Our lives right now are one wonderful moment after another. Each moment is wonderful, if we see it that way. The issue is, every moment of our life is a transition from one thing into the other. Zen practice is about fully embracing that transition or that impermanence. It's about acting in each moment so that there's nothing sticking to each action or to each experience that we have. What is a common phrase that we hear all the time in Zen through the literature is, "just this;" just this laughing; just this walking; just this pain; just this waking up; just this going to sleep; just this lighting the candle. What it expresses is a Zen life is just each experience with nothing sticking to it at all. When you stand, just stand. When you light the incense, just light the incense. When you put out the candle, just put out the candle. There's no conceptual explanation or commentary on it. It's just the experience itself and we're completely one with the experience. And that is a zen life. So embrace that transition that's happening all the time without anything sticking to it. Don't cling to loneliness. Don't cling to sociability. When you're alone, just be alone. When you're in company, just be in company.
Geoff Dawson, The Ordinary Mind School of Sydney, January 18, 2022, Transitions
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