Koan #9...

By Vichara

Another week, another Koan – “The way is not difficult for someone without preferences”. In all of our activities there are expectations. When something confronts us we of course place values, is it good or bad, desired or undesired, irritating or non-irritating. By placing these judgments on every one of these situations we obscure what truly is happening. Another way is to accept all that you like and dislike with equanimity. This is not an acquiescence or passive resignation, this is acceptance of things as they are. If things are unencumbered by expectations and judgments then there are possibilities of solutions being found by this intuitive nature we all have.

qua • \KWAH\ • preposition
: in the capacity or character of : as

Example Sentence:
The school gym qua dance floor was where Oscar and Nanette fell in love.

Did you know?
Which way? Who? No, we’re not paraphrasing lines from the old Abbott and Costello routine "Who’s on First?"; we’re referring to the etymology of "qua," a term that comes to us from Latin. It can be translated as "which way" or "as," and it is a derivative of the Latin "qui," meaning "who." "Qua" has been serving English in the capacity of a preposition since the 17th century. It’s a learned but handy little word that led one 20th-century usage writer to comment: "Qua is sometimes thought affected or pretentious, but it does convey meaning economically."