What could be easier than just letting go? If we had nothing to hold on to, nothing to reach for, nothing to drop, what would that be like?
What about dropping opinions about politics? Sports? Religion?
A Zen master once famously shouted as he saw a monk dozing in a zendo: ZAZEN MEANS DROPPING OFF BOTH BODY AND MIND!
The monk was clinging to a perception of a self, a tired self. He had not dropped the concept of himself as a self sitting in a zendo.
Dropping the concept of a self is indeed a major drop for most of us. We can only get to that subtle, advanced state by first dropping off the low hanging fruit of political opinions, religious convictions, and our own personal story of ourselves, who we are, why we do the things we do.
We have a tape running endlessly in our head as to who we are, how old we are, what we have accomplished so far, what we still would like to accomplish some day, where we fit into our immediate family, where we fit into the larger society, and so on.
Can we turn off that tape? Can we drop our definition of ourselves?
Dropping all of these things is surprisingly easy to do. Once we drop the low hanging fruit of strong opinions, we can start dropping the higher hanging fruit of subtle opinions, subtle beliefs.
Just as ballast is thrown from a passenger balloon too close to the ground, we can discard the ballast of our belief systems. As we gain elevation, we can discard increasingly subtle beliefs and opinions, even the belief in an abiding self.
As our letting go practice matures, we come to understand that the wind moves without a Mover. And so does everything else. There is nothing to drop, and no self to do the dropping. We do not practice Zen. Zen practice practices Zen.
Reblogged this on Reason & Existenz and commented:
Really enjoying this blog. Great insights and good advice. Take a look.