Between This and That

With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
My open windows reveal a cool morning breeze. I set my floor fan to pull that cool air into the living room. We have had temperatures above 105 for days now. The day before yesterday I am told we were at 109 in some parts of Las Cruces.

All this heat reminds me of the story suggesting there is no hot or cold. Of course, its true. Hot and cold are words referring to concepts we construct based on a temperature normed by the earth and its relative distance from the sun and our particular body's capacity to exist within that range. In an Absolute sense, however, there is no hot or cold; these concepts exist in the Relative world, the world in which we live.

An awakened being experiences hot and cold as they are and not as that being wishes them to be. When we experience heat as it is, heat, per se, ceases to exist. There is just the experience of perspiration, burning skin, etc. Even these are a problem if we focus our attention on them and the relativity of their existence. To just experience is to just experience: no words added, no concepts added, no desires to change what is (or I suffer) added. Of course, within this frame of reference we also pay attention and act. We perspire so we drink water and turn on a fan or get under the shade of a tree. We experience just drinking water, turning on a fan, or getting under a tree. We experience these as they are.

Do not become too attached to this or that. Thinking life events, people, or conditions should be a certain way brings suffering upon us. Instead, just exist within your life as it is, gently adding or subtracting, making daily adjustments and living out those adjustments as they are. In this way we turn toward Buddha-dharma. In this way we live the Middle Way.

Be well.


PS. This morning I was greeted with a notice that someone donated $50.00 to Clear Mind Zen. What a wonderfully generous gift! Thank you!!!