Habitual Intuition
Protest, renunciation, repudiation
I think of pain as “the inability to function normally.” I think of Zen’s gift to Buddhism as “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” Taking the Buddha out of Buddhism leaves us with becoming who the Buddha was. By being the Buddha, not as the Buddha was the Buddha, but by being the Buddha as only we can be the Buddha, not as someone else would have us be the Buddha by being their idea of the Buddha.
Dealing with pain is like that. Managing our response to our pain is individual and personal, the way being the Buddha is individual and personal. Developing/deepening our relationship with our intuition is essential, both to living with pain and to being the Buddha. “Intuition leads the way” to how, what, when, where, here, now.
We cannot think our way to awareness, enlightenment, liberation–we can only intuit our way there. Which means Zen is Buddha-less in terms of the Buddha being “other than” us. WE are the Buddha in Zen. We become the Buddha as only we can be the Buddha by merely, simply, being the Buddha as we would be the Buddha. We do it the way the Buddha did it–by being himself. We do it by being ourselves. Living true to ourselves–which is true to our intuition of what is called for and what needs to be done about it in each situation as it arises. No dharma. No doctrine. No sutras. Just being/seeing/doing moment-by-moment.
“Seeing things as they really are” is seeing things as ephemeral, transitional, changing, coming and going, moving, evolving, disappearing, appearing, never constant, unstable… We see things between what they have been and what they will be, shifting from was to will be. Nothing “is” for long. “Is becoming” is the only constant. The foundations are crumbling as we watch. So much for the Dharma, the sutras, the teachings, the Buddha. That is how things “really are.” See it if you can. Oops! See it NOW if you can! Oops!…
Faith is the foundation of reality–of everything that is. It is itself the “ground of being.” Faith as trust in ourselves to have what we need to find what we need to do what is called for/what needs to be done in each situation as it arises all our life long. This does what Zen does in removing the Buddha from Buddhism, and the Christ from Christianity, and supplanting them with the Buddha, Christ, in us–who we all are capable of being by having faith that it is so, and living as though it is. That is all there is to it!
Non-duality is a non-issue. To say “non-duality” is to create duality. But to say along with Einstein, energy is everything, in that atoms compose everything, liquid, gas, solid, and in the heart of all atoms are whizzing electrons even in stones and concrete. So energy is everything, and “energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted or transformed.” This is non-duality without saying “non-duality.”
Liberation is a non-issue. Denial is as freeing as awakening is. Denial and projection are the two psychological devices that are at the heart of all that is wrong with the world. And the only freedom from, and the end to, suffering lies in not thinking about suffering, but in sitting, counting our breath instead, or simply waiting in the silence for “the mud to settle and the water to clear.” With clarity comes the end of denial and projection, and we see things as they are, finally, at last.
Awakening/Enlightenment is a non-issue. Recognizing our intrinsic intuition as the source of awakening and enlightenment wakes us up to our Buddha-mind within, always there, easily accessed, a life-long guide.
The Buddha is a non-issue. Dumping the Buddha (And dumping Christian theology) opens the way to becoming/being the Buddha (the Christ) ourselves, ditching dharma, sutras, teachings, and opening the way to our own realization of what is called for in each situation as it arises and doing that, when, where, how it is called for. Neither the Buddha nor the Christ could do better than that.
“Everyone has buddha-nature,” because everyone has intuition. Intuition and Buddha-nature are “like that” (crosses fingers)–NO! Like That (Holds up an index finger. Living out of our intuition is living as Buddha lived. Is being the Buddha as only we can be the Buddha (And the Christ as only we can be the Christ).
If Buddhism and Christianity would make more of a “thing” of living aligned with our intuition, we would be “like that” (Holds up the index finger again) with Taoism, whose central idea is, “The path that can be discerned as a path is not a reliable path” (Martin Palmer). We cannot be shown the path for us, or led to the path, we can only intuit it for ourselves–we know it when we have found it, and no one can talk us out of it. The dharma, sutras, teachings (theology for Christians) are distractions that are “not reliable ways” of finding the way.
When we reflect/exhibit/express the Buddha, we become the Buddha, we “do” the Buddha, here, now, as only we can (We do the same thing when we reflect/exhibit/express the Christ). We incarnate the Buddha in our own life when we “do it like the Buddha would do it if the Buddha were me, right here, right now.”
