No Synonym for Nothing

Better nothing than something good. - Yun-Men in the Zen Calendar (May 9, 2006)

Day 79. I got nothing. I even looked up nothing in my trusty Webster's Thesaurus (1996) and there were no synonyms listed for nothing. Nothing for nothing. I find that both discouraging and hilarious.

I have (obviously!) saved favorite quotes from my Zen Page-A-Day calendar for several years. They are semi-organized according to some bizarre system that apparently made sense at the time I sorted them. This evening I rifled and rifled through them, and now my mind is so jammed full of Zen wisdom that if it DID fall away it would be too heavy to roll far. When I bumbled across the above quote, I felt liberated. It is exactly what I wanted to say. But damned if I didn't commit to writing SOMETHING for 365 days in a row - "nothing" wasn't in the promise. It's all nothing. We're all nothing. What a relief.

We are busy and preoccupied with preparing for a tandem rally that begins tomorrow afternoon. Eighty-seven bicycles built for two are currently registered. That is 12 teams over the publicized event maximum. Perhaps we will receive half-bananas at the rest stops rather than wholes. I'm okay with that. Joining eighty-six other couples pedaling their bikes up and down the east Texas countryside sounds like a blast. I have a new tandem, an old captain, and breath moving through my mudra. I'm ready.

I don't own a laptop, so I'm hoping there is a computer at our hotel. If not, I plan to blog on paper and post it on the computer when we return on Sunday night. Our planned mileage for the weekend is a little over 150. Surely that much pedaling on the back of a bike that I'm not steering will inspire a little writing. The more I read about "Wild Mind" the more mine remains in gridlock. I may need the jaws of life to pry open a crack for some creative thought to sneak through.

Wow, in tonight's blog I've managed to avoid both "nothing" AND "something good." I'm headed for my cushion, where nothing absolutely, gloriously, awaits. I bet I pull it off.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc