Every thing is temporarily unique and forever the same.

When we realize everyone is God, we feel everyone loves us; though some may temporarily hate us.

As there are few who have realized enlightenment, the unenlightened often think an enlightened life is lonely. That’s what makes them unenlightened.

Everything is always beautiful, but not all ways beautiful.

When all is One, is 1 + 1 = 1?

What are we thinking when we think we know what someone else is thinking?

How do you know when you are looking at something whether you are seeing it through your eyes, your mind, the mind of others or a group mind?

The now begins with M = E/C² and ends with E = MC².

M = Mass

E = Energy

C = Speed of Light

Before the now, all there is is Energy.

When Energy is slowed down by incomprehensible speeds, Energy becomes Mass.

Mass is the things that comprise the now.

When Mass is speeded up to incomprehensible speeds, Mass reverts into Energy and the now that was now is now no longer.

The cycle of Energy to Mass and back to Energy is incomprehensively quick. Yet, the mind slows it down so we experience the now as a continuous thing over time.

No thing and nothing are both forever.

When every thing is enlightening, you are enlightened.

What does the mind clutch when it grasps the now, as now is now no longer?

“He learns so much. When does he have time to know anything?” — Kotzker Rebbe

We can come to know the now by observing the now. We cannot observe the now when we are engaged with the now.

Our days are numbered, but we have less time when we count them.

As every thing is unique, no thing is weird. But the mind is weird, as it sees things as normal or weird.

The Way to Liberation is a long meal with many courses; some to our liking, some not; some salty, bitter, sour or sweet. The sweet dessert comes not at the end, but when the means and the ends are one.

“Love is the absence of judgement.” — Dali Lama XIV

“Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.”– St. John of the Cross

“Water is the face of fire.” — Kanako Iiyama

The appearance of things is unlike their true nature.

Water, like most things, slowly changes its form. Yet, beneath the surface, all things are rapidly and constantly changing, like fire.

Water is transparent and reflective. When we don’t see the fire within water, what we see is a reflection of our self.

We perceive the world as discrete things, like water and fire. However, all things are aspects of the same interconnected thing, the Everything.

This koan is Kanako’s family motto: how the family presents itself to others:

We are like water: calm, nourishing and practical. Yet, like fire, we can cause great destruction.

The it is an illusion, but not when the it is what it is whatever it is. What is it?

When we choose to be loved over loving, we will surely die.

Love is connectedness that dispels the duality of self and not self.

When connected by love, our finite self merges with what we love, creating a “beyond self.”

The “beyond self” continues beyond the lifespan of our finite self.

The self that prioritizes being loved cannot be loving. It is a powerful and controlling self, but not powerful enough to survive death.

“Crow with no mouth” — Ikkyu, 1394 – 1481

Can a crow with no mouth caw?

Does a crow with no mouth have a craw?

Is a crow with no mouth a crow?

A crow with no mouth is a crow with no mouth; it is what it is whatever it is.

Crows are exceptionally intelligent birds. They can solve complex problems, use tools, and even recognize human faces. They are also highly adaptable and thrive in various environments. They are keen observers and can consider alternative strategies to realizing their goals.

Crows represent wisdom.

“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu.

As wisdom cannot be conveyed with words, a crow has no mouth.

The “enlightened master” with many students is a powerful illusion.

Enlightenment is realization every thing is essentially light.

What is calmer, the sea or me?

When we can’t identify what we are seeing, we are experiencing reality.

How can the now be infinitesimally small, yet contain an infinite number of things?

Is that so?

The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. One day, her parents discovered she was pregnant.

This angered her parents, especially as she refused to tell them who got her pregnant. Eventually, she told them Hakuin was the father.

Furious, the parents told everyone in the community what Hakuin had done and confronted the master.

“Is that so?” was all he said.

After the child was born, the parents gave it to Hakuin. By then, he had lost his reputation as a righteous man, but that did not trouble him. He accepted the child and took very good care of it as if it was his.

A year later, the baby’s mother could no longer hold back the truth. She told her parents the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

The girl’s parents immediately went to Hakuin. They asked for forgiveness and to have the child back.

