John Cage once told me,
"I got to a crossroads,
where I could go in the direction
of the things
that I intended,
or I could go in the direction
of the things
that I didn't intend.
I chose to go
in the direction
of the things
that I didn't intend."
so, after he said that,
I meditated and thought about it
for about forty years,
and have decided
that the things
which I intend
and the things
which I don't intend
come from the same source,
it just seems different,
but there must be
a difference
in the world
and the mind,
because some actions
are seen
as moral issues
which require
personal responsibility,
like killing somebody.
I used to play
in a band
called "The Motor City Free Arts Group"
and I thought
that the word Free
meant liberated,
as I still think it does,
but later
in my life,
I decided
that Free
could mean
"No money involved",
so, since I have enough money,
I decided
to do Free Art,
liberated and without buying
or selling,
so I give away
my art,
because I can't sell it
anyway,
and since I think
my art
is a kind of
spiritual thing
for me,
that it shouldn't probably
be sold anyway,
so until I am bankrupt
and need money,
I guess I will keep doing
Free Art,
so here's some
right here.
I think
some of us know
that ignorant people
sometimes are famous,
and I think
that is because
fools want to be above
other people
so that there
is this illusion
that they are better
than other people,
so stupid people
are very ambitious
and fight and struggle
to get to the top
where they are famous,
leaving a lot of wrecked people
behind
who they have stomped on
to get there,
but wise people
are hard to find
because they don't want
to be above others,
so they are just people
like everybody
in the world.
So, yesterday,
I did spiritual practice
in the morning,
and then I was wrecked
by sleepiness
all day,
so I woke up today,
wrecked by sleepiness again,
and I thought
that Zen and religion in general
is no good at all
and that I have been screwed
all these years
by thinking that it was something
which would help,
but then
a voice in my head
suggested something
about baseball fans,
and how the good fan
stays with the team
even if they
are in last place
and losing every game,
so I did
my spiritual practice.
I just had
an enlightenment experience
today,
which was so subtle
that I didn't realize
that it was
an enlightenment experience,
and I had had it
before,
and this was what it was,
it was that life
is changing at light speed
all the time,
but at the same time
nothing at all
is changing,
there is this thing
called life
which doesn't ever
change at all,
and it is
a kind of nothing
that we all know,
because it is life
and we're it.
Zen, these days,
is thought of
as the non-thinking religion,
but I am
a Zen guy
with a beginner's mind,
in other words,
a thinking mind,
and I find
that my thoughts
are the golden guides
which create my life
and are the same
as prayer,
so Buddha taught us
to quieten our minds,
but he also taught us
that our thoughts,
once mastered,
help us more
than anything,
so he talked
about right thinking,
not no thinking,
and I have found
that without the filters
of thoughts, I become
blinded by the burning intensity
of the world.
Thimk!
Dharma is usually defined
as the teaching of the Buddha,
and this teaching
is medicine
which can bring about
a temporary cure
but is neither true nor false,
so a teaching like
The Sickness Is The Health
popped into my head
this morning
and I was cured
for a little while,
but if you cling
to a Dharma,
and repeat it
again and again,
it won't work
and it might make you
sick again,
so we must not forget
the regular understanding
of things like,
The Sickness Is The Sickness
and The Health Is The Health,
or we will overdose
on Dharma medicine,
which can make us
quite sick.
