Questions to Master Deshimaru

Question

So the most important thing is to keep concentrating here and now?

Answer

That is faith, the king of samadhi, of concentration. Past karma comes to an end. It appears and reappears, you must let it pass by. During zazen, too, karma rises up as in dreams, good and bad dreams. You must let them pass by. The karma of consciousness is the most subtle. Those of the body, of activity, of speech are easier to deal with because they are also governed by laws and the presence of other people, so it is easier to correct them. Religious life is reflection. If you practice zazen you can decrease your karma unconsciously, automatically, naturally, and reflect. We cannot sever everything. But if, for example, instead of coming to this sesshin you had gone to the Club Méditerranée you might have created more bad karma, whereas in zazen, on the contrary, you can very exactly decrease it. True faith, the religious life, is reflection, observation, concentration. We must be mushotoku. I keep saying that. If you respect the kai, the precepts, and if you are mushotoku, your karma will decrease automatically. If we observe it we can make it diminish. The karma of speech: do not lie. That of the body too. Through zazen our daily lives can continue our reflection and it develops. We can have a better life and perhaps the mistakes we make will not be as big as the ones we made before. Some people go on making them, but that is the result of their karma, not of zazen. Some people have so bad a karma that they can't manage to follow my teaching. But those who continue practicing zazen can find their underlying truth.