Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice

by Kosho Uchiyama

I described two sides to a person who practices zazen. One side is the personal self that is always being pulled to and fro by thoughts about desires. The other is the self that is sitting in zazen letting go of such thoughts; this is an ordinary person living out universal self. The first side is like clouds, and the second is like the wide sky that the clouds float in. I wrote: When we look up we tend to think that clouds mount up high in the sky, but I read that if we draw an eight-inch circle to represent the earth, the pencil line is the thickness of the entire atmosphere. The clouds are just things floating here and there, appearing and disappearing within that thin space. Rain is just something happening under those miniscule clouds, but when rain keeps coming down, we think the entire sky is nothing but clouds and rain drops. In reality, above the atmosphere that is only as thick as a pencil line, there is always blue sky and the sun is shining. But we cannot even imagine that. How pitiful we living beings on the ground are! In the same way, we are always covered with dark clouds of anxiety and sorrow, caught up in storms of anger and ambition, encounters with agony and despair. However, the clouds and rain of our thoughts are only happening within a pencil-thin atmosphere. This mental weather is simply happening within our thoughts that seek satisfaction. Outside of that sphere of thoughts, the sky is always blue, and the sun is always shining in it. When we can s...