79. The Key Unlocking The Door To Peace and Happiness

Zen Master Seung Sahn on a couple of occasions remarked to me, “You are too
clever. Your mind is always busy like a Professor’s mind. The key necessary to
unlock this mind is to become number one stupid.” After he said this, naturally I
said thank you, bowed to him, and left the room. Ha-ha.

When you are unable to pass through this door, it is because your mind has many
obstructions, delusions, and attachments. Absolving this malady sounds
formidable but truly it is very simple. Just cut off conditioned habits. A mind that is
quiet, still, and unoccupied is one that renews itself moment by moment.
Cultivating a mind that is non grasping and non rejecting means discontinuing to
live in your head. People who live in their thoughts can be described as being “top
heavy.”

Yuanyu, the famous Rinzai Master said “Your mind should resemble a withered
log and a rotten tree stump – like a person who has gone through a great death.
Moment to moment – don’t know. Instant to instant – non abiding.”

Alas, for most people the constant stream of mental chatter dominates their
moment to moment experience. Realize the non substantive nature of this
meandering thought stream as only passing phenomena.

A natural awakening takes place via “the interplay of silence and illumination,
quiescence and wakefulness, stillness and activity.” – Z.M. Guo Go

Yuanyu’s quote above “a withered log and a rotten tree stump” is practiced by
acceptance of and non reaction to this ever changing mental landscape. We stay
the same, unmoved by situation and circumstance.

Saying this also hints at the oft repeated zen axiom “pure and still, cold and
dispassionate.” We are not insensitive to others suffering but fully present to
whatever is unfolding in that moment. Only from a calm mind can wisdom appear.
Like a leaf floating down a river, if we do not resist the flow, then the energy of the
river and our own chi energy merge and become unified.