12 September 2012

Don't Know Shit

I don't know shit about the Dharma.  I really don't.  I'd probably lose in one of those "Dharma Combat" sessions.  I have no doubt others could out-Zen me with Vegas-like odds.  I have a hard time remembering the names of the five skandhas; I get lost in the twelve nidānas.  I understand Nakagawa Soen Roshi's line, "If I had to take an examination in Buddhism, I would flunk," all too well.

I don't care, though, and the longer I'm at all this, the more I become convinced of one thing more than anything else: getting to know oneself, this fathom-high body-mind, in all of its wonder and worry, is the highest of all practices.  And the second highest of all practices stems from it: making sure that this fathom-high body-mind, in all of its wonder and worry, is not a burden to others or gets in their way.

If there's more to Buddhism than this, I'm not even sure I would want it.

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