient mirror.”
Remember, the ancient mirror under discussion now has a time of being polished, a time before being polished, and a time after being polished, but it is wholly the ancient mirror. This being so, when we are polishing, we are polishing the ancient mirror in its entirety. Our polishing is not adding anything [] to the ancient mirror that is not the ancient mirror. Our polishing is not the self's polishing nor the self being polished. Before being polished the ancient mirror is not dull. Even if someone calls it stained, it can never be dull: it is the ancient mirror in its vivid state.
Gassho, J
STLah
7438
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7438&d=1645745707
A cherished, ancient image of the mind in Zazen is that of the clear mirror, boundless, extending everywhere. This mirror holds within and displays whatever comes, accepting all without preference or rejection: both the beautiful and the ugly, the welcome and unwelcome, scenes of war and peace, friends and enemies, moments of life and death, the whole world all embraced and enveloped by the mirror without resistance or judgement, in thorough peace and equanimity. The mirror does not prefer sweet over sour, sunshine but not rain, here instead of there.
Even our stormy emotions are shown in the mirror as just passing images: moments of fear and sadness, loss and longing. Some may think that the mirror only shines when all such distress and despair is removed from it, when the mirror is wiped perfectly clean, but the mirror does not distress and despair. It neither pulls the pleasing in, nor pushes the displeasing away. Its light and clarity holds and reflects the shapes of whatever comes, both the light and the dark, which are somehow --all-- the mirror's very illumination. Mysteriously, by this very acceptance, even the darkness somehow contains a light. Mysteriously, all life's broken pieces are known to be whole.
In other words, the mirror does not need to be made free of the ugly, shielded from the hard to witness, our problems and worries, the times of a broken heart, tears and terrors which we may be feeling. Rather, even those may sometimes appear in the mirror, and they shall be welcomed and embraced as just more passing scenes. So powerful is this peace and equanimity that the glass embraces all the smooth and all the broken things of life just the same. Scenes of lightness are the mirror's light, but scenes of storm and darkness are the mirror's light too. Not only while sitting Zazen, but when we go back out into the world, our eyes can be mirrors, as we see all the world's struggle and chaos. We will sometimes be blind to the fact, but the endless separate things and scenes of this world are all, always, the mirror even when we forget this truth and cannot see the light.
Of course, we should try to make this world better, turning the ugly into the beautiful as best we can, cleaning the rivers and seas, planting flowers, trying to end the wars, searching for cures to diseases, comforting the lonely and afraid. We put down our own greed, anger, jealousy and the like. We do not ignore the suffering, we must not tolerate the earth's filth, we do not stir up or wallow in the mud of our own mind. When we sit Zazen, we let all rest and all be, but rising up from the cushion, we set to work to help this world: As best we can, we should try to bring lovely images to the mirror, polishing away the dirt and dust. We are not complacent. Master Dōgen said that the very act of polishing is itself the mirror, is Buddha polishing Buddha, is enlightenment polishing enlightenment.
But the mirror reflects all of it, even our act of polishing is met with its equanimity and welcome, as was the dust met with complete equanimity and welcome too. Though we polish away the grime and dust, be aware that even the grime and dust are the mirror's light, the light is the grime and dust, the polishing is the light and dust ... for the light is everything.
In his Shobogenzo 'Ancient Mirror,' Master Dōgen reflects on this old story:
A monk asks, “What is the ancient mirror like before being polished?” The master says, “The ancient mirror.” The monk says, “What is it like after being polished?” The master says, “The ancient mirror.”
Remember, the ancient mirror under discussion now has a time of being polished, a time before being polished, and a time after being polished, but it is wholly the ancient mirror. This being so, when we are polishing, we are polishing the ancient mirror in its entirety. Our polishing is not adding anything [] to the ancient mirror that is not the ancient mirror. Our polishing is not the self's polishing nor the self being polished. Before being polished the ancient mirror is not dull. Even if someone calls it stained, it can never be dull: it is the ancient mirror in its vivid state.
Gassho, J
STLah
7438