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Sri Humananda "The root-cause of all these sufferings is ignorance whereas you are all Knowledge and Bliss Absolute. So wake up from this sleep of ignorance. Break through this dream. Claim your birthright. Recognise your true self here and now only. Enter into the grand experience of Divine Joy, Peace and Wisdom, which is your essential nature. Lead a perpetual spiritual life." The Wheel's Hub Zen can be pretty cool at times. It makes us think in a different way. Sort of as though from the other side. Check this out; the value of a cup is not in the cup itself, but in the nothingness that is inside of it. And this; the value of a doorway is the nothingness inside of the frame. See? Cool, eh? So Zen sort of makes us look at common things differently. And all of a sudden, the nothingness we think of as, well, nothing, now has value. We usually think of things as having value – nothingness has no value. But as Zen points out to us, we are seeing only the seen - usually less than half of it all. On many levels we know this and we merely forget. And because we forget, we get involved in the details of the doorframe and the cup and the windowsill, and we sort of ignore the value of the nothingness, which is as much the real value and essence of these things as the things themselves – even more so. Yet we so rarely think of nothingness as having intrinsic value, and we sometimes tend to look at the open window instead of through it, only intuitively knowing that it is really the very nothingness that makes us able to see what's on the other side. The Self is very much like this nothingness. It is said to be like the hub of a wheel. And you've got to imagine one of those old wagon wheels, you know, the ones with the spokes. In the middle where all the spokes come together is the hub - a hole into which the axle fits. Following the Zen example, the nothingness of the wheel gives it its value, because without an axle it cannot carry any weight, and the axle cannot play a role unless there is the nothingness of the hole in the center of the wheel that can hold it. Everything depends upon the nothingness, and so the nothingness is the everything. Scientifically, in the very center of the hole in the wheel there exists a state of zero movement even if the wheel is turning. Zero is in the exact scientific center, and yet without zero there would be nothing else that could exist. So the existence of everything depends upon nothing. Yeah, welcome to Zen. You, your Self is like the nothingness upon which everything depends for its existence. Everything (for you) comes from this nothingness. The definition of "creation" is the making of something from nothing. In yoga, everything proceeds from this center nothingness (You) as you create it. Whatever is around you or in your world (as experience) or in or even remotely connected to your consciousness in any way, is your creation. You create your own world and everything in it from the "nothingness" of the Self. Your directed consciousness is to your experienced world as your eyes are to what you look at. Now, everything thus created, since it is created from the "essence" of nothingness, has as its very marrow this nothingness quality as intrinsic part of it – underlying and upholding and sustaining it and pervading everything. And scientifically we know that the tiniest thing ('quark', is it these days, or 'string'?) when broken up becomes, well, nothingness in the sense that we cannot get to it. Yoga claims this 'nothingness' to be energy, or consciousness. So yes, everything is nothing – nothing but consciousness, and you as well. Heavy, eh? Well hang, it gets worse. The great wheel is turning, and whatever is created by you (in other words, to that where and what your consciousness goes and attaches to) proceeds from the nothingness of your Self. The created item moves to the edge of the hub and climbs onto the spoke of its choice by your will, which is influenced by your discrimination ability, which is supposed to manage your likes and dislikes – your attractions and your repulsions. And if you like the looks of this one spoke… this really cool-looking spoke, you climb out onto it because of your attraction to it. And the more you like it, the further you climb out onto the spoke. But the great wheel is in motion. And like a centrifugal force it starts taking over at some point along the spoke, almost like having a life of its own, and instead of only your consciousness (you) moving towards your desire, the force now starts pulling at you as well in an almost natural way whether you like it or not, or whether you wanted to go that far out on a limb (or spoke) or not. And soon you are spinning out of control. Science will tell you that the further you are out towards the edge of the wheel, the more force there is being exerted on you and the more difficult it becomes to change direction. Under pressure, so to speak, being both pulled and pushed in a direction that seemed so attractive and cool to you at the beginning but is now only the producer of huge discomfort, pain and suffering. And ah, yes, we are solidly in the throws of this thing we call life. The situation soon becomes intolerable and you eventually, being so taught by pain, recognize that you have to get to a more stable place. Balance yourself a little more, and (c)enter yourself. And for the first time you look away from the blinding blur of the world as it speeds by you and look back up the spoke to the center. To the Center, and yes, to You. And it looks to you as though you are a hell of a way from the peace and stability and stillness of the Center, and the climb back up the spoke, which has somehow now also become slippery from the rather sticky process so reminiscent of creation looks practically impossible. Most of us then merely hang on for dear life, clinging, surviving. Some of us try to claw back but it is not easy and many times it is one step forward and two back. Sound familiar? Yeah, to me too. For those who are into it, there are the advices of the various yogas. Bhakti (devotion) – hang in there and keep at it, because every difficult step makes the next one easier since you are nearer the Center (You) and further away from the centrifugal force, but love every part of it. Or Jnana (knowledge) – think about it, realize it for what it is, know who You are, and that will get you to the Center. Or Tantra, that compresses the time, but does not take away the effort, so work hard but for a shorter time. And there are lots of other yogas and ways to choose from. Look around, find something that suits you, and go for it. Find some help if you need it. Meditation is also highly effective for Centering. There is much hope and inspiration in some lines of the Writings. It is said that it was asked of a Zen master how long it takes to reach enlightenment, and the answer is usually something cryptic like "how long do you want it to take?" But there are also accounts that the answer comes back that enlightenment will take you as long to reach as what it will take for the rolling pebble in the river, upon colliding with the bamboo, to make the sound that strikes your ear. And also, from yoga it comes to us like this; "with your next, gently indrawn breath, realize your Self." Try it now. Sometimes though you'll even hear to give up the search for enlightenment completely because the searching is the very thing preventing you from enlightenment. But still, there is always hope as long as there is pain and its blessed associated desire for release, the latter of which it is said to be not omissible for evolution. Only, salvation usually does not come to us without our extending ourselves in some sort of effort, at least initially. For most of us, whatever form this may take it will still have to be effort, and this effort must come from us. Too few of us are at the stage where we can intuitively recognize that even the very effort is Divine in itself and that we are already enlightened, effort or no effort. Until such a time, hang in there with your efforts, whatever form it may take.
Namaste.
Sri Humananda © Dwapara 307 (2007) |