We can live in ways each day that bring blessing and grace to life in our life. When I commune with my statue of the seated Buddha, his serenity and tranquility become my serenity, my tranquility, and I can step back into my life and do there what needs to be done the way the Buddha might do it, and then I can drop back into his serenity and tranquility, and step back into my life, and back and forth it goes…
One of the tasks of life is making our peace with the tasks of life. Our wants and don’t wants come down to having what we want and having what we don’t want. Coming to terms with the “is” and “is not” embedded in each here, now is always and everlasting, as a part of the background music of our life, which we step into each day in a “Here we are, now what?” kind of way in finding the way through what meets us day-by-day. It’s like breathing and eating, always ours to do, never to be done.
I have noticed–can’t help but notice–how Buddhism counts everything. The 6 Bardos. The 4 Noble Truths. The number of heavens. The number of hells… How can they be so sure? How do the ones to know keep track? Maybe they missed one. Or two. What does it matter?
I find myself saying that a lot about the Dharma: What does it matter? Why does it all have to be so perfect? The way we sit? How we think? What we eat? Etc.? The only thing that counts is: Are we one with our intrinsic intuition? Nothing else matters!
If we let go of theology, doctrine, dharma, dogma, creeds, beliefs, convictions and opinions, and simply sit in emptiness, stillness and silence, opening ourselves to our intrinsic intuition, our original nature and our innate virtues–the things we do best and enjoy/love doing most, in a regular and routine way, and see where it goes, we will be amazed AND enlightened, AND liberated. That’s the way the Buddha did it.
The Way is not accepted as the Way by all. The Way is only the Way for some. We cannot force the Way upon anyone. Those who come to the Way come by their own accord, in their own time, in their own way. We are back to Martin Palmer and, “The path that can be discerned as the path is not a reliable path”. Some things are known only in retrospect, And apply only to those who know them to be so.
If we take the Buddha out of Buddhism and the Christ out of Christianity, throw away the Dharma and Theology/Doctrines/Dogma/Creeds/Catechisms, so that there is nothing to believe, we will be left with being the Buddha and/or being the Christ as only we can be. Which is all the Buddha and the Christ were doing, being the Buddha/Christ as only they could be the Buddha/Christ.
There has always been talk about being the Buddha and being the Christ, but no suggestions about how to put that in place. We read, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him,” as if to say, “Don’t let the Buddha keep you from being the Buddha yourself!” And, Paul can say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me,” but it doesn’t catch on and all we have is talk/talk/talk about believing, having faith, and going to heaven when we die.
It is all such a mess that could be cleaned up with our practice being becoming the Buddha, becoming the Christ in the way we go about life in the time left for living.
“Paying homage to things as they are,” and “being completely open to (and present with) whatever is arising,” is the attitude essential to being/doing what is needed/called for in each situation as it presents itself to us. Living here, now as life needs to be lived is all there is to it, moment by moment. “There’s nothing to it “but to do it” (Maya Angelou).
Buddhism and Christianity are a wonderful invitation to conversation, which is the only avenue to liberty, justice, equality, truth. Oratory does nothing to awaken us, only dialogue without prejudice, intent, indoctrination, persuasion, etc. can serve the goal of reflection leading to realization. Truth does its own work and does not have to be “sold” or “inculcated.”
Jesus’ observation that “the spirit is like the wind that blows where it will,” and his injunction to not “let the left hand know what the right hand is doing,” underscore the importance of going where the path leads without imposing doctrine, dharma, dogma or creed. The spirit doesn’t know where it is going, doesn’t care about how it should act or what it should do, but is open to the situation at hand free to do what is called for there with no obligation to be any particular way or do any particular thing imposed from the outside upon the moment as it is here, now.
No agenda is the only agenda. Only doing what needs to be done, the way it needs to be done in each situation as it arises all our life long. Neither the Buddha nor Jesus could do any more than that!
Buddhism’s Achilles’s Heel, or one of them, is its inability/refusal to see how it is not immune to delusion or illusion, but how it embraces its doctrine/dharma as “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” with everything contrary to it being delusion/illusion. How do we free ourselves from projection, delusion, illusion??? Seeing things “as they are” is impossible. We can only see that we are seeing things the way we see them and not “as they are”! Our take on things is just our take on things.
