BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 75

[AlanLa]

Random thoughts from an unreliably fixed mind:

Alive and frisky, my status is permanent change, or maybe it is impermanently fixed. I can't make up my mind.

Zazen definitely helps smooth my rough edges, but I am still a curmudgeon with many snags.

"... a real flower is beautiful because of its impermanence, which a plastic flower lacks," said Uchiyama in Homeless Kodo, #10.
I have some plastic flowers in my house because I like the splash of color they give with no maintenance whatsoever.

Here a koan from David Bowie:

[Risho]

Oh man I wish I could claim to be smooth but then I'd have no need for practice to realize I am, so having snags is a fortunate state. One of my most popular ones is having to be right. Just tonight during sitting I was fantasizing about how I would justify myself at work for some other fantasy hahaha

Seeing our tendencies in Shikantaza reminds me of Jundo's analogy of the Chinese finger puzzle. The more we try, the more trapped we become, but if we can find tgat balance to sit and not try to feed into or push away, there's the magic

Thank you all! Your posts as always resonate deeply

Gassho

Risho
-sattoday