Clothes to Wash

After ecstasy,
the laundry. - Zen Saying from the Zen Calendar (January 21, 2003)

Day 247. I am exhausted. The feeling state is eerily reminiscent of the concrete-veined fatigue I experienced before my endocrine system was righted. I suspect my adrenal gland is fine. Excessive mid-week bike miles are probably exacting their toll. That and moving possessions back home. I am ever so grateful that I have been relinquishing attachment (and cleaning out the orifices of my house). There is so much less to pack.

Today's quote is another one extracted from my "favorites" pile. My teacher reveled in reminding us about Suzuki Roshi's answer to students when they asked, "What happens after we achieve enlightenment?" The answer was always some derivative of, "You come back the next morning at 5:00 a.m. for zazen." The answer probably dismayed and disappointed some students, but I always found it oddly reassuring. It certainly assists me with practicing "no expectation, no aspiration . . . " We're Buddhists. We sit. It's what we do. After Enlightenment, we sit some more.

In the midst of my poetry rapture and occasional whirling In The Moment, the laundry beckoned. As did the bills, the quarterly tax statements, insurance preauthorizations, fall planting, and grocery shopping. Practicing Zen is not for the romanticist. Nor for the wimpy. Good thing I'm finding ecstasy in the ordinary. Because my life is chock full of it.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc