Thursday, April 16, 2015

with both feet

left foot, right foot. While not technically a sentence, the period belongs there because it is a mantra. Left foot right foot is a contemporized version of chop wood carry water.

The original phrase comes from a koan. Simply put the koan states, what to do before enlightenment? Chop wood carry water. what to do AFTER enlightenment? Chop wood carry water.


The original koan is not meant to be explained, in the same way that jokes are funny because of a sudden unexpected surprise. Koans are understood in the same fashion as a flash of insight. This made life clearer:

Why left foot, right foot?
In moments of confusion,
a simple answer!


-s m alexander

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