Remaining Calm in a Noisy World
Stillness within stillness is not true stillness; stillness found amid motion reveals the true state of innate nature. Joy within pleasure is not true joy; joy found amid sorrow reveals the true workings of the mind. — Cai Gen Tan (Conversations from the Cabbage Root)
This passage deeply matches biological law. Organisms respond to stress; the more adaptive, the more likely to survive and less likely eliminated. Those who find stillness amid motion and joy amid sorrow have unusual adaptability and are hard for nature and society to discard.
The world has always been noisy, yet some remain at peace within it. We cannot demand the outside world exist for us; we must develop the ability to stay calm in the noise. I once longed for a pure land to work undisturbed, but later saw that this very longing was the root of inner unrest. Drop it, and everywhere is pure land. Let it be noisy; I walk my own road. As long as I care not for the outer world, even if it boils like an oil cauldron, it remains a cool corner for me.
Fame and rank are fetters, yet are the deep mountains not? Sensual pleasures are a burden, yet the white clouds on the ridge are also a burden. The contented person needs no fixed template for life. Someone recently asked whether I wanted to join or found an organization to promote my research. I smiled: why seek trouble? Must I wear a research hat to live? A Zen monk, urged on his deathbed to leave a gatha for the enlightenment of all, roared: 'Must I leave a gatha before I can die?' I love his refusal—untill the end, he fell into no dogmatism; that is freedom.
Falling into dogmatism brings all sorts of vulgar, procedural rituals, most of which waste time. The world's clamor and trouble arise largely from these red tapes. One comes into the world naked, lives fully, and leaves naked; not bound by dogma is to follow nature. To my mind, that is the most thorough danshari (declutter).
Casting off possessions is only formal decluttering. If you have rooted out attachment to things, having or not having is one. Those who loudly shout 'let go' still hold on to the very idea of letting go. If you have shed the inner fetters, every state is pure and free; why need an outer form? So those who must declutter materially cannot do so in the heart; those who seek a quiet place to cultivate cannot be inwardly still. One who is indifferent to this flowering world cares not whether it is a busy street or deep mountain, nor whether one has much or nothing.
I have gradually blurred all boundaries, seeing the world as pluralistic and chaotic, and understanding every phenomenon and action. Though some, once seen, I must step in to stop—because they harm the innocent—even such I can understand, for I know they arise from their own inner logic.
Thinking thus, I gradually leave indignation behind, and the mind grows more at peace.