Now Wake, Butterfly

Basho (1644-1694) wakes his companion for a long journey, “to go together.”

Matsuo Basho:

Wake, butterfly —

It's late, we've miles

To go together.

Our companion on this journey is each living thing. Will we awaken, although it's late, and take up the long journey together? 

Basho's poem evokes time and distance, yet from the absolute perspective there is no time, no distance, no Basho, no butterfly, just the present moment of oneness. Being time. Awakening moment to moment. Experiencing each moment completely.

When thinking about time, it is only in the present. When thinking of the future it's in the present, when thinking of the past it’s in the present. Thinking only occurs in the present moment. Time only exists in each moment.

When drinking tea, only drinking tea. When walking, only walking, When listening, only listening. Live each moment completely. That's  activity manifesting and functioning moment to moment within time and space.

At the end of evening sitting the jikido (time keeper) recites this admonition: “...time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost…”.  When awakening to each moment, that is fully living time, experiencing time completely, nothing is lost.  

We are on a journey together, we beings, with miles to go. Appreciation and intimacy felt in each moment, when each moment we are traveling together.

—

This Tiger Swallowtail visited my backyard recently. Its life cycle is only 6-14 days. In the Fukan zazengi Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) speaks of life's brevity:  "….your body is like a dew-drop on the morning grass, your life is as brief as a flash of lightning. Momentary and vain it is lost in a moment."