( Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook – XIII)
Like wild horses and crazy monkeys.
(You will hear and see our wild house cat, Tin Tin, scampering around the room during much of today’s sitting)
ps- Rev. Taigu was not able to get on yesterday, but I hope he will be able to join us later this week
Nevertheless, when we work attentively, therein lies the principle that makesit possible to surpass our predecessors.
That you still do notgrasp the certainty of this principle is because your thinking scatters, likewild horses, and your emotions run wild, like monkeys in a forest. If you canmake those monkeys and horses, just once, take the backward step that turns thelight and shines it inward, then naturally you will be completely integrated.This is the means by which we, who are [ordinarily] set into motion by things,become able to set things into motion.
From: Tenzo Kyokun - Instructions for the Cook by Eihei Dogen - Translated by Griffith Foulk
Read Previous Post