This big cloud - Teaching

Kusen - teaching during zazen - by Master Olivier Reigen Wang-Genh - 21 September 2023.

All inner activity - sensations, emotions, images, feelings and thoughts - is like a cloud whose shape is constantly changing. This incessant flow of activity is totally conditioned in nature.

We can observe it calmly during zazen, as if all the activity of the body and mind were this great cloud.

Our body this morning, our mood, our feelings, our emotions, our general state ... it's the constant metamorphosis of this great cloud.

But in the cloud there is nothing ...
Nothing stable ...
Nothing controlling ...
Nothing that directs ...
There is no intention ...
Only water vapour in suspension ...
Totally elusive ...

Becoming aware of this through the experience of zazen is
precious and soothing.

In total confidence 
Stop trying to control 
Stop believing that there is a pilot in the cloud

Silence is the pilot
It is the song of the bird that is the pilot
The sound of the bell is the pilot
It is your posture that is the pilot...

The fresh air that comes in and goes out...
The present moment is the pilot

© photo: Victor Carvalho