A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
The starting point of koan practice is also its final point, the clear awareness of not knowing. It begins by placing the practitioner right at the destination and invites them to walk the pathless path.
Our habitual mind, however, does not like this. It quietly hopes for special experiences instead, pleasant states that feel spiritual and otherworldly. Unfortunately, those pleasant experiences never last, and they subtly create attachment.
Take a few minutes to be honest with yourself: through your practice, what do you really wish for: a blissful, awesome and yet conditional experience, or unconditional freedom without a cause?
If it is the latter, realize that what you truly long for is already present in the very space of not knowing. Each time you rest in this open, questionless awareness, you are not merely moving toward freedom—you are it.
With an excerpt from Haemin Sunim’s Love For Imperfect Things that illuminates the inevitability and upshot of setbacks, consider how not-knowing can help you in everyday life.
In the book Path of Heroes: Birth of Enlightenment, Tibetan lama Tarthang Tulku shares a teaching on the fleeting nature of life and the path toward clarity.
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