Zen Light

It has been a number of years already that I have been engaging in zen sitting. What got me started was just a curious interest in what meditation practice is all about. I had signed up for yoga upon the prodding of my sister, and I noticed a zen meditation session in one of the schedules. It turns out that sitting in silence, emptying the mind, resonates deeply with me. 

Much of our day is busy. Just like the slogan, "Citi that never sleeps", our mind seems to never rest when we are awake. If not about work, or home affairs, then it could be about the current news or latest issues. Even during this pandemic, even if we are in our own homes and see less people, I find that there is still just so much to be busy with. 

The zen sits have come to be necessary medicine to quiet the mind. What better way to start the day than with quiet, gradual movement of the mind.  

Zen sitting for at least twenty minutes, and then morning prayer. Or, daily examen. The combination of these two is very powerful. Sit in silence to come home to our within. To come nearer to the place of our soul, our innermost core, and then to be still in the presence of God. And then to stay still with Him.

In addition to the silence and the fruits of the stillness, zen has also opened up a whole new way of being in this world. Of living this life. The teaching on non-dualism is so profound and all-encompassing. It is summed up in the word, or is it the sound, of mu. Mu is everything, and mu is nothing. Empty and full. Here and nowhere. In the now and in the past and future. It will be a lifetime before one can come closer to grasping mu. Because it can be grasped, but it is also ungraspable. 

My mind, my eyes keep getting more and more opened. Stretched. Widened in perspective. Just what I needed, especially having grown up quite one-track for most of my life. Now I realise the multitudes of tracks that exist. The diversity but also the underlying unity in all the diversity that abounds. 

Knowing more, but judging less. De-cluttering but feeling full and rich in the process. Boundless realities but also just being present in the here and now and staying here and now. 

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These are all just random thoughts.. For those who have not walked even a few steps along this way, my words above may sound very esoteric or even seemingly scattered. And yet for those who have been doing the practice for years, they may know I am just a beginner. Hopefully with a beginner's mind. Or at least one who is open to being a beginner.

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Putting oneself in the shoes of the other. Or trying to see through the eyes and ears of the other. 

Allowing compassion to flow.

Withholding judgement.

Staying in the present moment.

Letting in and letting out. Allowing the flow.

Just focusing on the matter at hand. The activity at hand. The person in front of me. The piece of nature just being itself.

Being.

Is that so? 

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My Beloved Lord, somehow I know that union with you encompasses all of the above. Somehow all these experiences and practice will have its flow with your love and union with You. You made my mind and my will such that I intuit and take in and then know a part of You. Probably one-zillionth of your reality is all You allow me to know. It is little and yet it is so much. Likewise, there are times when I feel I know you more, but the more I know You, I also become aware that I know so little of you. 

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Somehow zen has brought me closer to You. Zen light is Your light. Your light come in a different way. So You.