Jumping Off the 100-Foot Pole

Two of my favorite bloggers have recently posted about this koan:

CASE 46.PROCEED BEYOND THE TOP OF THE 100 FOOT HIGH POLE

Master Sekiso said, "You are at the top of the 100 foot high pole. How will you make a step further?" Another Zen Master of Ancient Times said, "One who sits on top of the 100 foot pole has not quite attained true enlightenment. Make another step forward from the top of the pole and throw one's own body into the 100,000 universes."

Mumon's Comments:
Should there be any who is able to step forward from the top of the 100 foot pole and hurl one's whole body into the entire universe, this person may call oneself a Buddha. Nevertheless, how can one step forward from the top of the 100 foot pole? Know thyself!

Should one be content and settle on top of the 100,000 foot pole,

One will harm the third eye,

And will even misread the marks on the scale.

Should one throw oneself and be able to renounce one's life,

Like one blind person leading all other blind persons,

One will be in absolute freedom (unattached from the eyes).

The Dalai Grandma sees the 100-foot pole as the tendency to get stuck thinking about right action, rather than just doing it. Trying to hold onto a feeling of enlightenment, as opposed to taking enlightened action. She even includes a great Elvis song to illustrate her point! Check her out!

Then James Ishmael Ford, a Unitarian Minister and Zen Priest, in his blog "Monkey Mind", posted about stepping off the 100-foot pole on my last day of work. His assertion is that the pole is our limited story about life, the meaning we affix to things, rather than the enormity of our actual wordless experience, and how our small egos cling to that small story for dear small life.

I so appreciate such wise companions on the Path. I am not sure what the 100-foot pole is, but I know that a huge part of my identity has just been relinquished, and there is a voice that takes issue with this, that is really scared, and wants to grab grab grab onto something. Grab onto a schedule, grab onto the word "sabbatical," grab onto my professional development plan, grab onto goals -- hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. From one pole to another, I am feeling this koan today.

Appreciating the quiet tenderheartedness of today, and the ending of nine years of service in a county agency. Falling with open arms into the mystery of whatever this brings. Maybe it is a mistake. Appreciating whatever is large enough to accept that. Appreciating whatever is large enough to not know exactly what is happening next. Or even now.

Totem Poles
Originally uploaded by Peter Macdonald Photo