Fifteen - Waiting for the Mud to Settle
Like so many other traditions, Lao Tsu tells us that the Ancient Masters had serious mojo. In some nearly forgotten past, there were these superhuman Masters of the Way, “subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.” We can only aspire to their mastery. Whatever. Lao Tsu tells us about these masters and their mastery, but we shouldn’t get the wrong idea. Mastery is no state of fulfillment, no stopping point. “Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfillment.”
I’ve never been interested in the idea of satori or nirvana or whatever name it might go by. It’s interesting and telling, I think, that the average American thinks of Buddhist (especially Zen) meditation practice as aimed at some goal, some final state of blissful fulfillment, satori, nirvana, whatever. To me that just misses the whole point of dharma practice.
Lao Tsu writes of the ancient masters that they are “Opaque, like muddy pools.” Then he goes on to ask, “Who can wait quietly while the mud settles?” It’s funny; next to this line in my copy of the Tao Te Ching when I was taking Ben Wren’s Zen class I wrote, “My own zazen.” I like this idea, zazen or meditation as waiting for the mud in our minds to settle. Who can wait for it? There is very little in life that I have found harder to do. Quieting the mind seems impossible. Moments of clarity are rare indeed–at least for me.