Genjokoan 5: The Path of the Bird

Above is the first loon I’ve seen this season, spotted a few days ago on Bald Eagle Lake. The traceless path of a bird, Dongshan’s wholeheartedness expression, for the loon includes appearing on the surface and disappearing into the depths.

Much like our next practice focus in Genjokoan:

When buddhas are truly buddhas, they are not conscious that they are buddhas; yet, they are the verifying buddhas, ever continuing to verify buddhas.

In verification, there is no one who knows, who separates the so-called verifying self, the subject, and the verifying buddha, the object. This fruition is wild freedom, each thing limpidly free of itself, a black ball rolling through the black night.

Or as my teacher Harada Tangen used to say, “Just One Doing!”

In Keep Me in Your Heart Awhile I caution practitioners about clinging to fruition, to any idea of being buddha referring to this line:

Fruition will just not come in the form that we hoped. Throw your hoped-for fruition into the wind! That one will not come. We might want the an insight that will be good for 200,000 miles but we get a lemon. Dogen Zenji tells us that we shouldn’t necessarily even expect to be aware of our own enlightenment! That used to make me very, very crabby.

The practice point here is not to indulge in speculation about what life might be like for a buddha, but about how to live life as a buddha now in our daily life whether we are new to practice or have 30 years experience; whether we think of ourselves as sharp or dull-witted, young or old, employed or unemployed.

This from Bokusan:

If we thrust ourselves through everything as empty there is no attachment. So we do not get stuck in the present moment nor are we stuck with the view of emptiness. Today is today and we take a steady step with our daily activities.

Capping Phrase: You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.
-Robert Frost from Today’s thought from Hazelden (thanks, G)

Points for Practice Investigation and Comment (practice period participants, please comment below sometime this week):
– Specifically how does the practice of “thrust ourselves through everything as empty” impact your daily life?
– When free within the harness, how does the bit taste?
– When you practice the path of the bird, what traces are left?
– In the practice of the path of the bird, how can one relate with the bystander, witness consciousness?