BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 19

[Rich]

Hi.

I wouldn't say that you always make the situation worse by moving.
Sometimes the hook might let loose.
The problem is when to move and when not to...

Mtfbwy
Fugen

In this case the swallowing and flipping around was all in the mind. When the mind is not moving like Mt Sumeru or the eye of the storm then real action to help all beings is no problem as Hakuin demonstrated. But this stubborn, stupid bag of bones has made a habit of being lost in a dream so practice is necessary..

[galen]

Hi.

I wouldn't say that you always make the situation worse by moving.
Sometimes the hook might let loose.
The problem is when to move and when not to...

Mtfbwy
Fugen

It seems the problem is before thinking of 'to move or not to'. To think or dwell, seems only to continue the circle of being stuck. It may be best to move or not, without the pondering by feeling and embodying the moment. Just to flow from internal guidance of our intuition, not the egos thinking and spinning. Delusional self consciousness keeps the spin or flopping in tact, when it may be best stop and feel the moment, instead of considering options the ego presents. Was there a hook swallowed here?


Gassho

[galen]

Mount Sumeru to me is always resting in full, effortless activity. Sitting, bowing, walking, talking makes no difference. You could say that Mount Sumeru is always unmoving and unmoved, in both movement and stillness. No need to worry about going forward or standing still. We're always going forward, but at the same time, there's only one endless moment and one boundless place to be. I never left home. Can never leave home. (Yet, I sometimes feel so far away from home, so alone, so lost and confused.)

Gassho,
Pontus

Drinking some of what you have poured here, feels warm and filling. While 'feeling' so far away, seems to be the enlightenment. When there is no recognition of this lost feeling, there is no momentary awakening, until no awakening is needed.


Gassho

[galen]

In this case the swallowing and flipping around was all in the mind. When the mind is not moving like Mt Sumeru or the eye of the storm then real action to help all beings is no problem as Hakuin demonstrated. But this stubborn, stupid bag of bones has made a habit of being lost in a dream so practice is necessary..

Thank you Rich. Nice bagging .



Gassho

[Omoi Otoshi]

Drinking some of what you have poured here, feels warm and filling. While 'feeling' so far away, seems to be the enlightenment. When there is no recognition of this lost feeling, there is no momentary awakening, until no awakening is needed.

Hi Galen,
To me, awakening is always present, always ongoing. In our hearts we want to be free. I think all people sometimes hear the call of the cuckoo calling them home, but very few people heed that call and let it guide us. Many of us try to, but in our eagerness transform this very simple thing into something else, a spiritual search for something outside ourselves, some idea called enlightenment. I can't say I'm innocent...

Gassho,
Pontus

[galen]

Hi Galen,
To me, awakening is always present, always ongoing. In our hearts we want to be free. I think all people sometimes hear the call of the cuckoo calling them home, but very few people heed that call and let it guide us. Many of us try to, but in our eagerness transform this very simple thing into something else, a spiritual search for something outside ourselves, some idea called enlightenment. I can't say I'm innocent...

Gassho,
Pontus

And none of us are, `relatively speaking.


Gassho

[AlanLa]

A problem without a problem? Well, it's only a problem if I label it a problem. The situation may be very real, but how we think (judge) the situation leads to the problem. Sort of like this guy:


A deadly storm band that is simultaneously eye? Well, sometimes the best* place to be is in the problem so deep that there is just being there, and thus there is no problem. When I'm really deathly ill, then that's all I am, that's all I can be. But all around me the storm that is people that care about me swirl and storm and cry about. From my experience, it is much easier* to be in that sick bed than to the one of the people tending to the person in that bed.

(* judgments that create problems out of situations, really slippery stuff, hair's breadth stuff)

[Thane]

I like that Ummon simply answers Mount Sumeru. Like many of these koans the answer just cuts to the heart of things. Encouraging us to let go of our ideas.

The commentary makes reference to Hakuin taking on the care of a baby in difficult circumstances. Jundo asked what storm are we experiencing in our lives just now. For me im struggling with a difficult colleague at work and some general lack of moral at work. I wish i could always feel like Hakuin and just say is that so. But i see this koan pointing to the fact that it is our ideas of how things should be that stop us from living from mt sumeru.

[galen]

I like that Ummon simply answers Mount Sumeru. Like many of these koans the answer just cuts to the heart of things. Encouraging us to let go of our ideas.

The commentary makes reference to Hakuin taking on the care of a baby in difficult circumstances. Jundo asked what storm are we experiencing in our lives just now. For me im struggling with a difficult colleague at work and some general lack of moral at work. I wish i could always feel like Hakuin and just say is that so. But i see this koan pointing to the fact that it is our ideas of how things should be that stop us from living from mt sumeru.

Thane... in this difficult struggle in finding morality in the work place, is that an idea about what morality should look like?


Gassho

[Thane]

Hi Galen. It certainly is an idea about what morality should look like. Something for me to sit with.

gassho

[galen]

Hi Galen. It certainly is an idea about what morality should look like. Something for me to sit with.

gassho

Thank you Thane.


Gassho