Spiritual literature is filled with the stories of heroes, people who conquered tremendous odds to become enlightened, find God, understand and surrender to Reality.

In the beginning of our search, these stories can act as guides and catalysts which spur us onward to our best efforts, to not give up, to stay the course.

But at some point, these selfsame stories can become one of our biggest obstacles because they encourage a form of idealization. They show us an almost mythical level of insight and tenacity that we can never live up to. In the face of ancient Buddhas and Zen Masters, masters of the Pure Land and enlightened rebbes and tzaddiks, we don’t stand a chance: they are always several—or a million—steps ahead of us.

A friend of mine who is a dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center related a story about a Zen teacher we both studied with, the late Dainin Katagiri-roshi. Katagiri said: "I searched for twenty years for Dogen's Zen, but now I know there is no such thing." Dogen Zenji, one of the greatest of all Zen Masters, lived in the 13th century and is considered the patriarch of Soto Zen.

At some point, we have to say no to heroes. If we do that, we can get very depressed! If there is no one to inspire us, what do we have left? If you can stay with the idea of no more heroes for a while, you’ll find that you let yourself down off a ledge; you’ll walk down a metaphorical stairway that will lead you to the bottom floor of your life, your life as an ordinary, imperfect being. Therein lies liberation: you don’t have to be a saint to find God: you just have to be you, always you, forever you.

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