“The reason everything looks beautiful is
because it is out of balance,
but its background is always in perfect harmony.

“This is how everything exists
in the realm of Buddha nature, losing its balance
against a background of perfect balance.

“So if you see things without
realizing the background of Buddha nature,
everything appears to be in the form of suffering.

“But if you understand the background of existence,
you realize that suffering itself is how we live,
and how we extend our life.”

~Shunryu Suzuki~

By KM Huber

Whenever we resist what is occurring in our lives, it usually means we’re clinging to a result we want rather than accepting what we are getting. In resistance, we do our best to reshape any moment to suit us, as if we could.

That kind of attachment never works, ultimately. Accepting the freedom inherent in every moment is not only more palatable but more realistic, for every moment is framed within the harmony of Buddha nature.

When suffering is viewed through Buddha nature, resistance reveals itself as a struggle against what is being extended to us. If we open up to whatever the moment is offering us, if we just trust the harmony of Buddha nature, we do not escape suffering nor do we push it away for another day. Rather, we accept that it, too, will pass.

It is this acceptance that alleviates suffering for we are not resisting the impermanence that is life. We are accepting that life changes and so neither pleasure nor pain last but are always extended to us.

It is tempting to trot out reasons and excuses for why we resist–some of them are really good stories in and of themselves for often, resistance relies on past moments that are beyond changing, which is not to say those moments may not find themselves in a story all their own. In so doing, they take on a new life.

As a writer, I discovered that writing extends life to any moment as a new story playing out within the balance of Buddha nature. It’s a new perspective at the very least.

Quite often, I lose my balance in life, just like my characters–presently, like the old woman whose story I am writing. She knows her story and accepts Buddha nature as basic but she did not always.

Writing a story is secondary to living one but like real life, story plays out on a blank canvas, as choices color each scene, ultimately revealing Buddha nature.

I try to remember the old woman when I slip away from Buddha nature for her story shows me what is possible—no matter what—but unlike the old woman, I do not have the benefit of knowing all of my story–not yet. Rather, my advantage is the clean slate that every moment presents to me, as a writer and as an old woman, uncertain in both and curious about what happens next for either.

“Do not try to know the truth, for knowledge by the mind is not true knowledge. But you can know what is not true—which is enough to liberate you from the false.

“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind. It is when you do not know, that you are free to investigate.

“And there can be no salvation, without investigation, because non investigation is the main cause of bondage.”

~Nisargadatta Maharaj~

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KM Huber is a writer who learned Zen from a beagle. She believes the moment is all we ever have, and it is enough. In her early life as a hippie, she practiced poetry, and although her middle years were a bit of a muddle, she remains an overtly optimistic sexagenerian, writing prose. She blogs at kmhubersblog.com, may be followed on Twitter or contacted by email at writetotheranch[at]gmail[dot]com.

© 2013 KM Huber. All content on this page is protected by copyright. If you would like to use any part of this, please contact me at the above links to request permission.