Practice 12

Heart Reflection

Congratulations on making it to Practice 12! It’s time to reflect on the beauty of the inner states you have achieved.

Lament impurity.

Within the silent waters of the heart

Dwells the moon, the lonely waves—

Brightness everywhere.

—Dogen (Original Zen Buddhist)

In Zen Buddhism, there is a form of meditative practice called Serene Reflection. “Serene reflection” is a translation of two Chinese characters, mo and chao. A study of these characters and the levels of meaning within them may be of help to us in understanding more about this meditative practice.

The first character, mo, has an element in it that means black or darkness, making the whole character signify “dark, secret, silent, serene, profound” and also “to close the lips, to become silent”.

The second character, chao, has as element meaning “the brightness of the sun”. The whole character translates as “to reflect light, to shine on, to illume or enlighten”, as well as “to reflect upon, to look upon, to have insight into”.

The whole term thus becomes “serene reflection”, “silent illumination” or “luminescent darkness”. In the very description of this practice there is the ‘light in darkness—darkness in light’ spoken of in the works of the great masters of the tradition.

We can also see in this the origin of the references to the reflection of the moon in water. As the water of the Spirit within us becomes still, clean and bright through meditation, so does the reflection of the “moon”, of the Eternal, become clear and True. There is more than “stillness” in this, more than mere quietism. The water must be clear and bright and clean or there will only be the false “stillness” of stagnation, a dirty pool in which the moon’s reflection will be dim and shallow. This is why practitioners of meditation are warned about the consequences of clinging to blissful states or wanting to be somewhere other than here, now, and thus are urged to maintain a bright mind while meditating—the importance of the ‘stillness within activity and activity within stillness’.

Another important point in the characters is that there is no “thing” that can be grasped as the source of the light nor a “thing” that reflects the shining. Neither is the darkness or silence a “thing” that can be grasped. This is because in the face-to-face encounter with the Eternal numinousness of meditation there is no separate self, just the serene, profound, illuminating light of consciousness.

As you gaze into your meditative reflection, what do you see? What’s in your heart?

In this state of Serine Reflection, our personal biases can come into play to tell us a story about who we believe ourselves to be. Stories that can be either true or untrue. Accurate recreations of reality, or distorted ‘impure’ projections about our essence. Our self-in-world view can be perceived and can present challenges when confronted in Truth, but this can also present assurances. Stilling ourselves enough to perceive an accurate reflection and finding the purity of our essence there, brings the serene-ness into the perspective.

I think, and perhaps you think as well, that you have accomplished a purity reflected in meditative stillness that is beautiful. What do you see?