When Kishizawa Ian, Suzuki Roshi's second teacher, was a young monk, he was sitting in meditation on a rainy day and heard the sound of a distant waterfall. Then the wooden han was struck. He went to his teacher (maybe Oka Sotan) and asked, "What is the place where the sound of the rain, the waterfall, and the han meet?"His teacher replied, "True eternity still flows."And then he asked, "What is this true eternity that still flows?""It is like a bright mirror, permanently smooth," said his teacher."Is there anything beyond this?" asked the young monk."Yes," responded his teacher."What is beyond this?" inquired the young monk.And his teacher replied, "Break the mirror. Come, and I'll meet you."

"It's like you got yesterday, today, and tomorrow in the same room. There's no telling what can happen."

- I'm Not There (2007)

If you fall because of the ground, you rise always because of the sky, and it is altogether impossible to rise apart from the sky; if you fall because of the sky, you rise always because of the ground, and it is altogether impossible to arise apart from the ground.- Dogen

Si comprehendis, non est Deus



(If you can grasp it, it’s not God.)

The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life…. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.

–Walker Percy, The Moviegoer

NPR had a ripe story about the album by Van Morrision, Astral Weeks. One of the persons interviewed had an interesting observation. He used to think that good music was a matter of practice but Astral Weeks made him realize that courage was as important as practice to make art (or in my application prayer or meditation). How lovely.