Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

What is karma?

Answer

Karma means "action." If you strike someone, shoot, point your finger, your gesture has an effect. Just as zazen has an effect, here and now and in the future. There is the karma of the body, of the mouth and of the consciousness. If you kill a person, even if you are never caught and brought to trial, one day the karma of that act will certainly appear, in your own life or in that of your descendants. This is not a matter of morality. Zazen is the best karma: the body's posture is simple and exact. You are silent and your mind is beyond thought. Karma disappears. It's not necessary to try to get away from it or cover it up. But good karma, on the other hand - that you must try to create. During zazen you let your dreams and illusions go by, and they disappear. Not thinking doesn't mean sleep; it means thought that is fresh. Zazen refreshes the brain, the features of the face become noble. When you rest the fore-brain, where rational thought takes place, infinite wisdom arises .