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Kusen

50. The Self in Zazen

We say, “ I am doing zazen.” But where in our actual experience can we locate the Self?

Can we locate it in the thoughts that arise? No, because these thoughts arise within a broader awareness.

Can we locate it in that awareness? No, because how is that awareness particular to you?

Can we locate it in our experienced world? No, because this would entail each of us having our own world, which is absurd.

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Kusen

41. Stone Birds

Our metaphors become like stone birds.

A familiar one is the image of serene reflection: the moon reflected in water. The moon [enlightenment] is clearly reflected in the still water [the tranquil mind]. Someone tries to convey a feeling-state through an image, and then the image becomes an aspiration: something to gain, something to lose.

And all of this is to practice, and to judge practice, from the perspective of the self. But that isn’t our practice.

If the water is enlivened, it doesn’t break the moon. If the sky is suddenly aflock with birds, it doesn’t shatter the light

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10. All Living Beings

The Bodhisattva vow, “All living beings, I vow to save them,” at first blush seems impossible. Surely it is much more practical to vow to save ourself?

But we cannot save ourself. The ego is the fulcrum of dualism. A fist cannot unclench itself.

We can however liberate all beings from us. And this liberation is “All living beings.”

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8. Shoji: Life-Death

If all things have real form, then everything–particularly what we commonly regard as negations –has real form. Thus, ‘No Self’ exists just as much as ‘Self’ in the total Full Dynamic Functioning.

So, ‘Negation’ is not a kind of absence, but a full presence. And if this is so, ‘Not Self’ can be obstructed by ‘Self’, just as easily as the other way around.

Things do not fall in and out of existence in a logically coherent world. Existence and Non Existence are two aspects of Full Dynamic Functioning, and are always present. Whether they are present to us doesn’t matter.

So Death isn’t the absence of Life. Winter isn’t the absence of Spring.