On the path, off the trail

From Wholeness and Integration, Redefine the object of my quest, 2/20/12 Daily Log – Slipping the traps of culture, and Practice, Path, Goal

 

..Gary Snyder – The Practice of the Wild
I would say the real play is in the act of going totally off the trail–away from any trace of human or animal regularity aimed at some practical or spiritual purpose. One goes out onto “the trail that cannot be followed” which leads everywhere and nowhere, a limitless fabric of possibilities. (153)

Life and matter at play, chilly and rough, hairy and tasty. This is of a larger order than the little enclaves of provisional orderliness that we call ways. It is the Way…But we need paths and trails and will always be maintaining them. You must first be on the path, before you can turn and walk into the wild. (154)

..Michael Meade, The Ends of Time, the Roots of Eternity
You have two things going on. You have to start locally, with local belief, local saints, local systems. And then at some point you hit a crossroads, where the local becomes the Great Way. And in the Great Way everything heads to this tree at the center, where renewal keeps occurring and all the medicine is…What you think of buddha cannot be buddha. It’s your own literal, ego-shaped version of buddha. Kill that and you’re on the pathless path, you’re in the real heretical territory, where there’s no footprints. That’s what I’m saying is the point where a person has to sink so deep into themselves that they find their own uniqueness…and begin to make the path by walking, with the feet of one’s own soul…The issue is to get far enough along a path, that the path opens up from the deshi, local belief, historical system, and blossoms into the Great Path.
Disk 3: Track 4-The way to the Way,8:01, Track 5-On the Feet of One’s Soul, 3:40

.. Lewis Hyde – Trickster Makes This World
Better to operate with detachment, then; better to have a way but infuse it with a little humor; best, perhaps, to have no way at all but to have instead the wit constantly to make one’s way anew from the materials at hand. (277)

When we have forgotten that we participate in the shaping of this world and become enslaved to shapings left us by the dead, then a cunning artus-worker may appear, sometimes erasing the old boundaries so fully that only no-way remains and creation must start as if from scratch…In short, when the shape of culture itself becomes a trap, the spirit of the trickster will lead us into deep shape shifting. (279-80)

..Thinley Norbu – Magic Dance
Many teachers and texts say that we must be serious and diligent in our practice. But serious diligence does not mean only strict and narrow discipline. If we separate diligence from open space, it is the cause of ignorance. Real diligence is always the continuous energy of open playmind. Whenever we meditate, if we can leave our natural mind alone in playmind, our serious grasping mind cannot disturb us. We need a balanced mind between grasping too tightly and relaxing too loosely. When there is no more serious grasping mind, enlightenment is effortlessly close. (50)

..Taigen Dan Leighton – Zen Questions
Dogen says that the point is to play freely. Zen may look very austere, but the heart is about finding our own freedom and playfulness…As Suzuki Roshi suggested, “Give your cow a large, spacious meadow.” Allow your mind field to play freely, in zazen as well as in engagement with your life…This practice is not about becoming a Zen zombie or mimicking wooden statues of Buddha. Becoming steadily intimate with your mind fiełd requires “to disport and play freely with spiritual penetration.” (128-9)

.. Eihei Dogen – Shobogenzo Gyobutsu Igi
Active buddhas alone fully experience the vital process on the path of going beyond Buddha.

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