We filter everything through the filter/barrier of our own experience and cannot free ourselves from that to see without prejudice what we look at. Our intrinsic intuition is our only means of apprehending the world without prejudice. Our practice–the only practice worthy of the term–is that of aligning ourselves with our intrinsic intuition, of living in accord with it. This is the Tao at work in our life, in our body, inviting us to be one with it and the flow of life and being. This is our Buddha-nature, our intuition, the Tao within.
Acceptance is not saying yes to all things–it is accepting the responsibility of saying no to what needs to be met with no. Like the Buddha met suffering, and posited the 4 Noble Truths, emphasizing NO SUFFERING!!! Equanimity is not being fine with everything. It is being fine with doing what needs to be done in every situation as it arises–and allowing the situation to dictate what response we make here, now. Not reading from some script, or acting mindlessly/heartlessly doing what we are “spozed” to do, when what we are supposed to do is decide in the moment what needs to be done here, now, and do it here, now and in every succeeding here, now that follows.
When Jesus said, “The spirit is like the wind that blows where it will,” he was saying that we cannot plot out before hand what we will do when and where. We have to meet the moment free to do what is called for then and there without creating a tradition to serve in every moment that follows. Do not become a slave to the past! Become servants of innovation, creativity, possibility, opportunity… ! Alive to the moment, free to do whatever our intrinsic intuition leads us to do–no matter what! That is equanimity!
The idea of action “arising directly out of not-knowing” posits intuition as the source of life in the flow of life and being–being what needs to be here, now, without intention, agenda, attachment to outcome and no interest in profit or gain. Just doing what is called for because it is called for in each situation as it arises, no matter what, all our life long. That. Is. All. There. Is. To. It.
We live between “Yes” and “No.” We welcome emptiness and expel noise. We say “Yes” to silence and say “No” to emotions. Is it “Yes” or “No”? we ask of everything. There is no “Yes” with out an implicit “No” attached. “Yes” to something is “No” to something else. We swim in duality when we proclaim “No duality!” Who are we kidding? “Yes” to life as it is is “No” to life as it is not. “Yes” to painful knees is “No” to knees without pain. To have this is to give up that. Embracing “Yes,” we embrace “No” as well. So that all is one. And more than one. Both empty and full.
So many loose ends! Here follows more: Forgiveness from a Christian perspective is a path of earning God’s favor–a way of controlling God. It is a Roman Catholic ploy for power/control over the emperor and individuals. If the Church dispenses grace, the church owns the playing field, by defining what constitutes repentance and what the rewards for repentance are. All of which is absurd and has nothing to do with life as it is lived, or as it is to be lived–and who has any say in these matters, as our life is our own to experience and implement? Which leaves us with exploring what works to restore broken relationships–with how to make peace and live together. There is no formula! There are no Oughts! There is only seeing what is called for, what needs to happen, here, now. This is a very Buddhist process, and a very Christ-like one.
We talk about freedom of the will, but. We are not free to will what we want. Or to will ourselves to not want what we do want.
Liberation is emptiness in action. It has nothing to do with the end of suffering. Suffering disappears with a shift in perspective, in a change of mind regarding what is important, in the service of what is called for in each situation as it arises–without opinion, agenda, desire, fear, duty. When we live empty of all concerns, we are free to “go with the flow” of life and being by serving our inherent intuition all the way along The Way.
All of my screw-ups, and there be many, are all due to a lack of experience, to not being old enough at the time (Maybe it was yesterday), and to not having good-enough examples of how to do it throughout my growing-up years (Which continue as I write). I hate what I did and failed to do, and I will regret it always. And, I could not have been expected to do other than I did, and I learned more from my mistakes along the way than I did from my successes. And, I am still growing, and still making mistakes, and still learning as I go. My bet is that I have plenty of company among my fellow-travelers.
How can we avoid the realization that Buddhism is based on escape and denial? And on the neurosis of the Buddha shocked and horrified at the reality of things being not the way he wanted them to be? Escape to Nirvana! Escape to meditation! Escape to sitting! Escape to denial! NO! We have to suffer the truth of how things are, and live to engage the world with lovingkindness ANYWAY, NEVERTHELESS, EVEN SO! We all face the temptations the Buddha faced under the Bodhi Tree: Desire, Fear, Duty! And our fear is that we won’t have what it takes. Our desire is to have what it takes. Our duty is to do what is called for–what needs to be done–anyway, nevertheless, even so, in each situation as it arises, no matter what, all our life long–living from our intrinsic/inherent intuition in spontaneous, direct arising, action moment by moment. This is the way.
