‘Why do we forget the self? To attain supreme prefect enlightenment? I am sorry, it isn’t so. Facing the wall means to shoulder the world and forget yourself. Maybe we’d better not think of this action too much. It is a kind of discovered wisdom, like our posture and breathing. Each of us discovers our best way. We drop all kinds of preconceptions of what we are, what we have been, what we wish to be, or will be. We give those thoughts about ourselves a rest. You eventually go back, but you do not stick on the habitual way of knowing yourself, rather you let yourself be free to see yourself among all things.’ (Embracing Mind)
As with other pieces of his that I have posted, Kobun is making a very subtle point here, but one that resonates with me. I never felt that I have completely forgotten my self, but my ways of being with it and handling it are different to how they used to be, and hopefully freer.
Shundo David Haye 