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I guess thinking I’ll be doing more things that I really want to do when I don’t have to work so hard seeing patients is thinking I’ll be happy when I retire. Maybe I should work harder to love the work/life I have now.
Elena
Thank you for this talk, Sensei! Practically, I think the idea that I’m an eagle acting like a chicken is pretty hard to swallow. For me, the part of the story when the little eagle is told that it’s an eagle but still acts like a chicken is especially hard to take. It’s like choosing to jump into the pool with brackwater instead of taking the other one because I know at least that there’s water in the brackwater pool. Parts of me are trying so hard to refuse to take a glimpse at my eagle nature. I’m starting to feel that this is really about life and death. This, again, is making it a little easier for me to accept that all of this is a huge challenge and that it takes time and practice.
Excellent analogy about the pool with brackwater. It feels that way doesn’t it?
i find the concept of being here, enjoying here, and working to improve myself a koan in and of itself. although i think i am better at this practice – it is still confusing especially when the here and now requires extra focus and effort. at these times, i think i run into great doubt – what is it i am trying to do and why? perhaps embracing these questions and enjoying the hard process itself, will help me see, help me enjoy today even more. although as usual i assume this vision, this feeling, this state, will take a life time of practice and evolve along the way.
Thank you Doen for these inspiring words. It is wonderful being reminded that happiness is the present moment and that it is entirely up to us to do whatever we want in this life. We have to continuously wash our bowls and how difficult that is!! It is great to know that we don’t have to do that on our own. I appreciated the analogy of the chickens and the eagle and it really moved me to hear you say that Lost Coin is supporting each other to getting the eagle out of that egg that is filled with chicken believes. That is beautiful and comforting – to know that we are together and that we support each other in achieving this.
Wonderful talk. Thank you Sensei. Somebody said to me last week, if we are all subject to karma, then is there no such thing as free will? Isn’t everything we do a result of our karma, and therefore we have no control over anything? Spoken like a chicken, eh? But we DO have free will. At any (every) moment, we have the free will to be the chicken or the eagle. We may not be able to control the circumstances that we are presented with, but we certainly can control how we react to those circumstances (which of course, creates karma).
I guess the trick is to remember that. That in each moment, I choose whether to be a chicken or an eagle. I must work on remembering to be aware of making the choice. I automatically choose to be a chicken. Only when I remember I have the choice, do I choose to be an eagle.
I noticed that the background music before the talk begins, is the closing measures of “As Time Goes By” (which I only know from the movie Casablanca). How appropriate. It reminds me of the “Evening Gatha” chanted after evening zazen at many zen centers “…time quickly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken… take heed… do not squander your life.”
@Carole – wow that is a cool coincidence. The background music was just a few notes extracted from Sensei’s composition.
You can listen to the full track in his Concious Art post.
@Sterling – Oh… I went and listened again to the Conscious Art post. Such a moving piece. And I listened again to “As Time Goes By”, and it doesn’t have the exact same riff, but the feel of it is similar to the little piece of Sensei’s composition that you used… kind of a bluesy breezing around the keys on the piano. Do you know the song I mean from Casablanca?