Not Even Not Zen 396: Puthujjana, Back to the Ordinary

Puthujjana

Back to the Ordinary

We immerse ourselves in the ordinary tasks that are part of the flow. When we want, our chores move us toward the goals of good will. Such a will is always with us. We cut bread with good intent, sit on the grass with it, walk the stairs with it, and wash clothes with it. We live in mundane bodies and do mundane things.

Our motivation is true. Our resolve, however small, is a thing that changes the world. We do ordinary things with holy intent.

We know this will lead us to ordinary ends, to endure normal lives, to come to unexceptional deaths. We carry the usual burdens to average conclusions. We maintain awareness of the moving patterns and the configurations of the world in this, our state of natural ease in the ordinary things.

We know where events lead. We laugh at tiny surprises in outcomes, for we know ourselves. When we are us, we are accompanied by good will and our long-cultivated traits, surrounded by nature, by humanity, and by being in harmony with our true nature.

We forget the workings of the littlest fragments of the mundane world. We do not work. And yet things are accomplished. We are part of the river of life and we are aware of it in an intimate way. The flow of joy and sadness around us is not a matter for thought. We do not need to think as we are helping others with the vital, the important, the very forgettable, the very ordinary ways.

Not Even Not Zen 395: Arhant, Freedom

wikimedia, baharlooe

Arhant

Freedom

We are free to put down and pick back up our human goals. We exult in the freedom from desire. And we do not exult. Freedom from desire is the background of life, an element of the water in which we swim. We are alive in our power to put down our cares and pick them up again, at will, as is useful.

We do not need. We do not want. Even our good will, we can pick up or put down. Even freedom, we can use or discard. We can tie ourselves to the mundane. We do so to swirl and whip against the currents along with others, our friends. We can let go; and we can be free again.

 

Not Even Not Zen 394: Anagami, Good Will

wikimedia, nai

Anagami

Good Will

In our freedom, we inspect the core of our being. We find love streaming from us, given freely, without thought. It flows like a river around the world, unceasing, sourceless, constantly refreshed. Our endless affection is a part of our existence, of being in a human shape, of having a body and mind, mortal or immortal. We are ceaselessly in love. We do not need to make a choice about affection. Nevertheless, sometimes people choose.

We choose to cultivate our skills in kindness. We pay attention to the results of good deeds. We turn inward and outward with a discerning eye to improve the good will of our humanity. We learn to love with the clarity of purpose brought by a teacher of tenderness, a student of friendship, a lover of all joys and sorrows.

We give of our lives with a tenderness powered by all human essence. We reach out the way life reaches to life, even the way at times non-life reaches out. It is a lazy interaction. It happens without intention. At times, we add to it. We bring the forcefulness of will, of discipline, of our discerning eye.

Our will is good. No choice is needed to make it so. Often, the choice is made.