trace the stream back

 

Trace the stream back to its source.

Trace consciousness to the root 

where there is no inside or outside,

 Consciousness is,

 I am over here as the subject, 

you are all out there as objects, 

and I roll along with my life.

 But if I trace my mind back further,

 to a place closer and nearer, 

where I am no longer separating myself from objects,

 the mind turns around. 

With the backward step,

 you see the unity

 and the emptiness of separation.

Walking forward does not cease; 

walking backward does not cease.

 Walking forward does not obstruct walking backward. 

Walking backward does not obstruct walking forward. 

This is called the mountain flow and the flowing mountain.

~ Dogen

excerpts from the Mountain and Waters Sutra