Independence
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning All,
This is Independence Day here in the United States. With it, our mind's are refreshed by reviewing our history: great people, great ideas, yet so much suffering in the name of that greatness.
We should strive not to be great if great means large and dominant. Being great as an expression of extraordinary is not our way. Our way is the everyday, the way of the ordinary. So, for us, our work is in the everyday.
Greatness often seeks dominion, dominance, achievement. It calls us to an idea that we should strive to be apart from ourselves, that we must therefore seek, and seek often, at the expense of others and ourselves.
Seeking such greatness diminishes the common experience and the everyman. As a result of such a illusory pursuit, we fail to see the beauty in a simple brush stroke, the scent of ink, or the lip of a tea cup --- we are so eager to gulp the tea.
This day, Independence Day, as our eyes capture the bombs bursting in air, please remember that bombs kill and dismember and that freedom does not ever come from the barrel of a gun. Yes, the most profound freedom is within us. It is our freedom from ideas, from greatness, from self. This is the freedom of silent illumination: zazen.
Practice zazen everyday. It is your best and most direct path to independence.
Be well.
Good Morning All,
This is Independence Day here in the United States. With it, our mind's are refreshed by reviewing our history: great people, great ideas, yet so much suffering in the name of that greatness.
We should strive not to be great if great means large and dominant. Being great as an expression of extraordinary is not our way. Our way is the everyday, the way of the ordinary. So, for us, our work is in the everyday.
Greatness often seeks dominion, dominance, achievement. It calls us to an idea that we should strive to be apart from ourselves, that we must therefore seek, and seek often, at the expense of others and ourselves.
Seeking such greatness diminishes the common experience and the everyman. As a result of such a illusory pursuit, we fail to see the beauty in a simple brush stroke, the scent of ink, or the lip of a tea cup --- we are so eager to gulp the tea.
This day, Independence Day, as our eyes capture the bombs bursting in air, please remember that bombs kill and dismember and that freedom does not ever come from the barrel of a gun. Yes, the most profound freedom is within us. It is our freedom from ideas, from greatness, from self. This is the freedom of silent illumination: zazen.
Practice zazen everyday. It is your best and most direct path to independence.
Be well.