Fascicle 1 Reflections offered by Linda

Reflecting on your life, what is the fundamental point?  What is truly important to you?  What would you say is your most deeply felt request and aspiration for your life?  Are you clear what a "life" is?

Reflecting on my own life, as a whole, the fundamental point seems to be to experience, evolve and express the mystery of my own existence.  I think that is because this is what makes me feel most alive, and the most indescribably ecstatic.  Though sometimes this "fundamental point" feels more experimental, and less purposeful in nature and that can be troubling.  

I can't say that I do feel clear what "a life" is, because it seems each aspect of the entire universe has to define itself, including time and space.   But I do feel clear that what underlines and weaves together each aspect of the entire universe is chi, or energy, or spirit, or light.  And to me this is also love.  

Reflecting on "all things as awakened truth", how might that change your relationship to beings, objects, your own thoughts?  Studying each and everything as an instance of "awakened or awake truth", what happens?

If I reflect on all things as awakened truth, what happens is I feel a sense of peace, pleasure and awe.  Like the feelings of being "at home" and "belonging".  If all beings, objects, and my own thoughts are already and plainly awakened truth then it is easy to surrender to the truth and joy of that!  All the fear, anxiety and burden of "not knowing but yearning to know" can melt away.  

"As the myriad things are without an abiding self, etc..."Please reflect on the meaning of, all dharmas or the myriad things being without any substantial and immutable, durable self.  This is not to say there is no self at all.  This is reflecting on how the self functions.  Please notice, in your own way, when do you feel change and flow and non-abiding nature?

Words seem least available to me in response to this inquiry.  For whatever reason, the image of a newborn child, and the notion of tabula rasa versus 'a priori' knowledge comes to mind.  How much of the self is "built", decided and derived by tiny organic moments of integrated learning and experience, and how much of the self is immanent, primordial ..undefinable?  Of my own accord, I tend to feel change and flow and non-abiding nature as driven by my reactions to external forces, such as my immediate environment, the people in my life, or society.  And if the external forces did not exist and I did not react to them, I would not be animate and it seems there would be less hope for the possibility to live the "fundamental point". 

Fascicle 1

Fascicle 1:

1.1 As all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings.

1.2 As the myriad things are without an abiding self there is no delusion, no realization, no buddha, no sentient beings, no birth and death.

1.3  The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many and the one; thus there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas.

1.4 Yet, in attachment blossoms fall and aversion weeds spread.

Personal Reflections:

Upon first reflection what is mostly coming up for me are questions!!  What is the difference between buddhas and sentient beings?  Why the repetitive selection of: delusion, realization, birth, death, buddhas and sentient beings to discuss around?  To me, one thing this first paragraph offers is:  there IS all of these things (birth, death, delusion, realization, buddhas & sentient beings).  The second thing it seems to say is there is NO birth, death, delusion, realization, buddhas & sentient beings.

So the question comes, how could there BE these things at the same time that there are NOT these things?  How could each of these BE and NOT BE simultaneously?  How could TRUTH and NOT TRUTH be two sides of the same coin?

Although, while I feel I could make a pretty darn good case that I was BORN and that I am not DEAD, it is true that I would be harder pressed to argue whether I am in a state of DELUSION or REALIZATION.  I could easily argue for both of these, and I believe others who know me might be able to make a critical argument for both as well.  An argument working both sides could also be made as to my own BUDDHA nature and my SENTIENT nature.

So now, as I am thinking through this, I can see where a single true can hold TRUTH and NOT TRUTH as one and the same.  In fact, I am now even seeing where I could begin to argue that only parts of me have been BORN and certain parts have yet to BIRTH, while certain parts of me are in fact DEAD or have yet to experience DEATH.

Maybe something to consider as time goes on is "what is the Genjo Koan not saying?"