Lost Coin Class Notes - 2010-03-23

There is a Koan about stepping forward from the top of a pole, 100 feet high. How do we each do this? How do you step forward into something you've never done? Take that one big step you have never thought of. 

What this koan is about is what a person does after they are enlightened. How does one go forward? Practice at the edge. We move forward a little, but we sort of stay in one area. Jump  forward. How do you go to a place you've never been before? It could be small things too. Essentially you take a really big step.

First, you've got to know where the edge is. We're never motivated to do what we don't want to do.

How do we practice the edge? Many times when we move forward it is because we get sick of things. It could be our own fear, inertia. Good place to be, being sick of things, i.e. divorce.

Look in terms of your whole life. What are you sick of?

How do you practice stepping off of the pole? Just do it. Don't think about it or figure it out. Practicing is a way in itself to step off a 100 foot pole.

Even when we read a nice book, it inspires us. Our practice is not an intellectual practice. Thinking vs. doing. Thinking can lead to doing, but often it does not. Doing is separate from thinking. One does not necessarily lead to the other.

The way to step off the 100 foot pole is to just step off.

Look at what it would be like to step off of that pole. Get that image. We all have the capacity to do this.

Our practice is not about thinking, it's about stepping.

What is your next step?
This will be different for all of us. We might not want to because of fear. Just do it. 