All the talk, talk, talk about salvation, liberation, enlightenment… Spinning in circles, going nowhere. Let’s start with reincarnation. Only a little improvement on the Christian idea of hell. Both ridiculous/absurd/disgusting. Reincarnation is viewed as PUNISHMENT for getting it wrong. Why not flip it and view reincarnation as OPPORTUNITY for getting it right???
With right being, sitting, waiting, to perceive what is called for in each situation as it arises, and arising to do what needs to be done, when, where, how it needs to be done, situation by situation, and when it is done, dropping back into sitting, waiting, to see and do again is the current situation that is arising, on and on, throughout the time left for living. So simple. Why make simple complex?
“The outcome is not the outcome.” There are no outcomes. The old Taoists said, “Circumstances beget circumstances.” Outcomes produce circumstances producing more outcomes, producing more circumstances. Why take anything personally? We maintain our balance and harmony by finding the right ratio between too close and too distant, between caring too much and caring too little. It is the dance of life. Are we going to dance or sit in a corner moaning and complaining, whining and crying?
Seeing requires no attachment, no repulsion, no YES!, no NO!, what is as it is is just what is. No judgement, no evaluation. This is the way things are for now and things are always changing, maybe for better, maybe for worse, for a while, but who keeps score?
When we respond emotionally to what is, what is responding? Look there. See that. All the way through. All the way around. When we look with eyes that see, they also see our seeing. Seeing our seeing changes what we see, changes how we see, what we look at. And there is always more to see than we see. Our practice is seeing, knowing what is called for via our intrinsic intuition, then following that with more looking, seeing, knowing, doing…forever.
And this gets us to the place of seeing Buddhism as a religion of escape and denial, of self/mass hypnosis and absurdity. “No duality!” “No suffering!” “No fear!” is all nonsense in the service of fear, desire and duty. Meditation is refusal to grow up, face the truth of existence and, yes, trample the unknown right on the spot! Avoiding suffering is refusing to trample suffering on the spot–to look suffering in the eye and say, “You aren’t going to stop me or even slow me down!”
Carl Jung says, “Life is suffering,” and recommends that we not run from that, but face and square up to the legitimate suffering of life being to live fully and unafraid of anything life might do! He is saying trample your FEAR of SUFFERING right on the spot! And live on, live ON, no matter what!!!
Forget the four noble truths and the eight-fold path and the dharma, and chanting and meditating, etc. and JUST GO LIVE YOUR LIFE!!! Buddhism is a religion of escape and denial–TRAMPLE IT AND LIVE ON!!!
Living fearlessly is doing what is called for in each situation as it arises no matter what, and letting the outcome be the outcome. Wanting has nothing to do with it. Or with anything! What does wanting know? Absolutely nothing! What is called for here, now? THAT is the question! Living as the servant to our intrinsic intuition leads the way all the way!
It comes down to, revolves around, flows from doing what is called for in each situation as it arises, no matter what. Knowing what is called for is a matter of living as servants to our intrinsic intuition in each situation as it arises, no matter what. That is all there is to it. Boom! As John Madden might say, Enlightenment! Liberation! Buddha-hood! Just like that!
What is responsible for my actions? I do things I do not understand. Where do they come from? Who is the mover? Who is the moved? What directs me on my path through the sea? Hold those thoughts while something says “All those who know, know the same things.” Does anyone who knows know anything that everyone who knows doesn’t know? Are we all capable of unique perspectives, and that way worthy of conversation? I hope so. It would make life more interesting than if we were not so capable. And we all have stories that are our own the way our fingerprints are our own. We should have a chance to tell our stories to one another. Maybe new perspectives would be derived from that exchange. Helping, perhaps, us all to grow up.
This is a beautiful testimony to the resiliency of life pulling us forth against our will to show us who we are, again and again, revealing us to ourselves in ways that develop, strengthen, call forth our gifts of original nature, innate virtues (the things we do best and love/enjoy doing most) and our intrinsic intuition in the service of what is called for here, now in each situation as it arises throughout the time left for living. It is enough to make us cocky, and confident, even eager to see what happens next and how we respond to it with what we have to give the times and places of our living.
The most meaningful thing I do is looking out the window. This has always been so. I expect it to always be so. May it be so! It is who I am, and who I aspire to be.
