unlockthedoortolearning

Astride the bull, I reach home.
I am serene. The bull too can rest.
The dawn has come. In blissful repose,
Within my thatched dwelling
I have abandoned the ship and ropes
 

In the seventh picture the oxherd has realized his identity with the ox; the ox can be forgotten, for it is none other than the experience of everyday things. This can be interpreted to mean that the separation of practice and realization has been overcome, as has the separation of ordinary reality and the ultimate reality. Until now he has been practicing meditation as a means of achieving enlightenment. But with realization of the non-duality of existence comes awareness of the identity of means and ends; practice itself is realization (page 6).[1]

This journey of ours may seem fruitless and endless at times.  Remember it took time and patience and forethought for the lonely oxherder to discover that the bliss of enlightenment was not something to be searching for as if it was lost somewhere on the trail of his journey, but something that was always there within him.

If you have a practice already take a little time to think about what it is, where it is, and how it is affecting your daily life.  Our practice is not to be something or someone that is different from our life.  It is not something that we set aside time for in the morning or evening to sit on our cushion and meditate to “become” enlightened.  Our practice is not separate from our life it is our life.  It is every word we speak, every move we make, every thought we think.  It is who we are.

As Koeller says, “…practice itself is realization.”  Realization is our practice in motion all day every day.  Thus, we can live a more serene life, we can rest in the assurance that we don’t have to be anything or go anywhere to transcend this earthly life and its trials and tribulations. With non-duality, there is only this moment, this word, this breath, this experience.  It is how we deal with “just this” moment that makes us feel or seem that in this life we will never see enlightenment. Just “THIS,” as we say in Buddhism, is enlightenment.

So, don’t rush to that mountain top, or forest, or valley hide away in search of it.  It is already here with you, within you, and around you. Take a deep breath each time you realize it and awaken to your ultimate reality: the existence of non-duality means that you are one with all there is. Now go out and live it!

In gassho, Shokai

[1] http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exeas/resources/pdf/oxherding.pdf