Glossary
In one paragraph. No Dust uses seven terms. The first job is living; the second job is grading the person who lives; the commentator is the voice that does the grading; the mirror is the picture being graded; the cloth is what does the wiping; no dust is the woodcutter's reply; Tuesday is the day you pick the cloth up again, which is not a failure. Each is defined below in a few lines, so that anyone can use them without the book.
The first job
Living: doing the work, caring for people, paying attention when something needs attention. In the old stories it looks like the Buddha washing a sick monk, or Antony braiding rope between prayers. It is almost always small, and it almost always has a person in it.
The second job
The constant assessment of the person doing the first job. Unpaid, unending and supervised. It can attach itself to anything that helps: a prayer, a practice, a good week, a book about the second job.
The commentator
The voice that narrates your life while you are living it and grades every touch. The name comes from a football match watched with the sound off. He does not sound like a voice; he sounds like the truth, which is the last thing anyone thinks to question.
The mirror
From the verse in the Platform Sutra: the mind as a bright mirror on its stand, to be wiped clean so that no dust settles. In the book, the mirror is the picture of yourself that the second job keeps up and checks.
The cloth
What does the wiping. Picking it up is the moment the commentary starts to polish the picture; putting it down is not a skill, and it will be picked up again.
No dust
The woodcutter's reply, brought down to two words. Not a claim that you are clean, but a report on the surface: the grade has nowhere to land. Said inside when the commentator starts, and followed by the first job.
Tuesday
The ordinary day on which you pick the cloth up again. Not a failure, and not a reason to start over. Seeing it once does not keep it; it becomes possible again in the next room, with the next person.
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