Crossing the Flowing Bridge
Soaring, Settling, & Being on the Path of Zen
Below are selections from the foreword to a book that I am reading, The Flowing Bridge: Guidance on Beginning Zen Koans by the recently deceased Elaine Macinnes, a Roman Catholic nun and Zen master. For the past few months, I’ve been practicing koan introspection with Dosho Port and he wholeheartedly recommended this book. I’m already hooked on the book after reading the straightforward and inspiring foreword by Ruben L.F. Habito, the author of Healing Breath, Living Zen, Loving God, and Total Liberation: Zen Spirituality and the Social Dimension. He is the founding teacher of Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, TX. All the quotes below are from The Flowing Bridge, Wisdom Publications, 2007.
“The Zen experience of kensho, or ‘seeing one’s true nature,’ is a pivotal point in a practitioner’s spiritual path. For some it can be a spectacular event that takes them entirely by surprise, accompanied by spontaneous outbursts of laughter or tears, or even both. For others it can be quiet, internal and unobtrusive—yet nonetheless momentous and life-changing. In any case, a genuine awakening experience marks a significant shift in a person’s view of self, of the world, of reality.”
“This awakening experience, crucial as it is, however, tends to be romanticized, idealized, and overemphasized in some popularized accounts of Zen. It can be depicted in ways that give a rather misleading impression of what Zen is all about.”
“The awakening experience is set in better perspective if we look at it in context as one of the ‘three fruits’ of Zen practice and the Zen way of life. These are, first, deepening the ‘power of single-minded concentration’ (joriki, in Japanese), second, kensho, and third, ‘the embodiment of the peerless way’ (mujo do no taigen).”
“The first fruit of Zen is about ‘con-centration.’ Here I use the word deliberately with a hyphen, to differentiate it from the usual meanings of the word ‘concentration,’ emphasizing that it has to do with ‘coming together toward the center of one’s being,’ or ‘center-ing.’ ”
“In other words, as you continue and deepen your Zen practice, the disparate pieces of your life will begin to come together, and you will be able to move in the direction of a greater integration of the various facets of your life and your being. From a condition of being dispersed and rootless, you will learn how to be centered and grounded, in all that you are and do. More or less, that is, for you can always run into snags, backslide a little, or fall into lapses along the way.”
“As you continue Zen practice, enjoying the different manifestations of this first fruit in your life, there may come a moment, unexpected, unprepared for, when you are hit by a sudden flash of realization. ‘This is it!’ As noted above, this could be a spectacular event accompanied by ‘fireworks,’ or it could be a quiet, externally unremarkable, simple moment of recognition—Aha!. It is a moment that ushers in a deep peace, unfathomable joy, inexplicable gratitude. The experience of awakening entails all the above. This is the second fruit of Zen practice, of the Zen way of life.”
“This is a refreshing, breathtaking, and exhilarating experience indeed. It can be like a floating up in the sky, free as a feather. It is an experience that brings forth tremendous joy, as it opens you to a glimpse of the infinite horizon of your own being, the vast unfathomable riches or your own True Self. Kensho is a realization, in all immediacy, of what the Heart Sutra affirms: Form is no other than Emptiness, Emptiness no other than form.”
“There is a word in Spanish, aterrizar, used in reference to airplanes as they gradually approach the earth (terra) and land safely on the ground. This term is most apt to describe what needs to happen to a Zen practitioner after kensho. The third fruit of Zen practice is about this process of touching ground again, after soaring the lofty heights of the vast Empty Sky. It involves a process not only of finding the ground, but also of taking root, and blossoming, and bearing fruit in abundance, fruits of wisdom and compassion actualized in daily life. It is a never-ending journey that continues throughout life.”
“This third fruit relates to the actualization of the awakening experience in all that it entails in every nook and cranny of daily life. While the second fruit may take but a moment, the flash of an instant, to manifest itself, the cultivation and maturation of this third fruit takes an entire lifetime.”
“The glimpse of the infinite horizons of your True Self, given in the initial awakening experience, can leave you dazed and dislocated, and it can take some time to be able to land safely back on earth again, to return to your normal senses. This is why continuing to practice after the initial awakening experience is essential in a practitioner’s life.”