Posted inArt and Poems, Dharma, Other Teachings

Peace

March 24, 2022

Peace

Sitting in silence 
you should simply 
let yourself fully arrive. 
Let yourself fully arrive
in the peace 
of this moment. 

How can you actually do that,
let yourself arrive in peace,
given there are so many people
who tragically have to suffer 
from the lack of peace in the world?
Given there are so many people
who, in one way or another, 
find themselves 
in overwhelming need 
and unspeakable suffering? 

Can it do them good 
if – with them in mind – 
others 
let themselves arrive 
in the peace 
of this moment?

~ Silvia Ostertag, SanboZen Master

Zazen is an invitation to arrive in the peace of this moment. Some may ask, how is that possible, or even justifiable, in the face of world circumstances? How can we calm our anxious hearts and come home to an abiding peace when ‘home’ for so many is under threat?

This practice turns the question around: How, with the world in such turmoil, can we refrain from practice? Why would we miss the chance to offer our sitting for the peace of the whole world? What if – sitting in silence, resting in the breath, returning again and again to the here and now – there is just one sitting, one all-pervading silence? What if, arriving fully in the peace of this moment, the whole world is sitting you?

To arrive fully in this moment is not only to taste peace but to be it. This is the invitation of zazen and the invitation of each moment of our lives. To be who and what we truly are.

Image by mfuente, Costa Rica Trunk Wood, Pixabay.com

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