What we are looking for is not lost. There really is nothing to discover through training, except that our goal is and always has been as close as our breath. I don't say this to imitate the Zen Master by using riddles and clever platitudes. I'm really just stating the plainest truth of all: A healthy body, quick reflexes, aware mind, and peaceful bearing are not some lost treasure that we have to dig and toil for, and that we may or may not find. They are qualities of being that we can either choose to acknowledge and nurture, or not. That doesn't mean we don't have to do anything. We do. We have to act. In fact, we can't help but act; it's what humans do. The secret is in acting wisely.
There is a path--or better, there are many paths from which one may chose that will lead to this treasure. But there is no special formula; one true way; or any real esoteric nature to any of these paths. It's all a matter of knowledge, intention and action. There is knowledge. There are ways to act that will lead one to a full life and ways that will lead to a dead end. And there are plenty of 'half-ways' in between. To that end, there are paths that work for some of us, and there are paths that don't. So, we need to find a path that works for us and we need to learn about it. Beyond that, there is the intention to do it, and there is action--doing it. It's really that simple.
In the beginning this is discipline, it is small Tao, or following a path. Eventually, it becomes what we do just as much as personal hygiene, sleeping, eating, and working are what we do. At this point the path is not separate from us, it is what we are. It becomes big Tao. And even though we can say that big Tao is our goal, it should be obvious that there really is no goal, there is no destination. The path, the journey itself is the goal, the destination. So it's not about arriving somewhere; it's about always travelling, but travelling well. Consider the words of the spiritual teacher, Jeff Foster: "You know you're on the right path when your path dissolves in front of you...and you start trusting yourself completely."
So even though we can't escape the fact that this still leaves us with a riddle, it should be easier to understand: Striving is arriving, and since it is arriving, it's really not striving at all; but until you strive to arrive, you will never arrive; so strive, but look at it as arriving and arrive you will.
There is a path--or better, there are many paths from which one may chose that will lead to this treasure. But there is no special formula; one true way; or any real esoteric nature to any of these paths. It's all a matter of knowledge, intention and action. There is knowledge. There are ways to act that will lead one to a full life and ways that will lead to a dead end. And there are plenty of 'half-ways' in between. To that end, there are paths that work for some of us, and there are paths that don't. So, we need to find a path that works for us and we need to learn about it. Beyond that, there is the intention to do it, and there is action--doing it. It's really that simple.
In the beginning this is discipline, it is small Tao, or following a path. Eventually, it becomes what we do just as much as personal hygiene, sleeping, eating, and working are what we do. At this point the path is not separate from us, it is what we are. It becomes big Tao. And even though we can say that big Tao is our goal, it should be obvious that there really is no goal, there is no destination. The path, the journey itself is the goal, the destination. So it's not about arriving somewhere; it's about always travelling, but travelling well. Consider the words of the spiritual teacher, Jeff Foster: "You know you're on the right path when your path dissolves in front of you...and you start trusting yourself completely."
So even though we can't escape the fact that this still leaves us with a riddle, it should be easier to understand: Striving is arriving, and since it is arriving, it's really not striving at all; but until you strive to arrive, you will never arrive; so strive, but look at it as arriving and arrive you will.