ZEN FOCUS

The the Art of being One with Your Target

Life is a hapless shooting, for the most part, at vague images somewhere 'out there' beyond the confines of our reality, when in truth the target is closer than you might think...Nahu

When we shoot for a target the resulting effort implies that a distance exists between our selves and the intended goal. That is, between the target and the archer.

To reduce the element of uncertainty of time and space in which the complete movement must take place, the entire drawing of the arrow, placement in the bow and release, must be achieved with one quick, smooth movement. To attain the high level of focus and proficiency required by this task takes diligent practice. Thus, perfection of this technique aims at maximum focus or the absolute reduction of uncertainty through speed, coordination and concentration.

Seen from a deeper level, the art of Zen Focusing requires the kind of unusual perceptual acuity that involves more then simply aiming with your eye, hand, or the smooth coordination of your body to succeed in hitting your target of choice; whatever that goal may be, it also takes a high degree of spiritual awareness. This smooth focus and release must attain an unconscious depth of body/mind unity. Like all higher spiritual practices, to do so requires that both the object and subject become united, as completely as possible.

Try to visualize the process like this: See your target and your self as One. When you release your arrow, let go of your desires and the uncertainty of achieving them. Think of what you seek out there to accomplish in the world (your target), is already one with you. Remember: though the target and the archer appear to be separate entities, they are fragments of an unknown, yet implicate state of ONENESS.

Therefore, true focus necessitates reunion of your inner and outer Self into a new awareness of ONENESS. The true aim of Zen Archery than is: Returning to a state of No Separations Between Self and World.

Eugen Herrigel (1953), describes Zen in archery as follows: 'The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art..."

Note: When you have hit your focused target of ONENESS, newly discovered within you, the quest for its location somewhere out there in the world will be over.

Namaste' Nahu

TAO OF THE ABSOLUTE POINT

Note: As you begin this blog remember that all space and therefore time are curved, thus forming a dynamic circle.

Suffice it say, in this brief blog, that the art of finding our absolute sense of balance between dualistic forces, often referred to as Yin and Yang, essentially represent the disparity and reunion of the poles within the dynamics of our being.

One's ability to find the absolute point or fulcrum of balance in our being conjugates with a vertex* that begins with that point and joins diametrically with our life path. In this sense, then, where we are coming from, determines the absolute point,line and circle to where we are going. And I say this not to confuse you, but to illumine.

Case in point:

Last night, while on one of my many lucid journeys to inner teachers and the light, I was shown a unique principle that at first baffled and then amazed me. It had to do with what could be termed an "absolute point" and what it teaches us.

My guide, though nebulous in structure, more a gentle spirit garbed in simple efficiency, took me to what could be called a powerful energy point (Feng Shui literally meaning air and water). At its outermost edge stood a great crucible or pot and in it was a clear fluid filled with a powdery substance, which I intuitively knew represented the divine elixir.* After meditating on this crucible of energy and partaking of a drink, we climbed down the precipitous edges of the escarpment, which was in itself quite significant symbolically and syncronistically. As we came down to the lower edges I got a chance to glance downward and saw that we ,indeed, were on an outermost precipice that led to infinity. My guide explained to me (which resonated strongly within)that I had been there once before and that this place was extremely important to me, though I felt a tremor run through my body as anxiety rushed through me as I realized the frailty of my mortality and this immediate threat to it.

Later, as I awoke I meditated, which is my first activity upon waking, on the significance of the dream, and as I did so I found myself back at the edge of the precipice looking down and far beyond the great edges I saw what he was showing me.

Looking directly downward, approximately 500 feet or more and slightly off the escarpment in what appeared to be an ocean, was a gigantic whirlpool. I was immediately reminded of the horrible maelstrom that is off the coast of Norway, known as Moskstraumen, and written about so frightingly in the tale by E.A. Poe.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, the meaning of the dream became clear to me! It was a Feng Shui point or doorway between dimensions, accessible by a gigantic vortex similar to a wormhole. I was at the point of transformation between realities and was being guided into transition.

Summation: The gist of the teaching of this great learned master of inner space, became wholly accessible to me at this stage as:

It is not absolute space that we should concern ourselves with, that is, the idea of expanding in our meditation to absolute space, as many might surmise. This is an attempt to escape the responsibilities of the present. The most important element here is that we learn to deal with the pressures at the absolute contraction point.

This is the "critical limit" point where anxieties reign paramount and the situation requires pivotal thinking and responding. We must learn to use the pressures of the moment to make the changes rather avoiding them. In a nutshell, the whole teaching reveals a need to 'flow with the go, rather just to go with the flow,' if you will.

Cosmology teaches us this lesson, if you believe the theory of the "big bang," which I do in part. Though I lean toward a belief in an oscillating universe, namely because without absolute expansion, the dynamic tension that results from the springing back at the point of maximum contraction, we would not have the momentum to expand to absolute space. It is from this oscillation between extremes that we gain the thermodynamic energy to propel the locomotion of our lives through each new experience--if we learn to utilize the energy that results from this principle in a Taoistic manner.

Therefore, cherish the pressures at these energy change points and learn to use them well, because they are diamonds in the rough--if we learn to let the light in these moments shine through our learning.

Peace from inner space~Nahu Lanham


*By usage of the word 'vertex' I am referring to both a node or nodal point as on a graph, and a local extreme point found in a curve.*http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk/daoist-scriptures/major-scriptures/pg3-2-75.asp