Dragon Stability

“Dragon stability is a technical term for stabilization so profound that it is not destabilized by activity in the world.  The image comes from the idea that a dragon is physically an animal yet mentally dwells in an elevated state.  Thus it is used to represent the Mahayana Buddhist ideal of transcending the world while in the very midst of the world.”
From Huineng Sutra translated by cleary.  Page 158

Stabilization is another word for concentration.  To have a stable mind is to have a mind that can be placed where it is most wholesome. A mind that is a tool for functioning, not the Master. To have a concentrated mind also means to feel connected to the true reality- the one interconnected body (of the Buddha) (of the whole world functioning together) (of Zenki – total dynamic working).  A concentrating mind is a mind that doesn’t possess anything and doesn’t grab on to anything, and is comfortable with space, and no-thing-ness.  It is a huge vast mind.

“Stabilization so profound that it is not destabilized by activity in the world.”
This brings deep and surface practice together.  To feel the interconnectedness, the composure, the quiet vastness of life in all the forms we meet as they arise.  To see Buddha in the energy of each moment and each form.  In order to do this, I have to let go of all my previous ways I have constructed my life and my story.  I have to deeply let go of control, and receive the life of this moment exactly the way it is.

Labels: , , ,