tomoe katagiri's quilt

Straightforward Presence

I was meditating in my big stuffy purple chair in front of my altar the other day and i noticed an index card on the table next to me. An index card amidst my piles of books, stray papers, nail files and binoculars for the birdfeeders, etc. When I turned it over, it was a quote from Okumura Roshi that I found in one of his explanations of a fascicle of Dogen. At the moment I can’t remember which one.

It read:

Because my perceptions aren’t twisted around an “I”

Because I don’t attach or have aversion

Because I make contact directly

I never deceive others.

Isn’t that the most accurate and beautiful description of practice? The authentic presence of this moment. It takes a long time of practice to be familiar with how to do this. It takes a long time of practice to do this more automatically than our habituated habits of our desire systems.

May we all learn how to have this direct, present moment, non-self-centered consciousness.