13 December 2010

Nowhere Over the Rainbow

A monk asked Tozan, "When cold and heat come, how can we avoid them?"
Tozan said, "Why don't you go where there is no cold or heat?"
The monk said, "Where is the place where there is no cold or heat?"
Tozan said, "When cold, let the cold kill you; when hot, let the heat kill you."
Blue Cliff Record 43

I recently heard some very disturbing background to an already very disturbing situation.  After my jaw dropped, after I cried for the pain I was now aware of, I found myself saying, "How can we bear it?  How can we bear it?"

I can well understand how someone might say, "OK, that's the last straw.  I'm out of here."  When shit hits the fan, clearing out of the room seems like a sound plan of action. 

Except, of course, that there is no outside of the room, and there is no place where there is no fan-hitting shit.

So bring it on, and let me not worry about bearing it; let it kill me. 

The gateway to upekkhā/upekṣā, the fourth Brahmavihāra, equanimity.

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