A Flight Upward

I understand, however pointing the finger of blame around doesn’t help the person who is suffering. If anything, it only increases their sense of quilt and throws up more defenses.

In Zen parlance, the way to deal with a situation would be to sit with it. Aware of it, feeling it, breathing, while the situation unfolds before the presence of one’s mind. Not analyzing it, or blaming oneself or others.

And yet, seeing where responsibilities lie reveals itself: Seeing responsibility and everything else involved unfold before one’s mind, breathing, and feeling all the anguish, reasons, fears, and doubts that weave through any life situation, and which have brought one to this point that one is at.

And doing this, silently, as a witness to one’s life path – inner and outer. This may seem to be a rather useless practice if one has already spent decades doing various Buddhist disciplines, but the situation of facing the reality of the moment never changes.

Again in Zen practice, this situation would rightly be a Koan. Unlike the “twinkies” that are suppose to be Koans, which are given out to Zen students nowadays, this situation would truly be what a great Koan is suppose to do: light a fire in you that will not die till you fully plumbs its truth; and puts a question in your throat that you can not spit out or swallow. This kind of practice is very difficult to do, takes a lot of dedication and years of gut wrenching self-facing.