“A monk once went to Gensha, and wanted to learn where the entrance to the path of truth was. Gensha asked him, ’Do you hear the murmuring of the brook?’ ‘Yes I hear it,’ answered the monk. ‘There is the entrance,’ the master instructed him.”
-Carl Jung in a foreword to the book “An Introduction to Zen Buddhism” by D.T. Suzuki
I don’t pretend to be a master of Buddhist philosophy, but there is a simple elegance to the above quote. My understanding of most things I’ve learned changes as I grow and no doubt what I see here will do the same as time goes on.
The brook is always true to its nature. The water in the brook has but one mission, to flow downhill, and in that mission it will not be stopped. Downhill it goes, effortless parting at obstacles, momentarily changing course only to resume its original course at the first opportunity. Nature or man may build a dam that blocks its natural path, only to have the accepting water find an alternate route to continue.
The water in the brook accepts its own nature. It does not pause to consider whether its fellow water molecules approve of the job its doing. It does not fret over whether its creator wants it to go left or right, it merely goes where it is natural for it to do so. Water doesn’t fear the outcome of its existence or what lies at the end of its path. It simply behaves as water behaves.
I am human, ironically composed of mostly water, and yet find myself often refusing to be human. I’ve lived in fear of life, afraid of being myself with all my flaws and afraid to address them in change. I’ve fretted over the belief that I was created flawed by a god who would punish me for being exactly as He made me, born into the only circumstances I could have been born into. I’ve reacted with horror to the thought of making mistakes in front of my peers as if my imperfections would negate my very existence.
And yet, as the water in our brook, momentarily turned aside from my true path by an obstacle, I can once again find the way of true humanity and continue in serenity. My mission as a human gifted with life is simply to live. Any other goal is an illusion and to be recognized as a potential source of misery. I do not need anyone’s approval to be perfect in my humanity; I already am and always have been. Like the uncarved block, I entered this world complete and perfect and only through strenuous effort on my part have I ever achieved imperfection to any degree.
I embrace my humanity, my flaws, my ups and downs, my pain and my joy. It is who I am at any given moment and given that, completely perfect.
