In Zen we go with the flow. Yuanwu writes, “You do not establish any views or keep to any mental states; you move with a mighty flow, so that ‘when the wind moves, the grasses bend down (page 20-21).’”[1] But for most of us in this culture we resist the flow, we over think the flow, we question the flow, and sometimes we even fear the flow. Then sometime down the road we get that great AH HA! Maybe I should have listened to myself last week? Maybe I should have trusted my intuition? Why am I always second guessing myself?
Yuanwu goes on to say, “When you enter into enlightenment right where you are, you penetrate to the profoundest source. You cultivate this realization till you attain freedom of mind, harboring nothing in your heart. Here there is no “understanding” to be found, much less “not understanding (page 21).”[2]
This he says allows you to “go on like this twenty-four hours a day, unfettered, free from all bonds…This is the realm of no mind, no contrived activity, and no concerns.” It is up to us to look for our “true nature” the one that we all “inherently possess.” Our true nature when touched helps us to allow ourselves to release ourselves from our “orbit of delusion” and not feel “stained or defiled” from its “erroneous knowledge and consciousness and false thoughts and judgments (page 21).”[3]
As a college professor, I often run into students that have “erroneous” thoughts about themselves, their intelligence, their creativity and even their own worthiness. If I could just share with them the directions from Yuanwu when he said, “Once you merge your tracks into the stream of Zen, you spend your days silencing your mind and studying with your whole being. You realize that this Great Cause is not obtained from anyone else but is just a matter of taking up the task boldly and strongly, and making constant progress. Day by day you shed your delusion, and day by day you enhance your clarity of mind (page 22).”[4]
And so…let’s experiment “silencing our minds” each day this week as often as possible to quiet that “monkey mind” as we say in Buddhism. Begin by being “unfettered” for 24 seconds then 24 minutes and someday maybe even 24 hours! When you do let me know what happened!
In gassho
Shokai
[1] Cleary J.C. and Cleary, T. (1994) Zen Letters Teachings of Yuanwu. Boston & London: Shambhala
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
and no different, this at last is the stage of total peace and bliss (page 71). 
