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Fifty-four years lighting up the sky.
A quivering leap smashes a billion worlds.
Hah!
Entire body looks for nothing
Living, I plunge into the 19th Hole.
-- 13th Century Zen Master Hogen
May I assume, as I write this sage advice that you, the reader, are an avid golfer and this is how you chose this site from the other Ten Thousand Trillion Goggle results? Or shall I assume you are a Zen student (or Master) looking for more reading to keep you off the cushion? Doesn't matter. I'll assume golfer first, Buddha soon. (Actually you are a Buddha already but you may be too busy trying to get your score down. Conversely, you are already a golfer no matter what your score.)
In any case, what did Zen Master Hogen (or was it Dogen?) mean by these words? Well, it's actually hard to explain, "ineffable," one might say. He was obviously plunged into a different brain state after 54 years of concentration on that ball. All of a sudden, a crack in the ball, the universe, or "no-universe" swallowed him up. Bingo, no more Hogen. In that state he was one with all. Or nothing with all. Or one with the ball. Whatever, doesn't matter. There was a big weight off the little guy's shoulders and all of a sudden he didn't much care about winning.
This may seem like a rather silly site to you at first glance. But wait - remember what Suzuki Roshi said: "Not always so."
What am I trying to convey? I'll get to the point, the still point . . .
Copyright Dakininet.com 2007
Photo of Giant Golf Ball terrorizing the valley: Jostein Hauge, Big StockPhoto.com
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