now. If you're daydreaming, even slightly, when the
clacker goes off, the sound will startle you and
thereby point out how little you were actually present
in that moment. It reminds you that the sitting is
already over and now we are in a new moment, to be
faced anew.
In other traditions, the gentle ring of a bell is used to
mark the end of group sittings. The softness of the
bell brings you back too, and also points out whether
your mind was on the loose at the moment it rang.
So, when it comes to ending a sitting, soft and gentle
is good, and hard and loud is good. Both remind us to
be fully present in moments of transition, that all
endings are also beginnings, that what is most
important, in the words of the Diamond Sutra, is to
"develop a mind that clings to nothing." Only then will
we be able to see things as they actually are and
respond with the full range of our emotional capacity
and our wisdom.
The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
Lao-Tzu, Tao-Te-Ching