a natural delight

 

 

 

The Diamond Sutra says,

"Out of nowhere, the mind comes forth."

 

 

A story of understanding coming out of nowhere.

 

Some of the old school buildings in Los Angeles had high ceilings

and clerestory windows. A boy was sitting at his little chair in 

kindergarten when he saw the yellow light coming in through the

high windows. Dust motes swirled in the beam of light. He noticed

how bright they were and kept watching; then, suddenly there was

no distance between him and the light. He disappeared. He didn't 

know how long he was gone; there was no time. When he heard a

voice calling, he didn't recognize the name at first; it didn't have

anything to do with him. Then he heard the other children 

laughing and wondered what they were laughing about.

It was the teacher calling him. After that, the things he saw

were beautiful in themselves.  Faces seemed more real, and 

what was real was beautiful.  He didn't really have a name 

anymore; he was the beam of light.  And it didn't have to be a

beam of light.  It could be a Coke can or another child, and he

feel that connection. His sense of yours and mine had shifted

to something like, "My hamburger is yours, your house is mine."

When the grownups around him fought and argued, he felt sad

for them, that they didn't understand, and couldn't see what he 

could see.

Usually people work hard to make things happen. 

Yet it might be that things happen by themselves, coming out of nowhere.

When you forget your carefully assembled fiction of who you are, 

you can find a natural delight in people, in the planet, the stones, and the trees.

 There is no observable limit to this beauty, and no one is excluded from it. 

 

Then, if you are fighting an enemy, 

you may be fighting them as well as you can,

 but you won’t be a true believer. 

 

You will know that an enemy is not truly other

 and that the fighting is some kind of misunderstanding. 

The worries that lead to quarrels may still be present,

 but they are not the main thing.

Your problems could be a kind of dream, 

very powerful when you are in it, and yet a dream. 

You might notice that, even deep in dreaming, 

you are near to waking up.

 

 And the more you are awake,

 the kinder the world might seem.

 

~ John Tarrant
from Bring Me The Rhinoceros
and other Zen Koans that will save your life

 photo Buddha's Footprints, by Peter Adams

with thanks to Love is a Place