Hakuin willingly gave them the child and all he said was: “Is that so?”

“Is that so?” encourages self-reflection and the questioning of assumptions we hold without doubts.

“Is that so?” Hakuin asks the girl’s parents to question their initial certainty that Hakuin fathered their daughter’s baby and their later certainty that he did not. Ultimately, no one knows who fathered the baby; even the mother might not know.

“Is that so?” simply suggests we consider things from many perspectives. This is the essence of wisdom.

Wisdom is knowing that perceived truths change (like the girl’s claim as to who fathered her baby) and that, ultimately, no thing is truly knowable.

The girl’s parents lack wisdom.

They also lack compassion as they carelessly ruin Hakuin’s reputation.

Hakuin, a man of wisdom and compassion, knows what he is and is unfazed by who others think he is.

Embodying  wisdom and compassion, we gracefully accept what comes our way and make the best of it.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

The Pope: “It depends on the size of the pin.”

The Zen master: “What’s a pin?”

“Does a dog have Buddha nature?”

This is the first and perhaps most famous of 48 Zen koans compiled in the early 13th century in “The Gateless Gate.”

To the question, the Zen Master Zhaozhou responded: “Mu.”

Mu means “nothing.”

A dog is a dog. Buddha nature, the innate potential for enlightenment, is a concept. Two seemingly independent things in the now.

Yet, all things before and after the now are one thing: nothing, mu.

What is it now?*

One day, a Zen master with a clay pot on a wooden table before him asked several students: “What is this?”

Some said it was a clay pot. Another said that it was an artifact. Another said it was an assemblage of clay and wood. Soon there were other perspectives as well. A lively debate ensued, while the Zen master shook his head and laughed.

One student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground, shattering it into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room, until the student asked: “What is it now?”

Silence again filled the room. Some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered their master’s clay pot. Then the silence was shattered by laughter from the Zen master and the student.

The Zen master and student laughed as they recognized the other students were like the blind men in the “Ten Men and the Elephant” parable. Each certain of a their individual identification of the pot and the collective view that breaking the pot was disrespectful.

A pot is a pot, temporarily. All things are ever-changing. The pot cannot be described, as it is different now than it was in the now upon which the description is based. Those who know it can only say that it is what it is whatever it is.

*Courtesy of Bill Wisher.

Does a rock have consciousness?

Consciousness generally refers to the state of being aware of one’s surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having a sense of self as separate from that which is not one’s self. However, what exactly is consciousness has been long debated by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists and no consensus has emerged.

While a rock is a rock, what is a rock?

Is a rock an independent thing or something given agency by our consciousness?

If a rock is an independent thing, it may have consciousness that is beyond our general understanding of consciousness.

Alternatively, if a rock is an illusion created by our mind, a rock does not have consciousness.

Every thing in the now is interdependent and interconnected. That is, every thing is not a thing, but a facet of one ever-changing thing, the Everything. Things in the now that appear independent, like a rock, are illusions created by the mind.

As a rock is an illusion, it does not have consciousness.

If we don’t recognize our consciousness has created the things in the Everything, we have the consciousness of a rock.

Who are you?

I am a mountain range. I am the sea.

I am the Everything, but not specifically me.

I am everchanging, that’s what I be,

not who you think you see.

I am what I am. There’s nothing else to me.

“A man of wisdom delights at water” — Confucius

Water is like the universe: one thing and yet many things.

As it’s everchanging, describing water is beyond the grasp of words; other than that it is what it is whatever it is.

Water manifests different shapes (clouds, rivers, oceans) and forms (vapor, liquid, and ice).

Water is interdependent, as a wave cannot be a wave without the sea.

Water is interconnected, from cloud to rain to river to sea.

As drops of water, we fear not rain over us. Together as a flood, water reigns over us.

On water we effortlessly float or panic and sink.

While essential to life, water also brings drowning and death.

Sound travels four times faster and further in water than air, though we can’t hear what someone is saying underwater.

Water is odorless and tasteless, yet present in everything that smells and tastes.

Though colorless in a glass, water has a bluish hue when it gathers in the ocean.

