Question
Hello,
In one of his aphorisms, Zhuangzi compares the butcher's art to that of directing one's life. To sum it up, he says an excellent butcher's knife always remains perfectly sharp because he never cuts through muscle or sinew, much less bones. Instead, he cuts up the animal's carcass by opening the empty space between the parts at each difficulty he encounters.
You understand the analogy with "mental clots to dissolve."
I mention this text by Zhuangzi to introduce my problem more clearly:
I am realizing now that I have had a "broken bone" in my mind since I was very small, in response to a father who was also broken and treated me very unfairly. Not a "muscle" or a "sinew," but truly a bone; I feel it clearly. This is to help you understand the seriousness, very relative though it is, of my personal situation.
So my question is a little silly: can the mind heal from a "broken bone"? Or is that too fundamental an obstacle?
Thank you.
Antoonio
Master Kosen’s answer
Sometimes it can, sometimes it cannot.
Kosen