Oakville Zen Meditation
Zen chat with a wave
It was Monday July the 8th 2018. Fully awake at ~3 am and with a fantastic weather outside, I decided to dress-up and walk to the lake 10min. away.
Seating on a bench and in a mindful way, I used my 5 senses to experience the serenity and beauty of the surrounding nature. Reality at its best. No wandering mind, no dream, no past, no future, just in the moment.
The lake was quiet . A little breeze was creating small waves finishing gently on the shore.
I decided to focus intensively on these little waves and, after a while, I was chatting with them.
Hello little waves, how are you?
One of them, just born, replied: we are okay she said.
You must be sad I said.
Why replied the little wave.
For one your life is so short: you come to life, do a quick rolling and then die on the shore.
Humans go thru the same cycle she replied. Yes, your life span is longer than ours, but so what!
Look at the quality of human life. It is full of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and other negative feelings. All are driven by ongoing desire, hatred, illusion and mind-set. Waves are just waves, living in the moment. We are not driven by mind-made traps like humans because our mind is clear like water.
Okay, I said, but you are very tiny.
Yes. Right now we are small but sometimes we are bigger. You call us tsunami when we are gigantic or ripple when we are very small.
Do you have any purpose on this planet, I asked curiously.
Just being a nice wave she replied. Sometimes we make humans happy when they surf on us and when seagulls rest on the top. Beside, we clean the shores all around the world when we are big and during tides.
Humans are always dreaming about doing this and that. You want, don't want. When we cannot, they suffer. Very sad.
By the way, we never understood why you live in 3 space-times such as past, present and future.
Waves live in the present because it is the only one when we are alive. The others ones are man-made concepts. Past and future are only NOW in your mind when you think about.
Little wave, it looks like you are expressing some serenity. Can you elaborate? I asked
She replied: Maybe the best answers are:
I am never alone and I will never die because, even if I am a tiny wave for few min, I am also always part of the infinite lake or ocean, which never die. I will become a new wave soon. This is very comforting emotionally. Sort of immortality.
Beside, we accept impermanence as part of the life cycle whereas humans don’t realize that everything is transient.
What do you mean? I asked:
You think that each of you is a permanent, unique, independent, separate self-entity, quite the opposite of us. This is in your preconscious mind where fear of dying is alive if I may say.
So, what can we do to achieve your serenity?
Be like me. Your idea of happiness is the main reason of your unhappiness and..... Before she finished her sentence, the little wave past away, becoming the lake again. She was serene my little wave.
