"Be not preoccupied with looking. Go not to the object; let it come to you . . . We cannot look at Nature directly, but only with the side of our eye . . . The important fact is its effect on me."
Henry David Thoreau
"That the self advances and confirms the ten thousand things is called delusion. That the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self is enlightenment."
Dogen Zenji
In the very moment when we go to know a thing, it empties itself into our perception, leaving us with a flashing awareness of the "still-point" that is its essence. Meister Eckhart calls this still-point "the silent desert into which no distinction ever peeped," while Zen Buddhists call it "suchness." But ultimately - like the mysterious and magical spirit of Yellowstone - it is utterly unsayable. And yet it transforms our life to the core!
Photos: Yellowstone National Park, WY, September 5-6, 2015
In the very moment when we go to know a thing, it empties itself into our perception, leaving us with a flashing awareness of the "still-point" that is its essence. Meister Eckhart calls this still-point "the silent desert into which no distinction ever peeped," while Zen Buddhists call it "suchness." But ultimately - like the mysterious and magical spirit of Yellowstone - it is utterly unsayable. And yet it transforms our life to the core!
Photos: Yellowstone National Park, WY, September 5-6, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment