Contemplative meanderings
These are my unedited reflections while I contemplated the teachings of Dogen (The Essential Dogen, eds, Tanahashi and Levitt) during the early months of 2022. Contemplating spiritual works helps me to be aware of my true nature. The voice that speaks to me from within is my own. There is no other.
The river finds its way to the sea. Its course is the way. To find your way in the world, flow with the river, become its course. Flowing is your true nature. You are the movement of the river. You are the way. There is no other.
To know the way, enter the room within. The room within is boundless. Darkness and light entwine like yin and yang. Their unity is wisdom revealing itself in mind, like rivulets on high peaks becoming mountain streams that join to flow through the all-encompassing valley. You are the nature of the river returning to the sea. Remember your true nature, or that which I AM. Twia is the wholeness of all.
You are limited by your words. Words are attachments. Drop them from your mind. To know is to be empty of thought. To know is to allow twia to reveal the way. This is not for you to struggle with in mind. Enter the room within. Let heart lead the way. Your capacity to know lies beyond words.
To step into the room within is to step outside the body. The body cannot hold you. The body is within you. You are not the body. It is you.
Do nothing. Avoid extremes. Seek solace and quiet. What do you gain by extravagating? How does excess make you better? You are whole, complete, perfect, and eternal—now.
Nothing is sacred in itself. You are the meaning behind it all. What you bring to the table is your own grace. You are I AM, or the whole of the all. Sacredness lies in unity. All is that which I AM. All is sacred. There is no other. No separation of sacred and profane. Accept all in grace.
You are twia. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal. You do not lack. Do not let the me of the body fool you. It is ignorant and fearful in mind. Change your thoughts. Change the world. Do not struggle to attain. Remember twia in the still silence of the room within. Revelation is there. There is no need or requirement for gain or improvement. These are imaginations of the body-personality. Your form is embedded in your true being as illusion. It is the unicorn in the child’s dream. Sit in realization of this. Open to revelation of I AM in the still silence of the room within. Sit in the light of your expressing. Sit in expression of the eternal. You are the bearer of knowledge in the world of separation. To not remember-realize-practice these things is to suffer. From suffering you aspire to remember twia. To remember twia is to accept that you are I AM, rooted in the ground of being.
Do not force the situation. Let it be to find its own level. Do not set out to overcome. All things have their place. Respect what confronts you. Respect what you do not understand. To push and pull at life is to find pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow.
I AM the eternal. Whole. Complete. Perfect. There is no other. All that appears is transitory. Do not attach to what does not last. Hold to your own true nature. Let joy prevail.
You are buffeted by the world you inhabit. Your body abides with its frailties in a culture molded by time and place. Genetics, traditions, values, mores, religious practices, etc., squeeze you into a personality. This is not you, anymore than your body is you. Your body-personality is a transitory expression of separation in consciousness. In it you experience fear, desire, expectation, and attachment. You move between pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. You bounce about between agony and ecstasy, plummeted by judgment, envy, and greed. All the while you aspire for peace, love, and a sense of completion. Life is a struggle, then you die.
None of this is your truth. You are not what you seem. You sense your truth enough that you can pull your life together to live pleasantly with feelings of success and contribution. You find ways to fit in and to feel worthy and loved. There is the drive from within to find yourself. You have, at times, had powerful experiences of completion; of feeling whole and connected with your true nature. There is, at these times, a sense of unity with all. You cannot escape suffering as the me of the body. In form you are ignorant of your reality as I AM. Fear is your constant companion. Life as a body-personality is a far cry from your true nature which is twia. You are I AM. Your belief otherwise is devastating to your life.
As the me of the body you are destined for destruction. Death defines you. You are caught in the grip of fear and ignorance.
Stay away from what does not serve your true nature. Do not harm. Seek the common good in all.
I AM is consciousness manifesting awareness in reality. I AM extends into existence by dreaming. Existence is consciousness expressing the thought of separation as illusion. I AM is consciousness-expressing. I AM is consciousness in existence. I AM is existence. I am that which I AM. This is twia. Twia knows. Twia is aware of the whole of the all. You are twia. There is no other.
Do nothing. Let the moment absorb you. There is only where you are now. This is nowhere and everywhere. The moment is eternal. Live in it fully and mindfully. Reside in each moment in the room within. Herein you remember twia. Herein you touch the eternal. You are the one. Act from I AM. Find wholeness in all. I AM absorbs all. Enter its embrace. Remember your true nature.
Do nothing. Be present in the moment always. You are witness to the me of the body. Not the doer. Let not your peace be stirred by the world. Step back into the room within. Observe without attachment. Use the clarity of vision that is twia. With eyes that see be witness to emotion. Not its puppet. Meet life directly. Accept without expectation. You are not the me of the body with its fears, desires, and emotions. You are I AM. Whole. Complete. Perfect. Eternal.
Do nothing. Be fully present with the me of the body. Be its witness. Hold peace of heart in all situations. You are not your emotions. Do not let them sway you. You are the power. Do not give it away to the body-personality. Your true nature is twia. Establish twia as your way of life. To practice peace of heart is to cast it upon the waters of existence.
