Kusen from Taiun, abbot of Kanshoji, November 1st , 2016
Who are we ?
Tiny human beings in the vastness of time, walking in the long night, walking in suffering, disdainfully, at times despairingly. With their powerful egos, those small human beings steal the fire of the gods, hang flowers on Buddha’s clothes, are sometimes frightened by the black immensity of the universe… Those tiny human beings deserve all our love. The weakness of their all-pervasive egos deserves all our compassion.
The ego asks questions for which there are no answers: who gave us those eyes? Why do we exist? Why is there a universe, rather than nothing?
I am touched by human beings’ courage. When they ask, the sky doesn’t answer, Buddha doesn’t answer. Does that mean that they should be unhappy? Lost? Discouraged by their human condition?
Shakyamuni Buddha tells us: “As you are, you are Buddha.” Stop wandering. Dry your tears. Don’t waste your life asking unanswerable questions. Devote yourself straightforwardly to the absolute. As Dylan used to say: “the answer is blowing in the wind” – the Dharma wind, ungraspable, the one that undeniably brings love, peace, non-fear.
Accept the fact that the eye can’t see the eye, that Buddha doesn’t know he is Buddha. Devote all your energy to life, which is right here, which pulsates and requires all our attention, all our love.
