Cold night, no wind, bamboo making noises,

Noises far apart, now bunched together, 

Filtering the pine-flanked lattice. 

Listening with ears is less fine than

Listening with the mind. 

Beside the lamp I lay

Aside the half scroll of sutra

 - Hsu-t'ang Chih-yu.                Courtesy of dailyzen.com 

As a family therapist I spend my days listening with great care to what others are saying about their lives, their fears, and their dreams. Do I listen with my ears or do I listen with my mind? We are taught to listen with evenly hovering attention so that we are not limiting our understanding of what is being said. How easy it is to decide what the issue is and to find all the statements that prove it. That is probably a good example of listening with my ears. When I remain open and fully present with my client, connecting empathically with the fears and concerns, I am listening with my mind and I guess, by default,listening with my heart. Deep listening allows compassion to be truly altruistic. 

Truth's naked radience, 

Cut off from the sense and the world, 

Shines by itself. 

No words for it. 

                           - Pai-chang (720-814)

When I am sitting quietly, content with my life, I feel that radiance. When I am angry, anxious and outraged over something someone has done , that radiance is a little more elusive. To deny my feelings does not seem to be the answer. To sit with the rage is hard, very hard. I will ruminate on all that has happened, what was said, what I plan to say. I run these dialogs in my head and they all seem to favor an aggressive response that puts the other in their “place”. I return to the in breath and for a moment it is just me and my rage. No relief from anything, it is a toxic weight on my heart and at the same time it is an important part of who I am. And that becomes the task, accepting both parts with equal regard and respect. Perhaps it is contentment that sits between me and the shining radiance of truth. The journey continues...

You must perceive your essential nature before you attain enlightenment. What is perceiving essential nature? It means perceiving your own original nature. What is its form? When you perceive your own origianl nature, there is no concrete object to see. This is hard to believe in, but all buddhas achieve it. 

                                                                              - Hsueh-feng (822-908)

I have become a big fan of these questions. They are 1100 years old and can still stop me right in my tracks. I think I have an affection for answers, my comfort and self esteem respond very well to correct answers. Getting acknowledged for a good answer by someone else is icing on the cake. What is perceiving essential nature does not really allow for a quick answer. It invites me to come and sit for moment, quiet the ongoing monologue in my head and pay attention to it's essence.