{"id":3942,"date":"2017-12-30T12:29:17","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T18:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=3942"},"modified":"2022-01-25T20:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T02:00:32","slug":"itll-get-swept-away-happy-new-year-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/12\/itll-get-swept-away-happy-new-year-anyway.html","title":{"rendered":"It’ll All Get Swept Away – And Happy New Year Anyway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Meanwhile, the center is closed for winter break, giving me more time for reflection and bumbling around with some misguided translation work that I just can\u2019t get right. In the midst of this confusion, a passage popped out that seemed fitting for the New Year \u2013 not necessarily all glowy and positive, mind you, but fitting. It\u2019s from the preface that Wansong offers for The Record of Going Easy<\/em>, (\u5f9e\u5bb9\u9304, Chinese:\u00a0C\u00f3ngr\u00f3ng l\u00f9<\/em>, Japanese:\u00a0Sh\u014dy\u014droku<\/em>) \u201cCase 74 F\u01cey\u01cen\u2019s Substance and Name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbundance has ten-thousand virtues. <\/span>Swept away, not a speck of dust. The mutual parting of all things \u2013 that is all dharmas. On top of a hundred-foot pole, take a step.<\/span> The ten direction world is the whole body. Yet say, what comes<\/span>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Record of Going Easy <\/em>is a\u00a0one-hundred case collection of k\u014dans and companion verses by Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091\u20131157) with Wansong Xingxiu\u2019s (1166\u20131246) adding prefaces, notes to each line of the\u00a0k\u014dans, and notes to each line of\u00a0Hongzhi\u2019s verses. Both these important old teachers were descendants in the C\u00e1od\u00f2ng\/S\u014dt\u014d lineage.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at it line-by-line<\/h4>\n

\u201cAbundance has ten-thousand virtues.\u201d<\/p>\n

We begin tapping this ancient wisdom with a focus on gain and the virtues of health, wealth, and abundance of all kinds. When we consider the New Year, of course, we wish for an abundance of happiness for ourselves, those near and dear to us, and all living beings.<\/p>\n

And yet, in this universe of constant flux, where everything dissolves and recombines, abundance is just one part of what\u2019s likely to happen in the coming year.<\/p>\n

There is also the other likelihood: \u201cSwept away, not a speck of dust.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever we gain, we will lose now, soon, or at the hour of our death. Amen. Except perhaps the consequences of our love and hate. That\u2019s the ugly and liberating truth.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just read The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World,\u00a0<\/em>by Jeff Goodell,\u00a0and so have a fuller and more detailed appreciation of what we are likely looking at in the coming years. What we\u2019ve built at sea level will very likely be swept away, and soon. Perhaps nine feet of ocean rise before 2100. At least 200 million climate refugees by 2050.<\/p>\n

And how about in our practice with the qualities of wisdom and compassion that we\u2019ve gained? What comes together, falls apart. Friend, let it all be swept away. Death too will come.<\/p>\n

By the way, if you want a reminder you can get a We Croak<\/a> app. \u201cEach day,\u201d they say, \u201cwe\u2019ll send you five invitations at randomized times to stop and think about death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mutual parting of all things \u2013 that is all dharmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what about \u201cHappy\u201d New Year?<\/h4>\n

Sober up.<\/p>\n

Tiffany Watt Smith in a TED talk, \u201cThe History of Human Emotions<\/a>,\u201d notes that our focus on \u201chappy\u201d is a recent cultural thing. Smith says that in the 16th century, self-help books listed reasons to be disappointed (instead of happy):<\/p>\n

\u201cThese self-help authors thought you could cultivate sadness as a skill,\u00a0since being expert in it would make you more resilient\u00a0when something bad did happen to you, as invariably it would.\u00a0I think we could learn from this today.\u00a0Feel sad today, and you might feel impatient, even a little ashamed.\u00a0Feel sad in the 16th century, and you might feel a little bit smug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happy, sad, or smug<\/h4>\n

The whole works is just flowing. And not necessarily interested in our fleeting and fickle human desires. In the midst of gain and loss, happiness and sadness, \u201c\u2026on top of a hundred-foot pole, take a step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usually this line, stepping off a hundred foot pole, refers to post-awakening practice. Even intimate self knowledge can\u2019t be clung to. Even at the highest stage of enlightenment, the imperative is to continue to develop.\u00a0<\/span>Instead, with open hearts, full-knowing, we take a step into the unknown wilds.<\/p>\n

But in our day, with our whole little planet seemingly teetering on the top of a hundred-foot pole, I\u2019d like to expand this to include us all, asleep or awake.<\/p>\n

Then, in the activity of just doing, \u201c\u2026the ten direction world is the whole body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking a step in such circumstances might look like fearlessness, but really that\u2019s frost on snow. It\u2019s just doing. The whole body of the ten directions steps through the whole body of the ten directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet say, what comes<\/span>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For this line, Cleary has \u201c\u2026where does it come from?\u201d Yamada has \u201c\u2026from where does one get this?\u201d Strictly, the characters seem to say, \u201cWhat place comes?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like I said, I just can\u2019t get it right. <\/span><\/p>\n

If the ten direction world is the true body, then\u00a0what is coming at us?\u00a0\u201cWhat is it that thus comes?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

When we let go of everything and the world of ten directions advances, where are we then?<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy New Year to you all!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meanwhile, the center is closed for winter break, giving me more time for reflection and bumbling around with some misguided translation work that I just can\u2019t get right. In the midst of this confusion, a passage popped out that seemed fitting for the New Year \u2013 not necessarily all glowy and positive, mind you, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":3730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIt'll All Get Swept Away - And Happy New Year Anyway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Meanwhile, the center is closed for winter break, giving me more time for reflection and bumbling around with some misguided translation work that I just\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2017\/12\/itll-get-swept-away-happy-new-year-anyway.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It'll All Get Swept Away - 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