Question
You say in your answers: "Every day we must awaken again; it is endless, a satori at every moment." Yet the Buddha assured us there was "a cessation, a cooling, etc.," and thus an endpoint. Why don't you preach the same thing as our Buddha?
This difference makes me think we could take the easy way out and therefore miss the goal the Buddha promised us. Besides, I can't help thinking it would be only a short step to slide into decadence, as has happened several times in the past, especially these days when people no longer have the courage to seek the Way.
Perhaps you only want to show the path toward this cessation but do not want to speak of a goal to attain? This difference makes me tense, not to say sad. Thank you for your answer or your silence.
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
Every day, we must go to zero point, to the root, to nirvana, to the origin—call it what you like.
Being without a goal is fundamental to Buddhist practice. We cannot have attaining satori as our goal. That would be stupid, since awakening is the original state of all things; it is in no way a special condition. That is why we speak of awakening with the ten thousand existences. The Buddha tried to attain awakening for six years. He failed, and only when he abandoned everything did he awaken to the original conditions.
Kosen