Fully sitting, to the exclusion of all else, we practice patience in the face of reality as it is. Whether what we see is pleasant or unpleasant, we remain unmoved by what is. Through this repeated, profound practice, the eye of wisdom opens.
This is how, 2,600 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha realized that all things in the universe are deeply interconnected, that they give rise to one another, that all things echo and resonate within one another, and that, ultimately, they have no independent intrinsic existence.
Everything is born, lives, and dies thanks to the support of all other existences. We are embraced and supported by all existences, and we embrace and support all existences. To separate ourselves from others, to believe ourselves separate from others, to shut ourselves away within our ideologies, our points of view, our doctrines — all these things cut us off from others and keep us in a state of want and suffering.
Shakyamuni, the sage of the Shakya clan, was a human being just like us. He sat motionless — as we are doing now — for a very long time. He understood and verified that suffering arises from a failure to understand our true nature, what we really are, our lack of independent existence. He examined the matter patiently. He verified the intuition that he had from the outset — that we have no independent existence separate from the rest of the universe — until he was completely free from all attachment to the self. From that point on, he rediscovered his Buddha-nature, without separation. It was at that moment he said: ‘I, the great earth, and all living beings all realize the Way at the same time.’
There are a thousand reasons, a thousand ways in which we ceaselessly separate ourselves from others, without realizing it. Zen masters say: “Don’t be like a sheep on a garbage dump, chewing everything it comes across.” Keep your mind open to the whole, to reality.
The fundamental illusion from which we should free ourselves is the belief that we exist separately and independently from the rest of the universe. Human beings usually think that there is the whole universe plus something else, and that this ‘something else’ is me. Once we harbour this misconception, it is inevitable that we will be solely concerned with ourselves, with this small, isolated me that we regard as very precious. From this point on, we focus intently on protecting and promoting our own small, individual, and separate sense of well-being.
Unaware of our connection with all existences, both animate and inanimate, we act selfishly, under the influence of greed, aversion, and delusion.
So, do not separate yourselves from others; do not shut yourselves away in a corner, brooding. Bring yourselves into harmony, live in accordance with the laws of the universe – impermanence and interdependence. Respect these two truths and you will instantly attain inconceivable freedom.
Taiun JP Faure, May 2026
