Obedience to the Nature of Things

Arrived at this degree of understanding, a snare awaits us. We run the risk of believing that we must refuse to give our attention to life....

We must proceed otherwise. At moments when outer and inner circumstances lend themselves to it we reflect upon the understanding of our spontaneous liberation, we think with force, and in the most concrete manner possible, of the unlimited prodigy which is in process of elaboration for us and which will some day resolve all our fears, all our covetousness. In such moments we seed and re-seed the field of our faith; we awaken little by little in ourselves this faith which was sleeping, and the hope and the love which accompany it. Then we turn back to living as usual. Because we have thought correctly for a moment a portion of our attention remains attached to this plane of thought, although this plane penetrates the depths of our being and is lost to sight.... In the measure in which this second subterranean attention develops we will perceive a less compelling interest in the world of phenomena; our fears and our covetousness will lose their keenness. We will be able to learn how to be discreet, non-active, towards our inner world and we will thus become able to realize this counsel of Zen: 'Let go, leave things as they may be...' Be obedient to the nature of things and you are in accord with the Way.

From Chapter 13, Obedience to the Nature of Things, in The Supreme Doctrine: Psychological Studies in ZEN Thought, by Hubert Benoit,