Water in lakes and oceans seems impassable, but the easiest path between places is by boat over water.

Still water is dead-silent. Moving water is alive with sounds.

In a pond, still water is clear and turbulent water opaque.

Seeing ourselves and surroundings in a reflecting pond, we don’t notice the water.

Water is impossible to grasp, but easily captured in cupped hands.

Water is weak, flowing to places of least resistance; unlike fire which destroys all in its way. Yet, water easily extinguishes fire.

While not hard like stone, high-pressure water cuts stone like it’s butter.

A quart of water weighs more than a quart of ice; as water expands when it freezes, unlike most materials which contract when transitioning from liquid to solid.

Water symbolizes the cycle of life. Water is born as rain, lives in the oceans and disappears as vapor, forming clouds for its rebirth.

Water is what it is whatever it is, but how we see it is a reflection of who we are. A man of wisdom sees water variously. That’s the essence of wisdom.

Now is forever. Everything else is out of time.

“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”

The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping. It is what it is whatever it is.

Both those who think they are rich or poor are poor.

“There is nothing new under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes

There is nothing new because every thing is new, as every thing is in constant change. Nothing can be described as new as newness is not a separately defining characteristic.

There is nothing new as all things are interdependent. All things are one thing: the now. The now is not old or new, just always.

As light is the essence of all things, nothing is new as the essence of all things is unchanged.

The now is always the same, always new.

“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” — Linji Yixuan

In the now, there is only one thing: the Everything.

The Everything is manifested as an infinite number of seemingly independent things.

Yet, as all things are interdependent, essentially all things are one thing.

Thinking of things (like the Buddha) as independent is an illusion.

Illusionary things create duality, the thing and all that is not the thing.

On the road to enlightenment, we need to vanquish all illusions to realize the oneness of the Everything.

What does the universe look like from the other side of the mind, where there is no mind?

Love is selfless. But when the self expresses love, that’s selfish.

As all here is is is, what is is?

I am nothing and here and now. What am I?

As God is the Everything, why is God rarely noticed in every thing?

As the now moves at incomprehensible speeds, how can our senses inform us of the now?”

The Earth is rotating at 1,037 miles/hour and revolving around the sun at 66,616 miles/hour. Our solar system is revolving around the center of the Milky Way galaxy on average at 514,000 miles/hour. The Milky Way is moving towards the Andromeda Galaxy at 1,339,200 miles/hour.

At these speeds, our senses cannot inform us of the now, yet the now seems stable and continuous.

Our mind slows everything down and creates the now.

When a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Mu (nothing). There is no tree and there is no sound, other than the agency our individual consciousness grants the tree and sound.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki

Experts think of possibilities based on their experience. The inexperienced are not likewise constrained.

Every thing is fascinating, but the mind can make it boring.

When the inside becomes the outside, we are the creator. When the outside is the inside, we are creation.

As all things are everchanging, no thing is perfect but nothing is perfect.

“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” — Lao Tzu

A Way is always away.

Why can’t a self-identifying vegetarian become enlightened?

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean.” — Rumi

The enlightened experience life very differently than others, but know they are not different which is what makes them different.

“He who knows enough is enough will always have enough.” — Lao Tzu

It’s easy to satisfy our needs, but not our desires.

The right questions are more important than the right answers.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1, The Gospel of John.

God is the Everything; the now and before and after the now.

In the space before the now, there are no things; only energy, the invisible face of God.

The word is sound/vibration/energy: God.

In the beginning was energy, the energy was with God, the energy was God.

“What we see everywhere but rarely notice is our selves.” — Masako Nishi

“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you. But if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you!” — Kotzker Rebbe

When Moses encountered God in the desert, Moses asked God who he was. God said: “I am what I am.” That is, God is indescribable because God is the Everything. Any other description implies God is one thing and not another; the antithesis of God.

If I am what I am and you are what you are, I and you are God. However, if I define myself in terms of what I am not (you), I am not God.

If you are God, I treat you accordingly; as I treat myself.

A clear mind sees every thing and understands nothing.

The more you look the less you see.

We are all unique and the same, simultaneously.

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” — George Bernard Shaw