UnMind 10. Second Noble Truth — Atlanta Soto Zen Center

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Craving is the thing
that gets you into trouble —
body, mouth, and mind.

We would like to think that we can intentionally relinquish craving, give up our thirst, as an act of sheer willpower. Mind over matter. But desire for the pleasant, and aversion to the unpleasant, are built into our very body, mouth, and mind: the three arenas of action to be taken in the present moment.

We can indeed change our body, within the limits of what is physiologically possible — through changes in diet, exercise regimens, and other supplemental behaviors that alter our body chemistry and other biological processes. But when it comes to aging — and to a lesser degree, sickness; and finally, ultimately, to death — the most we can do is our best. Eventually the doctor comes, and whatever degree of control we thought we had is grudgingly handed over to others, who hopefully have our best interests at heart.

In the meantime, we can witness the truth of the Buddha’s teaching, that most of our woes come with the territory, born of body mouth and mind. We often conceive of the body as being at the beck and call of — and in indentured servitude to — the mind. This one-sided view undergoes a severe attitude adjustment in zazen. It becomes very clear that the body is much more in charge than the mind, and will have its way with us eventually. Just try ignoring or denying the inconvenient call of nature during meditation. You will lose that battle of wills, the hard way or the easy way. Same with sleep, breathing, or any other function of the body.

By extension, this harsh reality encompasses the mind as well, as Master Dogen reminds us in the famous Genjokoan excerpt from the first fascicle of his masterwork Shobogenzo, Bendowa, which means something like “A talk about the Way.” After recalling the familiar perceptual example of mistaking the motion of a boat for the moving of the shore, he brings it home to where we live:

Similarly, if you examine the myriad things with a confused body and mind
You might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent
But when you practice intimately and return to where you are
It will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self

That nothing at all has unchanging self seems like no big deal, as long as it applies to everything else. When the pointing finger makes its rounds, however, and ends up pointing directly at your nose, we can be forgiven for trying to dodge this particular bullet. Note that it is dependent upon practicing intimately.

What is this intimacy? It is the intimacy of the water to the fish, of the air to the bird. So close in spacetime that it cannot be an object of perception. Intimacy is tied to craving, in that the more intimate we are with the flux and flow of the needs of body, mouth and mind, the less we are likely to be helplessly reactive to them. We have the opportunity, through our meditation, to get a leg up on our own desires, watching them arise before they are in full flower. Before we are overcome with thirst, hunger, lust, rage, or any one of a whole host of other urges, unfortunate or not, natural or unnatural, we can see them coming, and hopefully take appropriate, evasive action.