More of the same

I've been reading this really interesting book lately."Zen: It's Not What You Think." Kind of a nice play on words. I like that.

Anyway, one of the most interesting things to me is the discussion of the old koan, one hand clapping. It never occurred to me that the sound of one hand clapping is the same as two hands clapping, as 10 hands clapping. I know that this is not a discussion for the intellect. It is a different kind of knowing about existence. It is about knowing that when a person dies, as the old Zen master said, nothing changes. That's the remarkable part of all of this. Nothing changes. Everything changes all the time but nothing changes. That is the paradox.

When I contemplate this, I realize that everything is important and nothing is important. And that is dichotomy. Everything and nothing. All at the same time. Get it?

So, how does this translate into life? Well, it's all about right now. My meditation now has expanded to every minute of the day. Breathing in - breathing out - being present. That's all there really is to life. Don't you see? For a nanosecond, I am that. And then I slip back into being and it's all lost, or not.

Interesting.

Stuff.