Quiet and Stable

Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. If you become too busy and too excited, your mind becomes rough and ragged. This is not good. If possible, try to be always calm and joyful and keep yourself from excitement. Usually we become busier and busier, day by day, year by year, especially in our modern world . . . But if we become interested in some excitement, or in our own change, we will become completely involved in our busy life, and we will be lost. But if your mind is calm and constant, you can keep yourself away from the noisy world even though you are in the midst of it. In the midst of noise and change, your mind will be quiet and stable. - Shunryu Suzuki in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind."

Day 307. If my mind wasn't so quiet and stable, I might be quite excited about the fact that there is less than two months remaining of my sit/blog year. It is astonishing to contrast the Reality of the present status of my mind and heart with the wild (and exciting) imaginings I indulged when I first began this endeavor. I can't recall the specifics of what those expectations actually were, but I do know this: I wouldn't trade my present status for anything. Sitting smack in the midst of Reality is a pretty solid place in which to hang out.

The first edition of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind was published in 1970. The "noisy. . . modern world" to which Suzuki Roshi referred forty years ago has grown exponentially noisier and more modern. Especially at this time of year. The swelling buzz of busy excitement is palpable. "Excitement" is probably an erroneous descriptor. Frenetic, urgent, immoderate, excessive, intemperate, and superfluous more aptly depict the ambiance I am registering. Registering, but not participating in. I seem to be sitting in my serene Zen bubble, non-attachedly watching it all go by. Like a ninety-year-old native New Yorker at the Macy's parade. Taking things in appreciatively, but probably not expending much emotion. What a wonderful way to watch a parade.

My mind feels quiet and stable. I am definitely not emotionless or numb; on the the contrary, it seems as though I have just the right amount of feeling along a broad continuum of affective states. Unfamiliar indeed, but comfortably balanced. It's like starting to make sandwiches for five people and discovering I have exactly ten slices of bread. Like Goldilocks finding the right bed at the Three Bears' house: not too firm, not too soft, but JUST right. Like having one stick of butter left and two recipes that each call for four tablespoons. And (best of all) like running out of paper exactly when the right number of copies have been made.

This feels a little more precise than the concept of the Middle Path. I am referencing quantity, portion, and proportion. When I am grounded in Reality, determining the right amount of something is effortless. It is so obvious. Enough, and nothing more. Enough, and nothing less. Mad but not furious. Disappointed, not devastated. Satiated, not stuffed. Daring, not stupid. Committed, not zealous. Loving, not lost. Ten slices of bread to make five sandwiches. You get the picture. My present mood state is utterly unlike the conspicuous consumption and wasteful extravagance permeating this time of year. It is quiet and stable rather than rough and ragged. Even in the midst of noise and change. I highly recommend it.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc