This is Enough
By Jo Campbell
On one level “This is enough” is exactly the same as “I am enough”, in that I am this. But these words also open up other possibilities. In Zen, please take nothing that is said as absolute or definitive or even ‘right’. This is not an intellectual pursuit. Words can be useful and in the previous article, I explored an aspect of ‘I am enough’ in a rational sort of way. But Zen constantly asks us to explore the matter experientially and for ourselves.
The same goes for “This is enough”. Let’s just sit with that for a moment. Settle into your posture and become aware of your experience right here. Bring a welcoming, friendly curiosity to what is going on for you right now. Remain open to your full experience – thoughts, physical sensations, emotions, and senses. Let yourself observe, without any judgment, what comes and goes in this full body/heart/mind experience. Now quietly drop in the statement, “This is enough”. Or “I am enough”. Or simply “Enough!”.
What do you experience, and how do you meet this experience? Can you just let it be? Observe and be present with your experience? Bear witness to it – and yet not be separate from it? Fully experience the full experience.
Again, “This is enough”.
Joanna Macy shares the sentiment of many Buddhist teachers and practitioners when she writes, ‘To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.’ How does this speak to you of “This is enough?” Where does this sit in your body? What lights up?
She also wrote, ‘If you want an adventure, boy, what a time to choose to be alive! Don’t waste time in self-pity over darkness; don’t waste time trying to figure out better circumstances that you might like. You’re born into this and you’re here to love it, and to see that it goes on.’ Bernie Glassman Roshi puts it another way. ‘Cultivating a connection to the Oneness of life or to God means that we can both be perfectly content with the perfection of the world exactly as it is and do loving actions to make it better.’ Again, what is your full experiencing of ‘this is enough’?
‘You’re here to love it and to see that it goes on’. This captures both the challenge and the delight of being alive. We certainly don’t want to spend our life so caught in the rapture of criticism for the system that we fall into a deep depression and miss the beauty that surrounds us. At the same time, we do not want to spend our life oblivious to what is really going on. Joanna Macy writes; ‘The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world’.
Notice she says ‘fully present to’ rather than simply ‘aware of’. She is hinting at a subtle but huge difference here. All the ‘awareness raising’ that has happened to date around environmental and social justice, has not translated into enough action, in fact it has to some extent dulled our ability to see, or be fully present to, the experience. It has become white noise we have learnt to live with or rather, ignore. But to be fully present to something goes beyond awareness at a rational/intellectual level. It begins to touch us. And once we are deeply touched by something, we cannot avoid acting. If we allow ourselves to feel compassion (to suffer with another) we are compelled to act.
Susan Murphy Roshi puts it like this, “[We] must rely on what is happening in order to learn how to proceed, [and] dare to meet it fully just as it really is. [What] is so urgently being called up in us flows naturally from daring to welcome a hard reality’”.
This is where mindfulness can help us. In mindfulness we learn to experience our lives fully, to stay present when things become difficult, to bear witness to things just as they are, and to respond carefully and authentically rather than out of triggered reactivity.
Bernie Glassman writes, ‘When we bear witness, when we become the situation — homelessness, poverty, illness, violence, death — the right action arises by itself. We don’t have to worry about what to do. We don’t have to figure out solutions ahead of time. Peacemaking is the functioning of bearing witness. Once we listen with our entire body and mind, loving action arises. Loving action is right action. It’s as simple as giving a hand to someone who stumbles or picking up a child who has fallen on the floor. We take such direct, natural actions every day of our lives without considering them special. And they’re not special. Each is simply the best possible response to that situation in that moment.’
Susan Murphy adds a slightly different dimension to this when she writes, “‘Just as it really is’ cannot possibly hide the suffering and ruin and awfulness of things; and yet that is exactly what opens the way for the deep reassurance of all things to reach us; and with it the possibility – the fact – that we are not helpless at all, that we all actively make this mysterious world, and that everything we do counts.”
But where to put our efforts when there is so much that needs to be done? The question becomes ‘What is enough?’. When you consider the world’s urgent problems, where do you begin? And can you ever do enough? And if not, is it worth trying? How does this dilemma sit within you?
