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<strong>Dimitri Ehrlich</strong><br>Songwriter, Author, Father<br><br><i>When asked why he practiced zen, the student said, “Because I intend to become a Buddha.”</i><br><i>His teacher picked up a brick and started polishing it. The student asked “What are you doing?” The teacher replied, “I am trying to make a mirror.”</i><br><i> “How can you make a mirror by polishing a brick?”</i><br><i>“How can you become Buddha by doing zazen? If you understand sitting Zen, you will know that Zen is not about sitting or lying down. If you want to learn sitting Buddha, know that sitting Buddha is without any fixed form. Do not use discrimination in the non-abiding dharma. If you practice sitting as Buddha, you must kill Buddha. If you are attached to the sitting form, you are not yet mastering the essential principle.”</i><br><i>The student heard this admonition and felt as if he had tasted sweet nectar.</i><br>-- Dōgen Zenji<br><br>"As with most people, my spiritual struggle has always connected to the essence of this koan. It’s important to me because it relates to the question of effort: How can I step outside of my conventional desire to gain a result from meditation practice? How is it possible to practice meditation without attachment to the fruit of our efforts? I think approaching spiritual practice this way is impossible at first, because it almost pre-supposes a certain degree of enlightenment. And yet, if we are always thinking of meditation as a means to improve ourselves, to gain something from the effort and time we invest, the entire undertaking is subverted by our ordinary mind’s addiction to worldly achievement. The truth is, when we first take refuge in Buddha, our motivation is fear. We are afraid of suffering. We want change. Escape. Freedom. Only after we have gained some experience can we begin to shift the motivation, and explore these subtle traps of spiritual materialism. So this koan is a fantastic reminder to trust the purity of our primordial mind. To acknowledge our constant mental habit of grasping. And to see how grasping obscures our innate wisdom."

SHUTTERSTOCK / EVGENY ATAMANENKO