Question
Is love, giving of yourself, giving everything to another, to others, the foundation of life? Or is life, real life, following you, listening to you, going wherever you are? Because if we experience this life from summer camp to autumn camp, snug within the community, a life paced by the seasons, if we experience all that, THERE IS NO LONGER TIME TO EXPERIENCE THE OTHER KIND: life outside the community, life that gives life, the life of babies.
What do you advise us to experience?
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
First of all, why do you set “love, giving of yourself, giving everything to another, to others” against following the way of Zen and practicing seriously? I think you are opposing things that are not opposites. A life without a spiritual dimension and practice really misses the essence of what we have been given. But a spiritual practice that missed out on life would be just as disastrous.
Kosen