During the middle of 2009 I had a conversation with a friend regarding e-books and online publishing. In passing he said, “You know Takuin, if you just took a short piece on liberation; a sentence, question, koan, or some other short item for contemplation; and wrote two per day, by the end of the year you’d have a book.” I remember thinking at that time, Well, what the hell kind of book would that be?
This one, apparently…
This book is a calendar of short contemplations; one per day for an entire year. They are all very slight of word, and easy to take in at a glance. Most of the pieces were written after meditation. Some were taken from live dialogues and skype calls I’ve held. And others were taken from my replies to comments on Takuin.com. But each one is designed to stand on its own, as an object of exploration.
During the course of reading you might find yourself believing or not believing, agreeing or disagreeing. But how you feel about the words is irrelevant and will only get in the way of your own explorations. It is how You, the Self, come up against these words that might be important, and not necessarily the content of your likes and dislikes.
You may find that, during the next 365 days, you will exhaust yourself of this search for enlightenment. If you are serious, and think deeply on each day’s contemplation, this may indeed come to pass. This might sound terrible to you — to be free from the search — but it is a beautiful first step in a life of freedom.
If you are diligent, never looking away from what you are, you may begin to finally live life … for the first time.