56. Samadhi and Prajna

Samadhi and Prajna go hand in hand.
The sixth ancestor instructed that everything we do throughout the day must emanate from a firm and deep unmoving center. From morning til night, whether at work, preparing and eating meals, driving our car, doing the dishes, etc. we must concentrate and focus our breath deeply and slowly whenever possible into the abdominal area. Let go of attachments, let go of egoistic notions, begin to recognize and discard a lifetime of habit and conditioning letting go of those as well until everything has been stripped away.

What is left is this moment. Bringing attention to this moment is cultivating samadhi, and from there, that still point prajna wisdom appears. The cultural landscape in modern America is tainted by a forced immersion in externals. We want something always. Capitulating to impulses invariably makes things worse in the long view inviting all sorts of meandering thought processes. Even the idea of simplifying our life and allowing things to unfold as opposed to
grasping at a quick solution seems alien to the pace of modern life.

Wu wei is the Chinese perspective of non striving. It is not apathy or laziness but the realization that when we try too hard to control our life and force results, we actually end up making things worse. Simplification is actually an energy that flows from the inside out. It engenders humility. Humility implies a clarity of mind, and is recognizable to others as
authenticity. Being present to each moment as it unfolds resonates with others as a type of charisma.

Said more simply, folks just like being around you. One of my personal observations over a long life has been that we control very little. Our dreams and aspirations are interrupted by and always tempered by the reality of daily life,
family situations, career challenges, and loss. Do not allow desires and expected outcomes to taint your awareness of the present moment. As the Diamond Sutra teaches, the present moment is all we ever own.