The Xing Xing Ming,
A document from the Zen teachings,
Contains this quote The way is perfect,
Like vast space,
Where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
It also says,
To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality.
To assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality.
The teachings are to encourage us not to have a preferring or avoiding mind but to accept everything as it is,
As perfect.
It says in the opening verse that the great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences but for me,
Right now,
At this point in my life,
This is too difficult because I still have my likes and dislikes.
I still prefer chocolate over mushrooms.
I'd still rather have money than be skint.
I'd still be more partial to living than dying.
So how do we get round this?
Where we can see everything as perfect.
That all is as it is,
Right now,
Is how it is meant to be.
That the wars and starvation and homelessness and illness and earth destruction is perfect.
That it is part of a bigger picture that we can't see or understand.
To be honest,
I struggle with this.
I love the yin yang sign.
It is a good and simple remind for me.
I think it symbolises the teachings from the Xing Xing Ming that that that we see as darkness is only a perception and that both light and dark are in harmony with each other.
They depend on each other.
They represent balance.
They are not in opposition to one another.
In other words,
We can't have one without the other.
If you have a non-preferring mind and got to the stage where you no longer have likes and dislikes then I honour you and your journey to this point.
But if you are like me and are not at this point but would like to get there I'd like to offer you a suggestion that might help us get further on in our spiritual journeys.
This practice is an expression of gratitude for what we may consider the dark bits.
Because without them we wouldn't be able to experience the light bits.
And so this is a declaration of thanks.
I will read you some of my examples that I say and if you wanted to repeat them feel free but they may not apply to you.
So if you would like to create your own then please do.
These are just examples.
Thank you for the smell of pollution and car fumes in the city where I live so that I can feast on breathing deeply the clear fresh smell in the forest and the countryside.
Thank you for the rushed,
No effort made meal so I can really savour the delicious fresh ingredients in a well prepared meal infused with love.
Thank you for illness so I can appreciate good health.
Thank you for my times of being skint so that I can enjoy my times of abundance.
Thank you for the cold of winter so I may delight in the warmth of the sun on my skin.
Thank you for the grey and drizzly days so I can drink in the dazzling pop of yellow and purple flowers and colour on the bright spring days.
Thank you for sharp edges so I can take pleasure in the softness of fur.
Thank you for the feelings of containment and being closed down when I dance so I can indulge in the expansiveness of freedom.
Thank you for feeling lost in the times where I have felt disconnected from myself so I can rejoice in myself when I remember who I am.
Thank you for the times when I felt alone in the world so I can cherish my relationships.
Thank you for the times of grief and sadness so I may treasure the times of laughter and joy.
Thank you for the periods of confusion so I value the light of understanding.
Thank you for the reminder of death so I may savour my life and the precious moments I have left.
Thank you for the dark bits so I may appreciate the light.
May you appreciate and honour the interdependence of the light and the dark in your own life.
I wish you courage and strength on your journey.
Thank you.
