piecesofzen

The flowing water of a river is a lot like Zen life. At times it flows so easily without getting blocked by fallen trees or debris. Then there are times when the flow of our life is obstructed and we become stuck.

But we are not really stuck as Zen life, just like the river, does get through by going around the obstruction or through small gaps. Our consciousness needs to be flowing, just like the river. To be flowing we need to pay attention to the way around and through the obstruction. We are not going to pass by if we don’t devote our focused consciousness to what it obstructing us.

Sometimes, during a storm, more and more water is added and the force builds up stronger and stronger until the river bursts through the obstruction annihilating it completely.

So the storms in our life can be used to blow away our own barriers, if we will just go with the flow and accept and observe whatever is there in our life and that it is not always about sweetness and light.

Through zazen we can enhance our awareness of our barriers, and through focusing on our own river of inhalations and exhalation as we breathe , we can witness as our barriers to higher states of consciousness just fall away.

If we can take time out to sit on the bank of a river or small stream and focus on the flow of the water, just as we focus on the flow of our breathing in zazen, we can learn a lot about who we really are.

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