Café One Bright Pearl
Blanket Theory
The coffee machine is on the fritz again, but really this is just part of the great activity at Café One Bright Pearl. Zazen is poured out for us whether the machine is running or not.
This post about Zen is by a guy on the internet who tries his best to type think nonthinking. Please delight in any amusing bits and gather what is helpful for your own journey. As a Zen Buddhist with Catholic leanings, I hope you enjoy the smattering of Christian imagery added because of how well it resonates.
Perhaps it is time to stop and catch breath. Blankets, dust, forest pools, sweeping and pouring tea. Busy, busy. The thing is, you only really need one gesture to convey the Dharma. There are at least two levels here, the fundamental reality of the Dharma written on all things, and, in practice, the gesture of a master and a suitably primed student.
During the Flower Sermon, Buddha simply held up a flower and let it fall. One person in the crowd understood. The Dharma is written even on the most trivial seeming things that make up our reality. But then, the flower was not entirely alone in the world either.
We encounter many beautiful flowers during the day. The morning, the bed, rising, having breakfast. The crunch of cereal. Dutifully check whether there is water in the coffee machine. See it slosh in satisfaction. Make sure the bag is packed correctly. The sound of the zip. Close up the house. Head out, soft rain descending on you as you walk hearing the crunch of your shoes on the tarmac. Another pedestrian walks past. Greeting them attentively and naturally along the way.
A true eye, a homecoming
From YOKA DAISHI’S “SONG OF ENLIGHTENMENT”*
1. Knowest thou that leisurely philosopher who has gone beyond learning and is not exerting himself in anything?
He neither endeavours to avoid idle thoughts nor seeks after the Truth;
[For he knows that] ignorance in reality is the Buddha-nature,
[And that] this empty visionary body is no less than the Dharma-body.
– Translation from the Manual of Zen Buddhism – D. T. Suzuki
How can my everyday life, somehow be the “goal”? On the other hand, if everyday mind was not enlightenment, how would it be attainable? We can be thankful for this simplicity.
The leisurely philosopher has returned from a long journey and all things together glow imperceptibly with great compassion. How can you be compassionate to a coffee machine? Check the water, slosh it. Make your coffee. Clean it if needed. With all your attention. This is difficult, the mind does cartwheels. But there is an insight which, growing like a mustard seed, brings the mind more and more quietly home, to the coffee machine. Eventually, the mind never left home in the first place.
The birds of the earth find a safe place to nest in the great mustard tree. The coffee machine. You. The slosh. Safe in the great activity of the Bod(h)i tree.
How could frail humans be enlightened if the coffee machine needed cleaning? Sorry, I am being a bit mischievous. But this news is the good news, because this means that enlightenment is in everyone’s reach. In fact, it is right here already, this moment. Your task is to look for it in plain sight, knowing your seeking is not necessary. It is freely given.
Looking is letting everything be as they are. And letting you be as you are, as one of many. Looking is not looking with your eyes. Your eyes are one of the many. How does one look through the true eye? Simply. It is already open. No need to get up, the coffee is coming your way.
The coffee machine was never dirtied, and yet we clean it. Treasured slosh, savoured aroma, compassion is my barista.
Afterword
For those who have read my other posts, I try to always point out you don’t have to do anything special to be enlightened, this is unconditionally true, but… practice is important, and through compassion developing a caring nature towards others. We are unconditionally enlightened, but do we realize it fully? We practice, being a helping hand to everyone and everything. Saving all sentient beings. How can we? They are numberless!
true eye opened,
retake your place
among the ten thousand things.
we never left home,
father welcomes us back
all are invited to feast.