Sunday, March 7, 2010

True Seeing

True Seeing

Zen ethics is grounded in the realization that one does not know what’s right. This “not-knowing” is the refuge from which all moral action originates. It’s a refuge that can’t be relegated to the role of moral abstraction and remains a free and alive expression of the moment. What’s offered us in the place of moral certainty is doubt and love, which are nearly synonymous. Doubt wears the hard edges off our best ideas and exposes us to the world as it is. When the great Zen master Ikkyu was asked, “What is Zen?” He replied, “Attention! Attention! Attention!”

This very attention to a world thats not of our contrivance is an act of love, for we can only love what we truly see.

- Lin Jensen, "An Ear to the Ground," Tricycle Summer 2006

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Chick Lindsay

clindsay@wwt.net


check out Warren's Aug 29 2021: commentaqry on Ikkyu's 'Untitled' poem. "At a waystation, returning from Drizzly Road on my way to Always-dry road' ...both part of life...no judgment needed.