Going and coming, never astray
Because of the illusion of separateness, we find it hard to come and go. We find it difficult to come together, difficult to part. I know many people who have had wonderful relationships, but because of the time, the circumstances or various changes in their lives, they have had to go their separate ways. To be able to do that, somehow the creation of anger is usually necessary. There is that need to feel justified, to have a reason to separate. Since love is what brings us together - that is our rationale - then hate must be what will drive us apart. So we create anger. It is unnecessary, and so poisonous. Coming and going is a functioning of life, like waves rising and falling. We can learn to come and go without coming and going. We can learn to avoid picking and choosing. So how can we avoid picking and choosing, coming and going? Just to open our mouths to speak is picking and choosing. Just to say "avoiding picking and choosing" is picking and choosing. What kind of practice avoids picking and choosing? Avoids coming and going?
- Mountain Records of Zen Talks by John Daido Loori
"Going and coming, never astray." says Hakuin Zenji.
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