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March 2023
Dear Friends,
As damaged and lost as we may be, we can always practice the meditation of opening to what is. If our heart has been broken, stolen or locked away, consider shifting focus. Consider, instead, that Heart, like Mind, is One. Consider seeing that vulnerable Heart as belonging to everyone you meet. Essentially, this is the practice of chanting Kwan Seum Bosal, but in a more holistic, less formalized way. Example: I would like to help someone who is afraid of losing control. I let go; I open; I extend myself -- all of this is a natural point of connection.
Start where you are, and be careful around narratives, all narratives. They have an insidious way of making things harder to crack open. Every question contains, within it, a kind of limiting narrative. Example: How can a delicate heart open safely? Consider that the whole fabric of Indra's Net is completely delicate. That is the nature of being. That being so, we can just take away that word. So then we have this: How can a heart open safely? See? Already the heart is a little stronger, with a little more room to grow. Then take a look at the word "safely." The word implies a yearning, as natural as our breath, that we will not be harmed. It, too, is a given, something that all sentient beings share, hard-wired into being alive. So consider leaving off that word too. It's not necessary. Then your question becomes even stronger: How can a heart open?
Moment by moment, we can even edit down our question to a single word: Open. No matter what our condition may be, we can always open to what is. From that place, we can discover a bright and shimmering life, without end.
I’m reminded of the following kong-an.
The priest Yueh-an said to a monk, “Hsi-chung made a cart, the wheels of which had a hundred spokes: take both front and rear parts away and remove the axle, what then becomes clear?”
Yours, after all the words have been taken away,
Jeong Ji
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