Re: The Southern Palm Two-Step

(The following is a response to Sid's inquiry as to the meaning of "know" in "know where you are" re: The Southern Palm Two-Step)

Hi, Sid:

To me, the "knowing" that's referred to in the Southern Palm Two-Step is really a response to the situation or circumstances that one finds oneself in. The core teaching of Buddhism is to alleviate suffering - which is certainly why I came to Zen, not enlightenment or anything so esoteric. The Buddha taught that his dharma was about the cause of human suffering and the alleviation of that suffering. He said that his teaching, the Eightfold Path, could be judged as true dharma - if and only if it was skillful in helping to do that very thing: alleviate suffering.

The first step in the Eightfold Path is "Right View." As Steve Hagen writes in Buddhism - Plain & Simple: "Normally, a view of the world is nothing more than a set of beliefs, a way to freeze the world in our minds. But this can never match Reality, simply because the world isn't frozen. Nevertheless we carry on as though the way we've frozen it in our minds is the way it actually is --" which, as we've spoken often, causes us to suffer. "I want it to be this way," or I don't want it to be that way."

"When the Buddha spoke of 'Right View,' he was referring to a view that isn't frozen, 'Right View' is fluid and flexible, constantly in motion. It's an awareness of how this moment has come to be. 'Right View' is seeing reality in all its fullness and fluidity - yet there's nothing in particular to be seen."

So, in essence, this "knowing where you are" is really a response, and as such - as Bernie Glassman writes in Woodenman - "we just respond directly in accordance with the circumstances. It is not a matter of 'knowing' what to do; it is rather a matter of just responding."

Hence, as situations occur and as circumstances evolve, it is taking, as we say in zen, "the step back," treading softly, not causing suffering, and responding appropriately - not from the aspect of our preconditioned mind, but from the Reality of what is before us - and bringing a little kindness along the way.

Remember that when Dogen came back to Japan from China and his monks asked him what he gleaned from his training with Ju-ching, he responded: " I came back a kinder person." This, likewise, is my intention.

I believe the following account is apropos to this discussion:

A student once asked Suzuki Roshi why the Japanese make their teacups so thin and delicate that they break easily. "It's not that they're too delicate," he answered, "but that you don't know how to handle them. You must adjust yourself to the environment, and not vice versa."


Hope this is of some help.