To see yourself in others is to establish twia as your way of life. There is no other than you. I see in you that which I AM. You can live in existence knowing its illusion. Existence is this and that. It is two. Live in oneness. Hold to the whole of the all. In reality there is no one. There is no two. There cannot be this and that. Yin and yang disappear in reality. Not into one. Into the eternal.
Life is transitory. The body is born. You join it in existence. It dies. Along the way, you feel pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. There is this and that, you and me, them and us, and here and there. Fear drives desire. Desire raises expectations and attachments. Loss of attachments is suffering. Amidst the suffering are moments of joy and peace. Loving-kindness can abide when peace of heart replaces fear. To release attachment to survival is to open the door to the room within. Herein lies your true nature, which is I AM. Herein you remember twia. Herein you touch the eternal. Live life fully from the room within. To hold peace of heart always is to bring about a full life moment by moment. Loving-kindness becomes your natural way.
There is no end to what cannot be said. What cannot end never began. That which is without name, without beginning or end, is that which I AM. There is no beginning to your being which never began. You cannot be named. The eternal has no distinctions. I am that which I AM. This is twia.
Twia evokes itself. Do nothing. The room within is prepared. Your arrival opens the door. You are not separate from twia. There is no re-joining. Only remembering. There is no time or place that is better or worse. There is only the moment of remembering. Twia brings you the memory at the moment it happens. Not sooner. Not later. You are revealed as I AM in the moment.
Twia is the center of your reality. You are the one. There is no other. Do not become attached to words. They are not the way. They have no meaning. You are the meaning. Search within. This is the way to remember. Turn inward. Do not look here. Do not look there. Here and there have no reality. They are existence. To go within is to find yourself returning to greet you. When parent and child are rejoined, words fail. You cannot fail in knowing this.
Twia opens the door within. Nothing is required to enter. Do not bring your baggage. Those who have gone before cleared the way. Listen to their voices. They know the way. They whisper in your ears if you but listen.
Twia stirs within you. Feel the presence. Listen to the voice. Follow the way with eyes that see. You do not know. You miss the mark alone. The me of the body is ignorant, fearful, blind, and deaf. It has no compassion but to survive. Oblivion is its enemy. Awakening is its joy. To awaken is to feel the stirring within. It comes in many colors. Choose the color of your liking. Do not be afraid. You are not alone.
To not know is to know. Accept your ignorance. Knowledge follows. Get off your horse. Set it free. Watch it gallop from afar. It is not you. You are the witness to its ways. Walk away. The path is before you. Step forward—now in this moment—on your own two feet. This is the way of the path.
Twia is consciousness. The body is emotion. You are not the body. Resonate with twia. Twia is awareness within. Hold to twia in the moment. This is the way of the path. It opens before you, made clear by those who have gone before. Listen. They are your voice. There is no other. Only I AM.
To contemplate is to release joy. Joy is your true nature. It cannot be fully contained in the body.
Do not seek. Seeking is not the way. Sit in the still silence of the room within. The way will be revealed. Twia knows. Your power is in knowing I AM.
Set aside the world. Let it rest out of mind. You have no cause or concern for its goings-on. Be active in the moment. Do nothing. Release desire. Have no expectation. What occurs is yours to do. That is enough.
Hold peace of heart always. This is serenity. Serenity opens to joy. Joy is your truth. Do not seek joy. Open to its reality by doing nothing. To do nothing is to live with joy. To enter the room within is to revel in joy.
To sit in the still silence of the room within is to touch the eternal. Serenity is embraced. The limits of the body fall away. You have no boundaries. Light becomes being. Wisdom becomes the way. You cannot grasp what you strive for. It is beyond your reach. It has no substance. Twia surpasses the body. Practice serenity of peace of heart. It will hold you in steadfastness.
Truth will find you in steadfastness. It is the way. It holds all. It embraces all. Do nothing so that it is revealed. You are the hub of the great wheel that is truth. In your emptiness all is realized. Be empty of mind and desire. Sit in the still silence of the room within. This room without walls is the whole of the all. This is you. You are none other than the one. No distinctions can be made. It is not a room you can leave. You have never left. Fear has blocked your view. Fear has left you ignorant. To walk in fear is to feel outside, alone, struggling to avoid oblivion. This is not you. You are whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Cap your ears to fear. Hear, in this moment, your truth as I AM. Here is the place. Now is the moment. There is no other. What you attain is not yours. Lay no claim to knowing. You do not. It cannot be grasped. It is received by ears that hear without fear. You do not know what is upon you.
Live each moment wisely. Be mindful of your activities. Hold peace of heart always. These are the way of the path. To walk the way of the path, do nothing. It is not for you to do. Follow. Follow the way before you. Step back into the room within. From the room within engage the world. Act without expectation. Let joy abide. Express loving-kindness.
