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Before enlightenment…

After enlightenment…

yeah, yeah. Ok, so what?!? fine! Chop wood. Carry water. Thanks. I got it. Life is boring. Same-same-y. Ho-hum.

Yup,

A human can work hard, devote days to meditation, to prayer, to shadow work. They can aim only for unconditionality with one-pointed focus, move through the dark night of the soul, change their character, grow their heart, expand their consciousness and still, they gotta hit the to-do list?!

Nothing fucking alters!!

‘No break for you, suckers! No rest for the wicked! You ain’t getting out of this karma, buck-a-roo! As long as you are on this earth you will be working your buns off. It doesn’t matter if you are a saint. In fact, now that you are “enlightened” how about you prove it a little, put your back into it! Don't grimace, I thought you were beyond suffering?!’ 

That was my take-away from this pop-Buddhist quote. 

I couldn’t leave it at that. I had to contemplate... 

Who hasn’t heard this phrase? Who hasn’t had it, droned at them in the seemly most unrelated of times? And why? Why do people feel the need to dictate this phrase by rote? As if your average human was even seeking enlightenment. Ha! How many people give a shit about THAT? 

The phrase became innocuous to my mind. Benign. Sliding off the the ripples of my brain like greasy platitudes. I came to like the idea that the difference between pre & post enlightenment was nothing. Zero. Zilch. It felt like an existential argument for not giving a toss. The golden ticket to spiritual couch potato-dom. I developed a theory as to why no one wants to become ‘Awakened’ or ‘Christlike’; it takes a fuck of a lot of work, nothing changes, and no one gives a shite any way. Profound!

Then came yet another day where I was shaving the hairs off my legs. I thought about all the lost hours spent doing this. All the maintenance hours that I will never get back. Why must we always cut its nails, brush its teeth, bathe it? Why must we continuously feed and water this flesh bag? Keep it warm or cool? Deal with its excrement? (you get the idea). Why so much work? Even when drunk on bliss, rocked-out on omnipotence, tranced out in tranquility: chores (?!). WTH?!

In order to not roll over and use it as an excuse for completely giving up, I had to dig.

The phrase, “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water”,  is a Zen a koan. Koan’s are stories or phrases used to create “great doubt”, that tests a student’s progress and this one was testing me. The Phrase is generally attributed to a fella named P’ang, a Chinese Zen Buddhist, who chose to remain a lay practitioner rather than join monastic life. He is quoted in “The sayings of Layman P’ang”, when asked by his master about his daily activities, he replied, 

“My daily activities are not unusual,

I’m just naturally in harmony with them.

Grasping nothing, discarding nothing.

In every place there’s no hindrance, no conflict.

Who assigns the ranks of vermillion and purple?

The hills and mountains last speck of dust is extinguished. 

My supernatural power and marvellous activity - 

Drawing water and chopping wood.

Woah! Context!. 

Reading the full verse, one can see that not only is this phrase used to normalize the quest for enlightenment, it points out the fundamental/foundational laws of the world that we cannot ignore:

We must tend to this physical form (best machine we will ever have), as long as we have it. 

Reaching enlightenment; Sainthood; Awakening; Awareness, (call it what you will), does not exempt us from taking care of the casks and the tasks we have been given.

Regardless of having opened the window of the mind to Infinite Consciousness; Ultimate Awareness; Divine Awakening; Spirit (again, call it what you will), there are still things to attend to. There is still shit to get done. 

What’s more about Layman P’ang’s synopsis of his activities, he is not simply telling us that taking care of our daily lives with an enlightened mind is business-as-usual. He is saying that enlightenment puts the ‘Extra’ in ‘Extraordinary’. That awareness allows one to feel the ‘Super’ behind the ‘Supernatural’ (and hey, the ‘natural’ too for that matter!)

Perhaps the firing of his muscles as he chopped reminded him he was alive with a mysterious force?? 

Perhaps the cool of the water he drew was splendid beyond measure? Awe-inspiring?  Ecstasy inducing? 

We can only guess… but according to him, his “marvellous activity”, was not weary-work, but harmonious activity, Art-work, with brilliant splashes of vermillion and purple. In talking with his master he seems to toss a hopeful seed for the lay people like himself - things will remain the same, only better. 

God bless you, Layman P’ang!

Via this phrase, worn-out with flippant use, he still teaches us that there can be harmony in the sweeping of steps, the washing of dishes, the shaving of legs. 

All that is pressing can be encountered without resistance. 

All that is encountered, can be met without force.  

Delight in ordinary moments is to be found by the person of awakened perspective.

There is NO WHERE but here.

Let us be here. 

I am Sad

Sad Sad sad sad sad.

In all the ways

(this) Graphiti is Profound

Loving our sad parts