Monday, April 29, 2019

Still Here, Just Lazy

Life on Steinstrasse has settled into walks around the town, coffees at Fontana (or, occasionally, Piccoli or Extra Blatt) and more walks around the town.  Just Sitting (Shikantaza, Zazen) is great for the mind, but leaves a lot for the hips and legs of an old fogie  to desire (meaning exercise).  I am round, like a Buddha, but not nearly as cool.  I still think about things that may not be useful on the path to enlightenment, and there are days when I can't remember where I left that path.  The mind has always been the object of my reflection, and as the time to leave this water bag that's housed it since the middle of the last century, gets closer, the more I try to reflect on the inner light that occasionally illuminates the outer world and occasionally takes me through the looking glass or down a rabbit hole.

To anyone seeking a spiritual path, I recommend Zen.  It is not cluttered with gods and saints, but with art and nature and calm and joy.  Once you find your rhythm, you'll fall out of fear and guilt and start enjoy life for what it is without trying to make it what it is not.  Sit quietly for twenty minutes in the morning and again in the evening.  Let your mind rest.  Any thoughts that wander in will wander out (IF you don't attach to them and start running scenarios).  Breathe slowly, and just follow your breath.