Image via Wikipedia
Mindfulness Meditation is our formal mindfulness practice – and from a Zen perspective, we can say that it is “being fully present to each moment on the cushion.” With that said, I want to share the following quotation from Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of my very favorite teachers in the tradition of Zen mindfulness. In his amazing book entitled, Wherever You Go, There You Are, Kabat-Zinn relates:
It is best to encounter each moment with freshness, its rich potential held in awareness. We look deeply into it, and then we let go into the next moment, not holding to the last one. Each moment then can be fresh, each breath a new beginning, a new letting go, a new letting be. Just as with our stepping over the rocky terrain, there is no “supposed to” here. True, there is much to be seen and understood along this path; but it can’t be forced, any more than you can force someone to appreciate the golden light of the low sun shining over fields of wheat or the moonrise in the mountains. Best not to speak at all in such moments such as these. All you can do is be present with the enormity of it yourself and hope others see it in the silence of the moment. Sunsets and moonrises speak for themselves, in their own languages, on their own canvases. Silence at times leaves space for the untamed to speak.
This passage and its teachings apply to our practice on and off the cushion. Mindfulness is mindfulness, wherever it is practiced. As on old Chan (Zen) teacher I met at Dragon Springs Temple in Shantou, China used to say:
In the essential silence, it is even possible to capture a tiger in the ass of a gnat.
I encourage you to just sit with that one for awhile.
© L.D. Turner 2011/All Rights Reserved
