Coming soon.... entries on Zen...

As the campaign season winds down, I think that this blog will start to need different content... the election season's been quite trying, and grist for some many good discussions, but with a name like "Notes in Samsara," there ought to be posts relating to Buddhism...and so there will be...

It's getting to the later autumn season, and that's a good time for going inward...

Anyway, here's a good quote from Eido Shimano to get started...

As for cutting off the myriad streams, he is free to appear in the East and disappear in the West. He can go against or go with it, in any and all directions. He is free to give, free to deprive. This is one of these language problems. The moment we say "he," we can't help but think that it refers to someone else. Saying “he gives" or “he takes," we add an "s" for the third-person present tense, and the more we follow such grammatical rules, the more we think we are talking about someone else, somewhere else. But, what Engo is really trying to teach us is not "he" or "she" but YOU! WE! If we master "IT," we are free to appear in the East and disappear in the West. We can go against or go with it, in any and all directions. We are free to give, free to deprive.

Do not take this so literally: "appear in the East," "disappear in the West." During sesshin, it is not at all good to appear for some sittings, then disappear for part of the day and then reappear again; we must follow the schedule. In a true sense, Engo’s statement is the expression of one's unbounded freedom. But in order to get such freedom, we must be bounded.

This freedom has at least two different aspects. The first is to do whatever you want to do; the other is to be able to control yourself while respecting all the activity around you. To do the latter without creating any burden or problem or tension or interruption for other people, yet moving freely, like the leaf falls from the tree in the autumn, is very profound.

Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of this and freedom of that—we use this word a lot. "Freedom, freedom," we say, and yet we know deep down that we are not at all free. External freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, but when it comes to our mental, psychological and emotional freedom, this cannot be guaranteed by the Constitution. It is this freedom which we need more of, rather than freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc.