Three-Quarters Shut, One-Quarter Down

Sit fixedly, think without thoughts. How do you think without thoughts? Non-thinking. This is the essential art of zazen. Zazen is not the practice of meditation: it is the dharma gate of ease and joy. - Dogen in the Zen Calendar (May 6, 2006).

Day 91. I am one quarter of the way through my commitment to sit zazen and blog for a year. Three-quarters to go. I love fractions. They make my brain sparkle because they lend themselves so wholly to symmetry. Unfortunately, the distance to Nirvana is less calculable. I'm getting used to it. I may not know the distance, but zazen is proving to be a reliable compass. I'm certain I am headed in the right direction.

I have noticed over the past few weeks that I move deeper into meditation when I rest my eyes three-quarters shut. Not half, not one-quarter, not seven-eighths. Three-quarters. There is this precise positioning of my eyes that mysteriously mutes the Monkeys. It's as though that specific angle of my eyelids is connected to a trap door through which my thoughts drain out and away. My mind empties and quiets at three-quarters shut. This perspective allows a view of a small patch of floor in front of my cushion, which is not particularly stimulating. It is a resting place between full waking consciousness and the sleep signal associated with fully closed eyes. Apparently, it heralds meditation to my non-Self. Good thing to know.

It occurred to me following last night's zazen that three-quarters shut may signify something larger. The more I think about it, the more it feels accurate that three-quarters of EVERYTHING is best shut out. I'm betting that three-quarters of television shows are utterly worthless. Three-quarters of big-screen movies are tasteless drivel. Three-quarters of the news, weather and sports is redundant rubbish. Three-quarters of the average American diet is calorie-dense trash. Three-quarters of the work week is a wasteful loss of productivity. Three-quarters of texts, twitters, phone calls, and e-mails are nonsensical crap. Are you seeing a pattern here? I think I've discovered a Universal Truth. Right up there with Gravity.

For me, sitting zazen with my eyes three-quarters shut IS the dharma gate of ease and joy! Imagine what would get freed up if the world was only comprised of the one-quarter of everything that is good and necessary. The earth would probably spin off its axis and ricochet over to a superlative galaxy. And then where would we be? Beyond Nirvana?

I suppose if I apply my new Universal Truth to my current blog of 91 posts, there are about twenty-two and three-quarters that are good and necessary (there's that three-quarters phenomena again!) and sixty-eight and a quarter that are crap. My ego wants to believe that somehow, in my writing, I beat the odds. My sitting, however, tells me that the three-quarters rule is probably pretty accurate. Apply it everywhere. Grab that remaining quarter, and hold on tight. But don't get too attached.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc