NO ESCAPE
by Sensei Robert Joshin Althouse (c) 2005

"To be attached to things is illusion;
to encounter the absolute is not yet enlightenment.
Each and all, the subjective and objective spheres are related,
and at the same time independent.
Related, yet working differently, thought each keeps its own place.
Form makes the character and appearance different."

from Identity of Relative and Absolute

I enjoy zazen; the clean, clear field of soft morning light, punctuated by the cardinal's song. Sometimes I don't enjoy zazen. Sometimes I'm sleepy and don't want to get out of bed. It's really very simple. I just have to get up and do zazen. If I don't sit, I'm avoiding myself. If you really know yourself, you may begin to appreciate how important zazen is. You may think you are free to do whatever you want, but you are creating karma all the time. No one else can pay your debts. Only you can. So for me, zazen is important. If I don't sit, I don't feel so good and I begin to create problems for myself and others. So it's really very simple; there's no escape.

I was in a group recently that thought spirituality had something to do with a transcendental impulse to go somewhere else. We went around the circle talking about where we'd like to go. Some people wanted to go to other countries. Some wanted to go to other planets. When it came my turn I just said, "no escape." There is no escaping ourselves. There is nowhere else to go.

Tozan came to Master Unmon seeking instruction. Unmon questioned him about where he had been, and received prosaic answers from Tozan. The next day, Tozan humbly came to Unmon asking why he had not received 60 blows for his dull and vacuous answers the day before. Unmon replied, "Oh, you ricebag! Have you been wandering about like this, now west of the river, now south of the lake?" Upon hearing this Tozan realized his true nature. No coming and going. No self to come and go. No time or place. Just this. No escape.

The Identity of Relative and Absolute is a poem, written by Sekito Kisen (Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien) in Southern China at the beginning of the eight century. It is one of the esoteric teachings of the Japanese Soto Zen sect that embodies the mind of enlightenment and discusses the five relationships between the absolute and the relative, known as the Five Ranks of Tozan.

They go something like this. There is a shift in one's perception of reality. You glimpse the empty nature of self that is free of all dualistic reference points. This is the beginning of Zen practice. Now you must submit yourself to the lineage and the teacher to be molded and to have your ego ground to dust. But this isn't the end. There is more. You must experience the Great Death, throwing everything up in the air, doubting everything and turning your world upside down. Without "no escape" you simply don't have the forbearance to undergo this kind of training. So now you might begin to appreciate why Bodhidharma sat facing the wall for nine years. Zen practice marries the absolute and the relative until they are completely integrated as a fully functioning, engaged, human being.

You have to pay your debts. No one else can do it for you. If you leave a meditation retreat early, you still have not escaped yourself. You carry this burden with you wherever you go. You might be on a beautiful beach in Hawaii and still be wishing you were on another planet in another solar system.

So don't be afraid of "no escape". You live in a self-imposed prison because you continue to imagine there is somewhere else to go. As long as you think like this your life will be like a leaking tire. The air will always be escaping. When you really accept "no escape" you are free to choose. Choose the dharma. Choose freedom. Choose to be Buddha. Choose to liberate all beings throughout all space and time.