Farmer
pointing the way
with a radish.
Issa
This little haiku poem by the celebrated Japanese poet Issa captures the immediacy of being in the moment. A farmer, likely with a hoe on her shoulder, points out the Way using nothing but a root vegetable. It reminds us that the Way is nothing fancy. Nothing special. You do not have to fly to Bali or India or Costa Rica to follow it. You need only remain grounded in simplicity, be unhurried and straightforward. Our minds however always embellish, making things more complicated. We try harder than we need to. We think we need more money, more time, more happiness, more beauty, more fame. But the Way is right before your eyes. You cannot see it if you keep looking ahead, searching for something better. And no words, no descriptions will ever guide you there. “If you think you can use your mind to find the Way you are deluded,” said the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma. So stay close to the ground. Stay true to the moment at hand. Do not make your path complicated with big thoughts or ideas. Each day stay rooted and follow the radicle!
