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In Dogen's Body and Mind Study of the Way he says: "In this manner the mind studies the way running barefoot -- who can get a glimpse of it? The mind studies the way turning somersaults -- all things tumble over with it." When I think about that image of running barefoot it makes me feel vulnerable-thinking about letting the foot meet the earth directly, not knowing what will be there. Very different from meeting the earth with a foot that's laced into a shoe. Allowing ourselves to meet out experience without a shoe protecting the foot is really trusting ourselves and what we meet. Are we willing to allow our foot to mold itself to meet whatever it is there, to take the shape of whatever is under it? Rock, pebble, sand, pavement? And the line "The whole world is turning somersaults with you" made me think of the gymnasts in the Olympic games, and what it must be like to throw your body into the air and do a couple of twists, not knowing exactly where you will come down. The abandon and trust it takes to be physically disoriented in that way, trusting that you will land upright. Letting things appear as they appear, letting a new mental and emotional configuration come -- that's the kind of effort Dogen was talking about.
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I think it is true we don't know what is happening here in the deepest sense. And if we can stay with that not knowing, and trust it, enjoy it, we will be able to experience our life in some fundamental different way. That's our miraculous power.
Source: Excerpt from Katherine Thanas' lecture (Pages 77 to 82) in the book "Wind bell : teachings from the San Francisco Zen Center"
