Oh my, a day behind already! Just too much going on. So this morning I am giving up my usual morning meditation to get a post done before the frenetic activities of this day commence. Today especially so – my son just got home from the sea, there is a charitable high tea to prepare for, and I must get ready to go to the mountains tomorrow for my annual month of irrigating.
I say giving up my meditation. That’s not exactly right. My understanding of meditation is that it should be a full time endeavor – 24 hours a day. Does this seem to be counterintuitive? After all, meditation is supposed to be one-pointed concentration – a looking inside to discover the root of our existence (Haiku God). So how can one be involved in everyday activities and be looking inside at the same time?
One way I have been trying is to ask myself what or who is doing whatever. Right now, who/what is it that is writing? What/who is reading this, is hearing, seeing…? Asking these questions is basically asking what it is that is aware of all these things, and the answer of course is Haiku God, the root of our individual awareness. Supposedly as the questioning continues, 24 hours a day, we get deeper into ourselves until we finally experience the answer, get to the root, see the light, and become enlightened. Easier said than done!!! The problem for me is the actual questioning – it’s so easy to forget to question and just do!
For more on this kind of questioning, I append the following comment taken from: http://www.zenguide.com/zenmedia/books/content.cfm?t=zazen_ meditation_guide&chapter=07
b. Koan " What Is It That Hears?" by Zen master Bassui Tokusho (Jap.):
from "Three Pillars of Zen" , translated by Philip Kapleau, 1989.
In zazen (meditation) neither despise nor cherish the thoughts that arise; only search your own mind, the very source of these sounds of the world about you.
You must become the question "What is this Mind?" or "What is it that hears these sounds?" When you realize this Mind you will know that it is the very source of all Buddhas and sentient beings (ed: Haiku God).
The Bodhisattva Kannon [Avalokiteshvara] is so called because he attained enlightenment by perceiving that:
At work, at rest, never stop trying to realize who is it that hears. Even though your questioning penetrates the unconscious, you won't find the one who hears, and all your efforts will come to naught.
Yet sounds can be heard, so question yourself to an even profounder level. At last every vestige of self-awareness will disappear and you will feel like a cloudless sky. Within yourself you will find no "I." Nor will you discover anyone who hears.
This Mind is like the void, yet it hasn't a single spot that can be called empty. Do not mistake this state for Self-realization, but continue to ask yourself even more intensely, "Now who is it that hears?" If you bore and bore into this question, oblivious to anything else, even this feeling of voidness will vanish and you won't be aware of anything - total darkness will prevail. Don't stop here, keep asking with all your strength, "What is it that hears?" Only when you have completely exhausted the questioning will the question burst; now you will feel like a man come back from the dead. This is true realization. You will see the Buddhas of all universes face to face and the patriarchs past and present.
Test yourself with this koan: " A monk asked Joshu: 'What is the meaning of Bodhidharma coming to China?' Joshu replied: 'The oak tree in the garden.'" Should this koan leave you a lightest doubt, you need to resume questioning "What is it that hears?"
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.
OK, I’m trying to exert!!!
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