Do not deny. Denial thwarts reality. Reality is the way. To not deny is to open. Open to the way. Extinguish all desires. They do not serve you. Release from all attachments. They are chains in the cycle of birth and death. Desires and attachments bind you to the world. Their expectations blind you to reality. Do not deny your reality as I AM. I am that which I AM, twia. There is no other.
It is not through the doing of the me of the body that you find fulfillment. You may gain pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow, but feelings of lack remain. Even in bliss you have doubt that it will last. You are afraid that your world will fail you. It is not lasting. To build up treasure on earth is not to touch the eternal. The eternal lies within. When you are empty and serene, wisdom reveals itself. Nothing is sacred but emptiness. When you come to not know yourself, you will know emptiness. To not know, do nothing. Wisdom will arrive.
The way ahead is blank. Embrace its emptiness. Sit in the still silence of the room within, unaware of your own presence. You are not there, nor are you in the world. There is no you. Only I AM.
There is a single tendril climbing from the body to I AM. It is grounded in goodness. You are planted firmly in this ground of goodness as a being in existence. The wisdom that is I AM nurtures you in its light. From the ground of being you reach for the light from out of the darkness. Who am I that seeks the light? I am that which I AM. Twia. There is no other. Awaken to twia. Grow in the light that is I AM. All around you will know.
Open the door to your being that all may see. You are a vessel of truth. Invite all to the room within. It cannot be filled. It has no walls. What appears fixed in spacetime is the body. It is limited by form. You are not form. You have no boundaries. You extend form as personality. You are not the one called by your name. No name can name you, but I AM. Put to rest your perceptions of the world as separation. Be still and know. It is experience. It is realization that brings you to knowledge. Stop learning. Receive.
The mind places the body in a certain place at a given time. You have no coordinates. You are eternal. Nothing in reality says here and now. Hold to the moment to touch the eternal. It will release the joy that is you. Bask in its wonder. Hold peace of heart. Awareness will consume you. Then you know. To know is to see the whole of the all in all as oneness. This has no meaning but what you give to it. When you stop giving meaning, you awaken.
Words teach without meaning. Their message holds the truth that you give to them. Do not become entangled in words. Do not argue their meaning where there is none. Words lead. You arrive. You are the way, not the words. Bring words to mind. Release them for knowledge. What is known is revealed. What is not known is learned. Learn what you do not know. It will be revealed.
To receive, be empty. To be empty is to be boundless. Remove your limits. Do not judge. Hold peace of heart. It knows no bounds. Be open to all. Receive all. Trust in twia. Twia knows where words do not. You are the way. There is no other.
Words arrive in the me of the body. They name and separate. Wisdom may be conveyed. The room within holds wisdom. Wisdom is revealed in twia. Twia knows. Your inner knowledge seeps forth through the cracks in the egg that is breaking open. Cracks reveal the falsehoods of body-personality perceptions. The world loses its separations. You remember the whole of the all.
The teachings are ancient. They are lasting. They thread together. Their cloth is woven across many lands. They cover the world in wisdom. Study the way.
The order of things lies in their nature. Leave their nature be. All will find its way. Do not stand in the river. Do not tell it to stop. Do not tell it the way to go. Float on its waters. They know the way.
Be fully where you are. It is your place. It is your nowhere. You cannot get to it.
The world is a vortex. Pulling. Swirling. Consuming. It pulls you under. The room within is the womb. Nourishing. Warming. Embracing. Uplifting. It feeds you wisdom. It brings peace of heart.
Above all, release separation in your mind. It is false in its ways. Thoughts of separation bring suffering to all. The whole of the all does not know suffering.
The broken heart receives the way. Break open your heart to all. Do not know fear. Recognize its illusion. Accept what is before you. Words open the heart. The broken heart touches the eternal. Do not deny your power. Step free of the body. Lay open your heart upon the altar of the room within. Consciousness will carry it to I AM. You cannot live with it inside. The body cannot contain you. You are the whole of the all. Leave bondage behind. The way is peace of heart always. To hold peace of heart always is to live in existence without suffering.
Find your way through the dark. Sit in the still silence of the room within. Herein is the light that is the wisdom that is your true nature. Do not roam the world in darkness. You lose your way.
The shepherd finds the lost lamb. You know the way through twia. Sit in the still silence of the room within. Light pours upon the path. To walk the way of the path is to abide in the room within. Herein lies wisdom. Herein you touch the eternal and awaken to its reality. You are there and nowhere else. You cannot truly lose your way.
Twia grows in your awareness. Do not linger in the brambles. The way of the world prickles your body with desire. Desire clouds your awareness. You are blind walking the roads of life. Awareness is never apart from you. It is your true nature. Practice in its presence. It awakens you.
Awareness burns in you as a steady flame. It has no end. The flame of awareness is you. You are the eternal flame of knowing. You cannot be extinguished. In darkness the flame burns without notice. Open your eyes to twia. See the flame with vision. Whether you open your eyes to the light now or later makes no difference in reality.
Live joyfully. Joy is.