Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

When attachments and illusions disappear, what is left?

Answer

You don't need to worry about that. You will always have some illusions left. Even when you're asleep you dream; it is hard to disconnect illusions, even during zazen. Total nirvana will exist only in your coffin. In Mahayana Buddhism one does not try to sever illusions but rather to transform them, change them into wisdom, purity. That is zazen. If you continue to practice you will be able to understand. We actually can metamorphose our passions into wisdom. We can reduce the part of error in ourselves. To sever everything is very hard indeed, but to metamorphose it through zazen is possible.