THE MOST USED WORD
Is it so?
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OK is the most frequently written and spoken word in the English language.
OK can be the most efficient word you can use in the world of spirituality.
If you decide to say OK to everything from today, life will be a miracle.
Every event has a course of action. It begins, prevails and subsides.
We attach reaction to every course of action, which creates resistance.
If we say OK at every step in the major change of this course, we detach from the rise, experience and outcome of things that happen in our life.
Story of Master Hakuin who said — Is it so?
There was a monk who lived in Japan called Hakuin.
Hakuin had a reputation all over Japan and people came to him for spiritual guidance.
A girl in his town got pregnant. She was not married. Hence her concerned yet angry parents asked her “Who is the father?”
The girl didn’t want to reveal the real father’s name, so she took Hakuin’s name.
She naively thought that no one would harm Hakuin being a highly regarded Zen master.
The parents rushed to the Monk in anger; shouting and cursing they accused him of making their teenage girl pregnant.
The monk replied; “is it so?”
The news spread all across the province and people started saying it on his face. You made the teenage girl pregnant!
The monk replied; “is it so?”
People shied away from his council and started keeping their distance from him.
In his mind, he said; “is it so?”
When the child was born the parent of the girl brought the baby to the monk Hakuin, and said; “This is your child and this is your responsibility”
The monk replied; “is it so?”
He took the child under his wings and started to raise him like his own.
One day the girl felt sorry for the monk and couldn’t bear the distance from her baby.
She confessed that the real father of that child was the boy working in the butcher’s shop.
In distress, the family went back to the monk and kept their head in his feet.
They apologised and requested to take back the child. “We are sorry,” they said, “the child is not yours”.
The monk replied; “is it so?”
Hakuin returned the child to its mother.
The reason behind sharing this zen story is that the event took its own accord and Hakuin was detached from it.
He didn’t have to struggle, with the pain of accusation and for justice to be served.
He said, “Is it so?” — ‘OK’ is the new is it so?
The story has its significance in the lineage of Zen.
It teaches the value of accepting things how they are no matter the severity.
We attach meaning to the things that come our way being good or bad.
Said so, at the very core saying “OK” to everything is a subtle way of not giving a f**k about what life has put on your plate.
No matter what you are facing right now, saying OK detaches you.
We are suffering the life.
The moment we were born, we were given the mysterious phenomenon called life.
We don’t have any other option, but to accept it.
Saying OK to whatever may come reduces the resistance.
The unnecessary resistance. No matter how much you resist, life will flow in the direction it wants to flow.
Hence, next time something doesn’t go your way; Say OK.
It will not only positively affect you mentally, but also help you blossom spiritually.
You will become a mere witness to the events of life.
Like a patron of the show called Existence. I am enjoying the play.
Leela.
You will be touched, yet not stained with the trauma and euphoria.
Your detached liberated mind will marinate in the divine source of energy, which goes beyond pleasure and pain.
Bliss.
Said so, OK is the most courageous word you can say.
You have to keep aside your own sets of beliefs to acknowledge that it is OK for others to have opinions that differ from you.
It displays the maturity to be present and yet be detached from the influence of things you didn’t ask for.
In conversations, in Life.