According to Dogen (p.99) an essential experience of non-separation. I had such an experience with two fellow creatures, two little mice admittedly they are playful creatures. You are taken with their delightful pirouettes, also their swift darts. Who would think of killing them? The moment they invade your house, you might think otherwise.
We recently had two of those visitors. Hungry ghosts, you might call them. How much are you willing to share with them. How to deal with them, how to save them? First I watched them quietly, let them frolic, just to study their movements, until they became aware of me. They just stopped playing and looked at me with amazement. I looked back at them with a compassionate face, eye to eye without blinking–the essential experience of non-separation. No thought of killing or being killed crossed the mind. I was not moving so they dared to come closer out of curiosity, until they played around my feet–advancing, retracting.
At the right moment of pouncing, one was caught in a towel and carried outside. Then the other was caught. Both unharmed, caught with my bare hands. You may call me now Mushin “the mouse catcher.”