Do the careful,
donkey-tending work.
Don’t trust that to anyone else.
There are hypocrites who will praise you,
but who do not care about the health
of your heart-donkey.
Be concentrated
and leonine in the hunt for what is
your true nourishment. Don’t be distracted
by blandishment-noises,
of any sort.
The world is
violent and mercurial —
it will have its way with you.
We are saved only by love — love for
each other and the love that we pour into the art
we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer;
being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually
burning building, and what we must
save from it, all the time,
is love.
If you are
stopping now, then stop.
If you are seeking a time when
you finish, then you will
never finish.
Forget your figuring.
Forget yourself. Listen to your Friend.
When you become totally obedient
to that one, you’ll
be free.
This
reminds me of
another statement Dogen Zenji
made when he returned from China,
‘I have returned empty-handed, without the
smallest bit of Buddha Dharma.’ ‘Empty-handed.’
When you’ve got nothing in your hands, they are free
to be used in the best way. And, ‘without the smallest
bit of Buddha Dharma.’ In other words, everything
is the Buddha Dharma. It’s not a matter of
having it or not. This very life, as it is,
is nothing but the Buddha
Dharma itself.