What am I really? What do I do with what I am?

Life feeds on life, life offers itself to life. Each form of life receives its life from all the other forms. That is reality. As long as we don’t conform to this reality, our practice is meaningless. As long as we don’t understand the meaning of our lives, as long as we take the wrong direction, our practice is sterile.

From the start, we must understand by ourselves that our life can only be but at the service of life.

For some people, this life we receive from the universe is only for profit. Then it’s impossible to attain liberation, that is peace of mind, true happiness. As long as our practice only has a selfish purpose, it is futile, and even further, it is harmful.

How can one have selfish purposes and be happy? It’s not possible. It’s just not possible. These people go round thinking: How can I be selfish and be loved? How can I be selfish and be liberated from fear?… These people can’t make up their mind to turn their life into the right direction. So their thoughts only add confusion to their confusion, only add anxiety to their anxiety. It’s a toxic way of thinking. When thinking is moved by greed, aversion and ignorance, it’s a toxic way of thinking. It can only lead to sadness, despair, anger.

Some people come to think that their brain does not work properly. They are prepared to place themselves in the hands of brain specialists. All one has to do is to go in the direction of life, to put one’s life at the service of life, to ensure that our life, at every moment, is beneficial for all the forms of life. All one has to do is to make the vow that our life becomes beneficial for life. Then everything comes to its place, everything flows, everything is put right. That is the true conversion: rather than living a purely selfish life, change direction, live a life that is beneficial for all the forms of life. Such is the life of Buddha.

It is when we have understood the true meaning of life that we can practice Zen and that the practice frees us step by step from all our flaws.

Buddha tells us that from the start, such as we are from the origin, we are perfect. The only problem is that, on this perfection, we superimpose selfish points of view, selfish strategies aiming at gaining a greater benefit and a greater fame.

We can’t avoid having to answer this question: “What am I really? What do I do with what I am?”

Taiun JP Faure, April 2023