Blue

The following passage is from the book, Atchison Blue by Judith Valente. I have mixed feelings about her writing style, but this passage, which she says is from an "anonymous Zen master," has stayed with me.      

  

I see a person riding on an ox, looking for an ox, 

searching for what isn't lost, 

climbing an invisible mountain, 

striving for what is already possessed, 

dividing people in order to unite,  

killing to achieve peace, 

working for grace, which is a gift, 

alienating to bring people together, 

questing for God while already standing on holy ground.