Let Go!

The idea of attaining enlightenment by trying harder has always seemed to me to be ludicrous. Realizing enlightenment is not a matter of making a breakthru, after great effort, and finding something new, its simply a matter of recognizing what is. Yet Zen teachers continually implore their monks or students to ‘try harder’. My teacher told me to ‘take this more seriously’, though the objective is to banish the vashanas (habit energies), not make new ones — in Buddhist terms, to clean out the eighth consciousness, the “Alaya Vijnana” (Receptacle of Consciousness).

Similarly, in T’ai Chi Chih, the most important thing is “softness”, the “effort of no effort”. This isn’t accomplished by trying hard but by ‘letting go’. Trying hard implies effort, great effort, but we are not exercising in doing T’ai Chi Chih, we are swimming thru very heavy air without effort.

Enlightenment is not the product of dualistic thinking; its very nature is Unity. This is beyond the power of ordinary conceptual thinking. It means letting go of habitual patterns of thought; if necessary, stopping thinking. Patanjali, called “the Father of Yoga”, gave as his first aphorism the “suppression of mental modification”. This can hardly be accomplished by forming new modifications.

In conclusion, to achieve Enlightenment, to practice T’ai Chi Chih (these can be the same), LET GO!