This is wonderfully, beautifully timely for all times and places. We live between the hands: On the one hand this, and on the other hand, that. We are not one way only. This is where duality is most apparent and constant. We are a multiplicity! Edward Sandford Martin has captured this exquisitely in his poem, “My name Is Legion “:
“Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd; There’s one of us that’s humble, one that’s proud; There’s one that’s brokenhearted for his sins And one who, unrepentant, sits and grins; There’s one who loves his neighbor as himself And one who cares for naught but fame and pelf. From such corroding care I would be If once I could determine which is me.”
The Buddhists have a word, “Bardo,” for the space between things. From the now to the not yet and to the then and there. It is a space alive with possibility, where practically anything can happen, the pivot point, balance point, tipping point, from which everything flows.
We can’t care what our chances are! We aren’t in it for what we can get out of it. It is not about what we stand to gain or lose. What is called for? That is our question to ask and answer in each situation as it arises. Circumstances call us forth through what is called for. The Buddha under the Bodhi Tree was not thinking about himself. Was not seeking his own profit. Was not trying to protect himself–and he was protected! But, Buddhism is not about being safe! It is about being what is needed. Rising to meet the circumstances and doing what is called for there, what is needed there, with the gifts we have to offer–gifts of our original nature, our innate virtues (What we do best and enjoy/love doing most), and our intrinsic intuition. With these gifts we meet and serve the world! And anybody can do that! In each situation as it arises! No matter what!
We face everything looking/listening for what is called for in each situation as it arises and responding to that with what we have to give that would be appropriate to the occasion–and letting that be that! “Do your work and step back,” said Lao Tzu, “let nature take its course!” As those who have nothing to gain and nothing to lose, caring but not caring, in a wu-wei kind of way.
Dualities unite in the recognition of the relationship between them being responsible for both, in a we cannot have one without the other kind of way. Two-ness is one-ness in this way. And one-ness is all-ness, or such-ness. Seeing such-ness as the ground, or the background, existence allows us to see everything as an optical illusion consisting of the parts and the whole, the many and the one. Watching the back and forth play of reality, coming and going, is a meditation in itself as we “zoom in and zoom out.” Being one and being one with everything, and allowing that to inform our realization of what is called for here, now, and what response we are being asked to make. If the house is on fire, it would be wise to go outside.
“Relating 100% fully with whatever is happening here, now” is knowing what is called for and responding apprpately to the occasion in each situation as it arises. — There is no Bardo between being and doing. It is one thing. No duality! Being is doing, doing is being, resulting from seeing/hearing/knowing/doing/being, also one thing. We see-hear-know-do-be.
If we abandon wanting/desiring, fear and duty/obligation, our motivation for moving beyond where we are is simply serving our intrinsic intuition in doing what is called for in each situation as it arises for the sake of doing what is called for in each situation as it arises. No advantage, no gain, no profit, no attaining, no amassing, no getting, no having just seeing/hearing/knowing/doing/being–which is one thing, not five things. Like duality/non-duality is one thing not two things. Because we cannot have one without the other. All is one and more than one. It is the way.
When we think ourselves dry, there is always our intrinsic intuition to turn to in times of trouble. Developing our relationship with our intuition is more important than developing our relationship with our Zazen cushion. And upon it, everything depends.
We can trust ourselves to our original nature, our innate virtues (The things we do best and love/enjoy doing most), and our intrinsic intuition to guide us in sitting with emptiness, stillness and silence (One thing, not three) until “the mud settles and the water clears,” and we see/hear/know/do/be (One thing, not five), and arise and enter the field of action in response to what is called for here/now (One thing, not two) and doing what needs to be done in each situation as it develops with “circumstances creating circumstances”–repeating this process through all of the circumstances and situations which follow, no matter what, with nothing to gain or lose, “doing our work and letting nature take its course,” all our life long.
September 12, 2024
October 8, 2025
What’s what, and what does it call for, here, now? That is all we need to know/do (Knowing and doing are one thing, not two. Spontaneity in response to what the moment calls for is the essence of Taoism and Buddhism and Zen–and the line separating Taoism/Buddhism/Zen is non-existent, or may as well be for all the good it does anyone. Knowing what’s what and what that calls for and doing it here, now, is all there is to know/do ever, always. So what’s all the talk, talk, talk about?
Everything that needs to be said has been said 10,000 times. So what’s the point of saying anything ever again, he said, saying again what has been said 10,000 times.
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