Whip, rope, person, and bull— all merge in NO Thing. 
This heaven is so vast, no message can stain it.
How may a snowflake exist in a raging fire.
Here are the footprints of the ancestors
I have abandoned the whip and ropes.
The eighth picture tells us that when the duality of self and reality has been overcome not only is reality (the ox) forgotten, but so is the self (the oxherd); the circle symbolizes the all-encompassing emptiness that constitutes the ground of all things. Now in the awareness of unceasing transformation and total interconnectedness in every experience one is freed from all craving and hatred for the other. In this freedom there is a sense of the wholeness and perfection of ordinary things (page 6).[1]
Roshi Kennedy writes about this idea by saying, “An anonymous Zen poet sums up patriarch’s teachings saying that it is forbidden to search for the absolute apart from the self. Actually it is forbidden to search for the absolute apart from the self because it is impossible. There is no path to the Buddha, to the truth of our lives but through the dust of every day existence (page 95).[2]
Thus, the poem says, “all merge in NO Thing.” NO Thing is probably something that is impossible to understand and even frightening to think about. And yet we search, we go from “god to no god,” “religion to no religion,” “theory to no theory” and still we find NO answer to the emptiness. Unless of course we enter it as Koeller describes through interconnectedness in every experience, thought, feeling, movement, and desire. He says, do not “try” to do anything, just be one with the moment, the things, the experience till there is no separation between you and it.”
Many years ago, I had a friend that could do it. Sometimes he scared me especially when he was driving and all of sudden he was “one with the car” sometimes he was outside of the car watching himself driving. And he was not high or drunk. His focus on a long drive on a lonely highway was so powerful he became one with the elements of the universe.
I don’t suggest you try it, but for me it was a graphic example of the “all-encompassing” interconnectedness of all things. I’ve described my personal experience with it in other blogs when I was participating in a Cherokee Indian fire walk with Rev. Edwine Gaines. There was no separation between me and the blade of grass, the stars in the sky, and the trees in the forest. Just an interconnectedness with all things or in actuality NO thing…
That is why you see the picture as an empty circle. Everything is interconnected so much so there is no way to see it, touch it, or feel it. Everything is “all encompassing-emptiness.” “True freedom, or true creativity, shines out only when we break through this barrier (page 257).”[3]
Remember that the next time you hit your shin on the coffee table or stub your toe when stepping up onto the sidewalk in your bare feet!
Let me know how that goes!
In Gassho, Shokai
[1] http://www.columbia.edu/cu/weai/exeas/resources/pdf/oxherding.pdf
[2] Kennedy, R. (2004) Zen Gifts to Christians. NY: Continuum
[3] Shibayama, Z. (1970) A Flower Does Not Talk Zen Essays. Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co
prayer will help keep you alive through the night—great what can you lose! If not eating meat is how you desire to live your life wonderful, go for it. If eating meat but not pork or crustaceans (lobster, crabs, shrimp, etc.) is your choice that’s great too. In ancient times you might have been better off not eating pork because it caused an infection we know as trichinosis, but so did lots of other foods. Just a few more reasons “not to believe” everything found in your ancient texts.
together at Lynn to create a world where our religious differences are not simply tolerated but celebrated. This event is precisely that; where religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Atheist traditions will come together in celebration of our diverse faith traditions. Come and be amazed!
Susan Kaiser Greenland in her book “Mindful Games” shares with her readers an exercise that I think you might like. It is called “Drop the Monkeys (page80-81).”
ll whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.”
Today is the perfect day to begin mending our world. Yesterday December 8th we saw the passing of John Glenn. This day we celebrate his life. He was “one of the bravest men in America he took flight as the first man to orbit the Earth in 1962 and at the age of 77 in 1998 became the oldest man in space as a member of the seven-astronaut crew of the shuttle Discovery.
