Koan #18...

By Vichara


Koan #18 “Don’t search for truth, simply stop having opinions”. Think of how many opinions we have in one day. Too many to really recall I would speculate. When there are to many they can obscure the intuitive insight that we all have. Our consciousness is like a vast and limitless clear blue sky and our ideas and opinions are like clouds passing by. When we focus on the clouds we miss out on the empty vastness and the ability to gain insight. Sometimes you may want to stop frantically trying to have an opinion about what is going on and simply say, “don’t know”. By embracing the “don’t know” confusion will dissipate and your intuitive nature grows stronger. In Zen wisdom is not found by having ideas but experiencing life directly through not knowing.

tristful • \TRIST-ful\ • adjective

: sad, melancholy

Example Sentence:

"And, come four o'clock, the Winter Garden is packed with tea parties gobbling cucumber sandwiches …, while a tristful harpist completes recollections of rainy afternoons trapped in British seaside palm courts…." (Simon Schama, The New Yorker, May 31, 2004)

Did you know?

The Middle English word "trist," from which "tristful" is derived, means "sad." Today, we spell this word "triste" (echoing the spelling of a French ancestor), whereas "tristful" has continued to be spelled without the "e." Is there a connection between "triste" ("sad") and "tryst" ("a secret rendezvous of lovers")? Not exactly. "Tryst" can be traced back to a Middle English "trist," but it is a different word, one that was a synonym of "trust." This word eventually fell into disuse, but before doing so, it may have given rise to a word for a station used by hunters, which is in turn believed to have led to "tryst."

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