Everything is the Mind

Master Dogen said: “The mountains and valleys are the true spirit”.

It is this same spirit that manifested itself billions of years ago in the form of the Big Bang. It is this same spirit that has been unfolding ever since. Each existence is a manifestation of the original spirit. The mind is the root of all things.

It is important not to trample, ignore, despise this spirit. Not trampling on it is protecting it, not defiling it. To maintain at every moment of our lives a mind cleansed of all defilement – and this at every moment, even when no one sees us, especially when no one sees us: in the way we get up, go to the toilet, get dressed, ascend to the hall of clouds *… It is very important! The way we listen to each other is very important! The way we receive our food, the way we work…

It is from this pure mind that our behaviors must spring. How could we help the world without being demanding of the root, of our deep mind? It is not enough to just wave words…. Politicians do not understand that. They stop at words, at the facade. They do not understand that the root of all things is the mind.

“We do not understand” says Dogen, “that mountains and valleys are the true mind.”

Everything is a manifestation of the original mind. Mountains, like our thoughts, are the manifestation of the unique mind.

Pure mind… difficult to understand intellectually, but easy to practice.

Dogen says: “Practice like clouds, like mountains and valleys…” Body and mind abandoned: when it rains, it rains in the abandonment of the ego.

Taiun JP Faure, December 2018

* Undo, in Japanese: “The Hall of the Clouds”, the room where meditation, zazen, is practiced.