Mind the gap

Day 308 / 365

I am reading a book on Buddhism titled “Nothing Holy About It”. The main idea is that being Zen or enlightened is not a destination. You don’t have to go anywhere or be anything else. All you have to do is to be what you really are.

In one of the chapters, the book goes into how we tend to split off from ourselves when we encounter strong negative feelings like anger, greed, or fear. I have certainly felt that when I get angry. I tend to lose touch with what’s going on around me and get lost in my own thoughts, which keep feeding themselves and getting worse.

It’s not the negative emotions that cause us to suffer. It’s this splitting off, this gap that we ourselves create that is the cause of most of our suffering.

“If we are not split in our sadness, it’s ok to be sad.”

Pain and suffering are separate. While meditating, if you feel an itch or any sort of pain, you are advised to direct all your attention to that pain and observe it. Soon you realize that the pain dissolves and completely disappears. The same can be said for our mental anguishes as well. With practice, you can train yourself not to split off when you are overcome with emotions. With no gap, there would be no suffering.

When Suzuki, the Zen teacher which is the main subject of this book, was asked if he still felt sad at times, he replied -

“Yes. But when the tears land, they don’t grow roots.”

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — The Rule of 72 for Compound Interest