One day a monk asked his master, “What is the Way?” The monk was asking about the Way of Buddha. In a broad sense, you can also understand the Way to mean “the ultimate,” “the mind of peace and freedom,” or “the Truth.”

The master replied, “Everyday mind is the Way.”

The words “everyday mind” express the condition of our lives free of our own ideas and opinions. Washing one’s face, brushing one’s teeth, taking meals, working—all these activities take place before thought. This was the point of the master’s answer. He told the monk that that was what he was looking for.

There is the expression “to create waves when there is no wind.” What does this mean? To the monk’s question, “What is the Way?” the master answered, “Everyday mind is the Way.” When you hear this, you might look at your life and think, “Ah! This condition now is ‘everyday mind.’ Our life itself is the Way. So that is what is meant by ‘the Way.’”

In this manner you insert your own ideas by looking at the condition of your life. In other words, it is a condition of being conscious of or perceiving something. If you leave it this way, then there is no wind to make waves. On hearing an explanation of the Way, you think, “Yes, of course! This is the Way.” By perceiving something that isn’t possible to perceive, you create waves.

The monk was told by his master, “Everyday mind is the Way. Every aspect of your life is the Way,” But the monk simply could not accept that answer. Why? Because he had been practicing zazen single-mindedly for a long time.

He could accept that fire is hot, water is cool, salt is salty, and sugar is sweet. Yet he was not at peace simply knowing these things, and for that reason he had been earnestly doing zazen.

Then he asked the following question, “I don’t understand what you mean by ‘everyday mind is the Way.’ How can I understand ‘everyday mind?’ What sort of practice should I do in order to understand it?’”

The master replied, “If you seek it, you will go in the wrong direction.” If you set up Zen, or the Way, or the Truth, or the true Self as being separate from yourself, then seek for them and try to understand them; in the end, you will only distance yourself farther from the Way.

Seeing things as they are, or hearing things without resistance, or accepting things as they are—no matter how purely and innocently we may do all these things—they in fact take place within consciousness of the ego-self. In seeing, or hearing, or accepting simply and purely, already the viewpoint of the ego-self has formed.

The condition preceding the appearance of your own ideas is already the condition in which you accept things and hear things as-they-are. In other words, it is a reality where you are one with things. This is what you must seek for.

The monk asked again, “If I never seek for it, how can I ever understand the Way?”

The master replied, “The Way is neither knowing nor not knowing. Knowing is illusion, not knowing is indifference.”

The monk who asked these questions was Joshu. After he made “everyday mind is the Way” his own, he said, “Before I was used by time, but after I had truly understood ‘everyday mind,’ I was able to use time.” This is being free of the consciousness of the ego-self, forgetting the ego-self, becoming the Way itself.

We are all just like Joshu, people in the midst of the Way. So please realize that the Way is you yourself. This is what I would like you to do. By realizing the Way, each of you will resurrect Joshu.

Sekkei Harada (1926-2020)

Source – The Essence of Zen – The Teachings of Sekkei Harada trans Daigaku Rumme 2008

There are always layers of understanding and misunderstanding in practice. It is similar to a snake shedding its skin; at one stage that is the only protection it has; then, at some point it is time to expand and let go of that empty skin that no longer serves.

Anytime the mind stops and feels satisfied with its new, shiny enlightenment is a sign to let go. There is no resting place in practice. We so want the reassuring signs that we are on the right track, which is understandable, and a practical way to get back to center when we get distracted.

Remembering to open and move on and realizing that there are a succession of enlightenments here can be a key to letting go. At some point there is a softening to the hard edge of the ego-self, a relaxation of attitude that can allow thoughts and feelings to come and go more naturally.

Each of us will feel our way into this experience of opening. After so many years of attachment and aversion, we start to feel the pulls and recognize it is time to take a breath and move on.

The condition preceding the appearance of your own ideas is already the condition in which you accept things and hear things as-they-are. In other words, it is a reality where you are one with things. This is what you must seek for.

Breathing in, breathing out,
Elana, Scribe for Daily Zen