No Fixed Form Living an Invigorated Life

Here’s an excerpt from an essay by Katagiri Roshi originally published in Japanese in 1978 and then translated into English and published in 2001 as a part of Nothing is Hidden: Zen Master Dogen’s Instructions for the Cook (buy now – 17 used from $6.95!).  

There is no fixed form for engaging the way. It is about how to live intimately with things. However, this “how to” is not a question. Questions require our discriminating mind, but this “how to” means that we are in the process of living, for which there is no fixed form. We are just in the process of living in the best way here and now, together with all things, with the true mind, the sincere mind, and purity. When we try to explain this and ask questions about it, only “how?” remains. And this interrogative itself is nothing but the vibrant activity of invigorated life.