How can we hear with the eye and see with the ear? We must first set down ‘the pack’ – the ideas, notions and positions that separate us from reality. We must take off the blinkers that limit our vision, and see for ourselves that originally there are no seams, flaws or gaps between us and the whole phenomenal universe. The 10,000 things are in reality neither sentient nor insentient; the selfish neither sentient nor insentient. Because of this, the teachings of the insentient cannot be perceived by the senses.
John Daido Loori, Wave Echo
Many people think the teachings of the insentient are similar if not equivalent to the teachings we receive from sentient beings. But hearing the teachings of the insentient is not a matter of ordinary consciousness. How then can they be heard? When body and mind have fallen away, in the stillness that follows, the teachings are intimately manifested in great profusion. Whether we are aware of it or not, they are always taking place. The teachings of the insentient are about intimacy, not words.
– John Daido Loori
Text and image copyright © John Daido Loori
Hearing with the Eye
John Daido Loori
john daido loori at the artisans’ gallery
the awakened eye 
Beautiful words, thank you. The closest explanation I’ve found for my own experiences with rocks.
Thanks for sharing!
I think that last sentence of Daido Roshi’s – “The teachings of the insentient are about intimacy, not words” is so powerful. Intimacy with the insentient opens up deep understanding of emptiness … perhaps more accessibly than intimacy with the sentient … at first anyway.
Intimacy is pure nondual presence; I like to practice with rocks too!
I feel such a relief at this
The blessedness of falling into place – into intimacy with all creation.
Sending love, dear Nina.
❤