I once heard Joanna Macy say something like; We cannot know the impact of our actions. We do not know if our efforts to save the planet will be enough. However, we attend to the world with loving kindness, just as a midwife attends to a new born baby or a hospice worker attends to a dying man; with great compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh offers a very practical response to dilemma of where to put our efforts: “Take one thing and do it very deeply and carefully, and you will be doing everything at the same time.” This is enough – in a very active sense.
So what is the one thing that you are passionate about? The one thing that really moves you?
In the book “The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism’, Kenneth Kraft offers a mandala to illustrate what he calls, ‘a new map of the path’ (see page 18). Within this mandala are 5 modes of practice (moving into the world, extending compassionate action, exploring new terrain, at ease amidst activity, and spreading joy in ten directions) and 5 fields of practice (cultivating awareness in daily life, embracing family, working with others, participating in politics and caring for the earth).
The point is, there are many ways to practice engaged Buddhism. From how we parent, to right livelihood, to political activism, to environmental restoration work, and we each must find our own path. The articles by Joanna Macy later in this booklet lay out a range of other options. There are also many websites on Engaged Buddhism that can offer guidance.
In the end, we each have to find that ever-evolving sweet spot of “this is enough’ where our practice can blossom, our compassionate actions can make an impact (unknowable though it is), and ‘every day can be a good day’.
Ekodo offers up these words: ‘I am enough’, ‘This is enough’ and ‘Saying “Enough”’. We invite you to let them become an inquiry into engaged practice, a form of engaged koan. You might add others, such as ‘You are enough’ and ‘What is enough?’. ‘Enough’ is a sort of turning word, intersecting the issues of our time: Need verses greed. Compassion verses blame. Justice verses injustice. Stillness and action.
We can find rational answers to these questions but they won’t mean anything unless we do something. The call to realize our true nature through compassionate action is building for all who practice Buddhism or mindfulness. Our true nature is oneness, oneness naturally leads to compassion, and compassion naturally leads to action. Where we put our efforts is up to us, and the options are sadly multitudinous.
But act we must.
It is enough to know that we are enough to say “Enough”!
© Jo Campbell
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The same goes for “This is enough”. Let’s just sit with that for a moment. Settle into your posture and become aware of your experience right here. Bring a welcoming, friendly curiosity to what is going on for you right now. Remain open to your full experience – thoughts, physical sensations, emotions, and senses. Let yourself observe, without any judgment, what comes and goes in this full body/heart/mind experience. Now quietly drop in the statement, “This is enough”. Or “I am enough”. Or simply “Enough!”.
What do you experience, and how do you meet this experience? Can you just let it be? Observe and be present with your experience? Bear witness to it – and yet not be separate from it? Fully experience the full experience.
Again, “This is enough”.
Joanna Macy shares the sentiment of many Buddhist teachers and practitioners when she writes, ‘To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe -- to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it -- is a wonder beyond words.’ How does this speak to you of “This is enough?” Where does this sit in your body? What lights up?
She also wrote, ‘If you want an adventure, boy, what a time to choose to be alive! Don’t waste time in self-pity over darkness; don’t waste time trying to figure out better circumstances that you might like. You’re born into this and you’re here to love it, and to see that it goes on.’ Bernie Glassman Roshi puts it another way. ‘Cultivating a connection to the Oneness of life or to God means that we can both be perfectly content with the perfection of the world exactly as it is and do loving actions to make it better.’ Again, what is your full experiencing of ‘this is enough’?
‘You’re here to love it and to see that it goes on’. This captures both the challenge and the delight of being alive. We certainly don’t want to spend our life so caught in the rapture of criticism for the system that we fall into a deep depression and miss the beauty that surrounds us. At the same time, we do not want to spend our life oblivious to what is really going on. Joanna Macy writes; ‘The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world’.
