Suburban Seeker

In the words of the inimitable Jim Anchower, hola, amigos. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya. But I’ve been busy!

I’ve been writing fiction lately, though none of it is ready for sharing. I am writing a silly book about zombies to try to get my writing juices flowing as well as a bunch of short stories about, in no particular order, fraternities,  war,  and the end of the world.

(If I were to write one book about the subjects it would be something like: “Why The Fact That Men Who Were In Fraternities Run Things Should Concern Us.”)

But on to the seeking!

I’ve spent a lot of time reading the works of Huang Po who was an old Zen master but is now dead. It has completely revitalized my seeking. I was inspired by a user in r/zen who sometimes seems like he is trolling and sometimes seems like he is trying to be helpful. The internet is a funny place.

He directed me to the writings of the old guys, guys like Bodhidharma, Huang Po, and Hui Neng. He’s not a big fan of Dogen or Shunryu Suzuki or spiritual entertainers like Alan Watts.

I remain unconvinced on the latter point – I could read and listen to Mr. Watts all day – but I am deeply in his debt for pointing me towards Huang Po who spends an entire book just pointing towards IT, the Absolute, Tao, God, Mind, whatever you want to call it.

“That which is before you is it. Begin to reason about it and you will at once call into error.”

“To say that Mind is no-mind implies something existent. Let there be a silent understanding and no more.”

“The matter is thus – by thinking of something you create an entity and by thinking of nothing you create another. Let such erroneous thinking perish utterly, and then nothing will remain for you to go seeking!”

Beautiful and wonderful! How could it be otherwise, and yet how often we forget!

This is an unfocused post because I am feeling unfocused today. I hope you are experiencing an optimal level of focus however you might define it.

Here is a picture of an otter in outer space.