“Do not ask me where I am going
as I travel this limitless world
where every step is my home.”
– Dogen
It’s easy for us to think that we need a path to find our way home. This is where the seeker is born.
We seek the path to truth, our true path.
The path, once it starts, it can continue for tens of years, a lifetime. I’ve met many who testify to this, myself included.
30 years on the path, until, one day, the path simply disappeared. I didn’t need a path any more. I found myself happy where I am, nothing to find.
"This path is not about accumulating anything or going anywhere.”
– Shinzan Muhan Palma, during his Shuso Hossen Ceremony.
But once you learn to truly see, to be home in every footstep, every moment, you’ll see that you can walk a path, if you see that it is not real. It is not going anywhere.
Once you see that, you can walk anywhere, free, home wherever you stand, or walk.
Walk a while today, remaining with your own footsteps.
Walk your own path, but know that it only leads to what is already here, simply unseen, yet closer than an in-breath.
The true path?
The unseen path to here and now.
ANDO / LIVING ZEN RETREAT / DAY 26 / FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2014, 07:00.