Notice she says ‘fully present to’ rather than simply ‘aware of’. She is hinting at a subtle but huge difference here. All the ‘awareness raising’ that has happened to date around environmental and social justice, has not translated into enough action, in fact it has to some extent dulled our ability to see, or be fully present to, the experience. It has become white noise we have learnt to live with or rather, ignore. But to be fully present to something goes beyond awareness at a rational/intellectual level. It begins to touch us. And once we are deeply touched by something, we cannot avoid acting. If we allow ourselves to feel compassion (to suffer with another) we are compelled to act.
Susan Murphy Roshi puts it like this, “[We] must rely on what is happening in order to learn how to proceed, [and] dare to meet it fully just as it really is. [What] is so urgently being called up in us flows naturally from daring to welcome a hard reality’”.
This is where mindfulness can help us. In mindfulness we learn to experience our lives fully, to stay present when things become difficult, to bear witness to things just as they are, and to respond carefully and authentically rather than out of triggered reactivity.
Bernie Glassman writes, ‘When we bear witness, when we become the situation — homelessness, poverty, illness, violence, death — the right action arises by itself. We don’t have to worry about what to do. We don’t have to figure out solutions ahead of time. Peacemaking is the functioning of bearing witness. Once we listen with our entire body and mind, loving action arises. Loving action is right action. It’s as simple as giving a hand to someone who stumbles or picking up a child who has fallen on the floor. We take such direct, natural actions every day of our lives without considering them special. And they’re not special. Each is simply the best possible response to that situation in that moment.’
Susan Murphy adds a slightly different dimension to this when she writes, “‘Just as it really is’ cannot possibly hide the suffering and ruin and awfulness of things; and yet that is exactly what opens the way for the deep reassurance of all things to reach us; and with it the possibility – the fact – that we are not helpless at all, that we all actively make this mysterious world, and that everything we do counts.”
But where to put our efforts when there is so much that needs to be done? The question becomes ‘What is enough?’. When you consider the world’s urgent problems, where do you begin? And can you ever do enough? And if not, is it worth trying? How does this dilemma sit within you?
I once heard Joanna Macy say something like; We cannot know the impact of our actions. We do not know if our efforts to save the planet will be enough. However, we attend to the world with loving kindness, just as a midwife attends to a new born baby or a hospice worker attends to a dying man; with great compassion.
Thich Nhat Hanh offers a very practical response to dilemma of where to put our efforts: “Take one thing and do it very deeply and carefully, and you will be doing everything at the same time.” This is enough – in a very active sense.
So what is the one thing that you are passionate about? The one thing that really moves you?
In the book “The Wheel of Engaged Buddhism’, Kenneth Kraft offers a mandala to illustrate what he calls, ‘a new map of the path’ (see page 18). Within this mandala are 5 modes of practice (moving into the world, extending compassionate action, exploring new terrain, at ease amidst activity, and spreading joy in ten directions) and 5 fields of practice (cultivating awareness in daily life, embracing family, working with others, participating in politics and caring for the earth).
The point is, there are many ways to practice engaged Buddhism. From how we parent, to right livelihood, to political activism, to environmental restoration work, and we each must find our own path. The articles by Joanna Macy later in this booklet lay out a range of other options. There are also many websites on Engaged Buddhism that can offer guidance.
In the end, we each have to find that ever-evolving sweet spot of “this is enough’ where our practice can blossom, our compassionate actions can make an impact (unknowable though it is), and ‘every day can be a good day’.
Ekodo offers up these words: ‘I am enough’, ‘This is enough’ and ‘Saying “Enough”’. We invite you to let them become an inquiry into engaged practice, a form of engaged koan. You might add others, such as ‘You are enough’ and ‘What is enough?’. ‘Enough’ is a sort of turning word, intersecting the issues of our time: Need verses greed. Compassion verses blame. Justice verses injustice. Stillness and action.
We can find rational answers to these questions but they won’t mean anything unless we do something. The call to realize our true nature through compassionate action is building for all who practice Buddhism or mindfulness. Our true nature is oneness, oneness naturally leads to compassion, and compassion naturally leads to action. Where we put our efforts is up to us, and the options are sadly multitudinous.
But act we must.
It is enough to know that we are enough to say “Enough”!
© Jo Campbell
Back to Articles List