Meditation garden, Osmosis Enzyme Bath
If we fall into hell, we go through hell; this is the most important attitude to have. Just sit in the Reality of Life seeing hell and paradise, misery and joy, life and death, all with the same eye. No matter what the situation, we live the life of the Self. We must sit immovably on that foundation. This is essential; this is what “becoming one with the universe” means.
If we divide this universe into two, striving to attain satori and to escape delusion, we are not the whole universe. Happiness and unhappiness, satori and delusion, life and death; see them with the same eye. In every situation the Self lives the life of the Self – such a self must do itself by itself.
–Kosho Uchiyama
Kosho Uchiyama (内山 興正), (1912—1999) was a Soto priest, origami master, and the former abbot of Antaiji near Kyoto, Japan.
Thank you Whiskey River, for this nugget of wisdom.
Is this the Yin-yang of being? Hell and Paradise are part of two complementary qualities, when put together they create the whole, as one increases the other decreases and vise a versa. They cannot exist without one another. The ebb and flow will never exceed the circle. The denial of one would create a void that would collapse the sphere. Once you accept the dynamic equilibrium you must treat both with respect.
Spoken like the Sage of the Burgh…(that would be you Diana)
This must be why I love my work so much: the yin and yang and suffering and hope all bundled together in psychotherapy.