The Sky Isn't Falling! The Sky Isn't Falling!

You should be sitting straight up as if you were supporting the sky with your head. This is not just form or breathing. It expresses the key point of Buddhism. It is a perfect expression of your Buddha nature. If you want true understanding of Buddhism, you should practice this way. These forms are not a means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice. When you have this posture, you have the right state of mind, so there is no need to try to attain some special state. When you try to attain something, your mind starts to wander about somewhere else. When you do not try to attain anything, you have your own body and mind right here. - Shunryu Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

Day 214. I got nothing. For the past couple of weeks, I've been a blogging maniac, and today: Nothing. I rode my bike 60 miles with the team this morning, and we averaged just under 19 mph. The weather was glorious. I rode out of my mind. Literally. For real. After all those sits on my cushion, my mind finally falls away while I am in the saddle on my bike. I think I was pedaling so furiously that all the blood left my brain to contribute to the churning of my legs. This probably doesn't count as enlightenment. Light-headedment, maybe, but not Enlightenment.

I've relinquished my attachment to not being attached to the idea of Enlightenment. Re-reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is, itself, pure enlightenment. Suzuki Roshi's clarity and sincerity in teaching Zen wafts gently into my nonconsciousness and coats it lightly, like autumn dew at dawn on an English country garden. When I read the sentence, "To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice," everything changed on my cushion. Everything, and nothing (because that is how Zen operates). Last night, the simple reminder that maintaining my posture and intent upon the cushion IS the right state of mind rendered me able to sit calmly and support the sky on my head. Nothing to attain; I'm already sitting smack dab in the middle of it. How can such a simple idea give the Monkeys so much to chatter about?

My analyst used to tell me all the time that "simple" is not synonymous with "easy." No kidding. Sit up straight, hold my mudra, and breathe? Simple enough. Perfectly express my Buddha nature? Done. Support the sky with my head? No problem. Remember there is nothing to attain? The hardest thing I have ever done.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc