When You Know the True Self, Practice and Daily Life Connect
During practice, it can seem that there is a self that watches, but when we return to daily life, the self that acts may move to the front. We may ask how these two can be harmonized as one.
The monk says that when this question goes deeper, it finally leads to the hwadu, 'Who is the true self?' What matters is to look rightly into what is the master of the one we call I.
When sitting in devoted practice, it is relatively easy to concentrate. But in daily life, the body is moving and the mind is shaken by many situations, so it can become different from the posture we have during practice.
Even so, if we rightly notice and awaken to the true self, the same wakefulness can continue both in sitting practice and in moving daily life. The place and posture may differ, but the center is not shaken.
So rather than trying impatiently to force the two together, hold the hwadu and practice more deeply. As the study that reveals the true self deepens, practice and daily life gradually connect as one mind.
The self that watches during practice and the self that acts in daily life can seem different. Yet this question finally leads to the hwadu, 'Who is the true self?' Daily life has movement and many situations, so it may differ from devoted practice in the Seon hall, but when you deeply notice the true self, the same wakefulness continues whether sitting still or moving.
