A Lesson in Ignorance...

The bamboo shadows are sweeping the stairs,

But no dust is stirred:

The moonlight penetrates deep in the bottom of the pool,

But no trace is left in the water.

As you might know, this is a Zen thought which is expressing the notion of a meritless deed. It's the art of doing yet not doing; the act of seeing but nothing is seen. As a Western thinker I have hard time embracing this notion, unless I really focus on what is being said rather than judging it by who said it. My beliefs get in the way and I discount anything that does not fit into my accepted way of looking at life which is through my five senses and my untrained emotions. I allow my emotions to drive me to a secluded area in my mind and I hide under a rock of fear. After all, I have spent a lot of time learning to be ignorant, why should I throw it all away on some illogical notion that I can do something without doing anything. Society calls that dysfunctional not enlightenment.

Changing my beliefs is a monumental task. In fact there are so many aspects of beliefs within the beliefs, that my basic belief may not change but I change how I look at that belief. One example is my religious belief. I believe in religion as a tool for assisting me in understanding my spiritual needs, but I can change the religion I believe in, and from this change my thoughts create and manifest another me. I may look the same but I am different, because my choices and perception have changed. I did not see the bamboo shadows sweeping the stairs of my mind, but they did, and the dust of my basic belief did not stir. I still believe in religion.

I believe that opposites exist. I am constantly offering myself examples of opposites in my physical reality. There are opposite axes on earth, opposite forces in nature and a language that is filled with opposites. There is cause and effect, and a self and a reality, which are all created by my own consciousness in order to create and expand my awareness in this dimension of life. But in other dimensions no opposite exist, none are needed because the moon penetrates the bottom of the pool and there is no trace in the water.

As D.T. Suzuki writes:

Ignorance prevails as long as the will remains cheated by its own offspring or its own image, consciousness, in which the knower always stands distinguished from the known. The darkness of ignorance cannot be dispelled because it is its own self.

My beliefs form a duality wrapped in ignorance and my ego rises as the executor of my belief system. It is part of my consciousness but in the process of enlightenment it acts freely and wants to be by itself, in order to remember that I am creating my physical world through my choices. Becoming my perceptions I am an individual who is always in motion, ever changing, and never stagnant. This process enables me to allow my consciousness to open and accept this reality, the creation of it, and realize it is but one reality in many.

So the Zen thought is expression of another reality. The language I use to create this reality is a belief. Once I accept a belief it becomes a truth, and once a truth is actualized it becomes part of me and compliments my existence. All beliefs are connected; all truths are connected in consciousness. By letting go of strongly held narrow minded beliefs I widen the room for other aspects of my self to merge with them and I expand in consciousness.

 I become the bamboo sweeper and the stairs; the moonlight as well as the water. I expand in awareness and my ignorance changes to knowing.

As Suzuki explains:

To him, thus knowing, thus seeing, there arose in me insight; the emancipation of my heart became unshakable.

Enlightenment is a belief in non-believing. It is the dispelling of ignorance and the awakening of another aspect of my consciousness. In this process I remember that ignorance is the logical inability to know, but from it comes all knowing.

I Am The Dust That Does Not Stir

The Water That Is Still

And The Offspring

That Prevails.

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