Have you ever felt like the way life IS and the way you WANT IT TO BE are separate and different? I think we have all felt this type of GAP from ourselves. When we experience this type of separation, it is a symptom of lack of attention, of appreciation and of connection. A famous Zen Koan “Ordinary Mind is The Way” describes this situation:
Joshu earnestly asked Nansen, “What is the Way?”
Nansen answered, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”
Joshu asked, “Should I direct myself toward it or not?”
Nansen said, “If you try to turn toward it, you go against it.”
Joshu asked, “If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know that it’s the Way?”
Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to knowing or not knowing.
Ordinary mind is a mind that is intimately connected to and utterly interested in the lives we are experiencing right now. How can I move towards something I am? I am already IT so there is no longer an I or an IT, there is only THIS. When we encounter life this way we enter the FLOW of our own lives and there is no separation, no GAP between the way life IS and the way I WANT IT TO BE.
So What is Ordinary Mind?
Be Aware of your Life
Be Intimately Connected to your Situation
Be Utterly Interested in your Activities
Enter the Flow of Focused Attention
This is Ordinary Mind