I was sitting in the back yard of our little temple in Berkeley reading a book on Zen titled “Novice to Master” by Soko Morinaga one of the great modern Japanese Zen Masters in the Rinzai tradition. The book is about  his lifelong training as a Zen monk and how he moved from novice to Master. The Subtitle on the front page of the book is;

An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity:

In one part he is writing about the aspect of enlightenment which most Westerners think is the point of all this Buddhism & Zen, however, many have written and stated that enlightenment, as such, is only the beginning, because you realize that what you have been seeking (so strenuously), has always been an integral part of you. Through the process of all this training and practice we get glimpses, or as I like to think of them “glances”, that point towards It.

Anyway, as  I was reading and enjoying the unusually warm California Winter, in the back yard of the temple I’ve been attending for almost 25 years, I glanced at the little Buddha statue off the walkway next to the garage and was struck by  how that is exactly how training has manifested in my life. I see myself surrounded by the practical aspects of the world and I do try and appreciate them and their usefulness, but so many times I don’t see the small quiet presence of the Buddha, (or Christ, Allah, or God, or The Eternal), that is in all aspects of the world and life we are in. “It” just waits and attends quietly because it is in all things. I get easily distracted by my version of the world, but that afternoon, for a few moments a great calm and peace came over me and I shed a few tears. My not so secret response to quite a few moments in life; and I thought:

This is the 

Way that It Is.

Fountains gurgle and splish

Yes; Splish and splatter!

Birds twitter,  Suns Shine,

Ladders hang,

Chairs folded, lean, and

Little watering cans and

The Buddha, stand and

Wait to receive. Openly,

And to give. Freely.