How do you respond when life hits you with the kyosaku? Image: Big Mind Zen Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/kanzeon_zen_center/601254367/
Life can be like a kyosaku.
In traditional zen meditation practice, the kyosaku – a long, flat wooden stick, – is used to waken drowsy students and sharpen their focus.
Two sharp whacks across the upper back snaps even the drowsiest back to reality.
In the Zen dojo of life the kyosaku turns up as those unplanned events that snap us back to reality and demand that we pay attention.
But the sting of the kyosaku is like hot mustard to the sinus. The pain is sharp and thorough but as it fades it leaves behind a heightened awareness of everything that’s left.
So, when the kyosaku of life hits you, will you embrace the sting and open your senses or recoil in fear and miss the moment?