A way I’ve been thinking about, contemplating progress on the path is imagining my “self” as a school of fish. This is not exactly about Indra’s Net as normally taught… but it’s not totally different either.
Thinking of all my various habits, personality traits, characteristics, as fish, some big, some small. All different colors. The sum total of this school is my identity. The reason why at some points various personality traits arise it that one or another of the fish “come to the surface” or arise and dominate the view. Capture the attention if you will. But then that fish disappears back into the school and another one comes up, or maybe an indistinct mass of fish take precedence for a few moments. They are always shifting and moving the way schools of fish do.
The predicament the fish find themselves in is that we are in a net. Fundimentally we are not in a net, but relatively speaking, from the point of view of most of our experience, we are in a net. A hooked net actually. Indra’s Net from olden times.
The work, the progress on the path, is about getting each fish unhooked. Free. One fish might be my desire to be appreciated. There’s a hook in it, holding it. How does the fish get free? Does it wriggle? Does it relax? Does it write? Does it tell someone else? Does it keep it secret?
The process for each fish could be different. What one needs to get out of the net could be the opposite of what another needs. Some are so small that when they get unhooked, they swim right through and are free.
Getting free. When all the fish are unhooked, swimming in the ocean wherever they wish, the path is done.
Know your fish. See your fish. Name your fish and figure out what it would take to unhook your fish from this net. One by one. Step by step. Free each fish. Some are harder to get unhooked than others. Some are bigger and have sharper teeth. Gently, patiently one at a time free each fish you can find.
Ok let’s meditate.