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and meditation, oneness.
In Zen they call it – The One Sword.
Kusunoki Masashige came to a Zen monastery
when he was about to meet the oncoming army
of Ashikaga Takanji, and asked the master:
When a man is at the parting of the ways
between life and death, how should he behave?
The master answered: Cut off your dualism
and let the one sword stand serenely by itself
against the sky!
316. Love.
The real thing is
not to fight with your thoughts or desires or instincts
because that is negative
and the negative cannot help.
The real thing is
to grow in awareness, in meditation,
because then one wins without any fight whatsoever.
And to win through conflict is not a real victory
because that which has been suppressed
will have to be suppressed again and again.
Through conflict there is no end to conflict
and through fight only more fight is born.
But there is a victory
without any conflict, fight or suppression.
That victory comes through positive growth in awareness.
Do not fight with yourself
but grow in awareness and understanding and silence,
and all that is negative and diseased
will have withered away by itself.
Suzuki tells a story:
Chi Hsing Tzu was raising a fighting cock for his lord.
Ten days passed and the lord asked:
Is he ready? Chi answered:
No sir, he is not ready.
He is still vain and flushed with rage.
Another ten days passed and the prince asked
about the cock.
Chi said: Not yet, sir.
He is on the alert whenever he sees the shadow
of another cock
or hears its crowing.
Still another ten days passed
and when the inquiry came from the prince, Chi replied:
Not quite yet, sir.
His sense of fighting is still smoldering within him
ready to be awakened.
When another ten days elapsed
Chi replied in response to the inquiry:
He is almost ready.
Even when he hears another crowing he shows
no excitement.
He has now become positive.
He has grown in subtle inner awareness.
Now he resembles one made of wood,
he is so quiet and silent.
His qualities are integrated.
No cock is his match
and to win he will not have to fight
because other cocks will run away from him immediately.
They cannot face him now.
And really it proved so.
He won fights without fighting at all.
And I say that you can do likewise with yourself:
learn the secret from Chi Hsing Tzu’s cock!
317. Love.
Everything has happened as it should happen.
And l was surprised not because you ran away from here
but because I never thought you could be
so predictable!
It is not from here that you have escaped,
it is only a vain effort to escape from yourself –
which is impossible.
How can one escape from oneself?
But in meditation a moment comes,
necessarily comes, when the mind tries the impossible –
for the mind this is the last defensive act.
Meditation is ultimately suicidal to the mind.
And of course the mind must be given a chance –
and you have given it!
Meditation is encountering yourself
directly and in your total nakedness.
This creates fear and the futile effort to escape.
The effort is futile because
whatsoever is known once is known forever
and you cannot be the old ignorant person again.
There is no way to go back
and there is no bridge.
This escape will make you more mature too
and you will come back strengthened
through it and because of it.
Now relax there under the sky and beside the sea
and I will be there.
Whenever you are relaxed you will feel my presence.
And when you feel like coming, come back –
and soon you will feel this.
I will be waiting here for you as ever.
Come and continue the arduous journey
towards your self.
318. Love.
I know that the apprenticeship
is very hard but worth it.
So keep on. It is arduous,
but one has to pay for everything,
and in no other way can you get to the great treasure.
You have longed for it for lives and lives
and now when the time is ripe
and the key is being given to you
do not lose courage.
Access to the treasure is difficult
because it is hidden
in our own unconscious layers of the mind.
It will be easy if you approach that threshold
when the diurnal tide is favorable,
that is when you are passing from sleep to waking
or from waking to sleep.
So evening and morning
are probably the best times for meditation.