Question
- Master, Buddha, God, has no noumenon and therefore has infinitely many aspects,
faces, and forms. Yet the essence of an aspect is beyond aspect
or non-aspect, with “beyond” meaning it instantly encompasses both: aspect and non-aspect. Is that not how Buddha can be seen? Likewise, isn’t zazen beyond the aspect or non-aspect, even divine, of a human being?
Answer: It is complicated and unclear.
Kosen.
- Yes, thank you, Master. Here and now, I was answering you in an internet café. I was trying to speak simply with simple words, but it did not satisfy me. I sensed I could, with a little more patience, refrain from answering immediately and let your answer become clearer within me in the light of my practice. Then the screen began emitting a great deal of light; my eyes hurt, and I could no longer see. I asked the people next to me whether it was my eyesight or whether the screen needed adjusting. Two bearded men, one dressed like a European, the other in a qamis. They got up and adjusted the screen’s brightness, and the trouble with my eyes disappeared. I said, “Barak Allahu fik!” They answered, “You’re welcome!” I then told them how beautiful the word “thank you” is, in French as in Arabic. They replied, “There is nothing better; it also means receive God’s blessing, Allah’s blessing!” I answered, “We are all brothers; why all these religions?” and told them that was the question I had just asked a Buddhist master. I showed them your website, my questions, and your answers. They were on a Quranic website on the subject of guidance. They spoke to me of God’s oneness and said he is also called the Unchanging in Islam. For them, thinking we are God was dangerous; they spoke of God as an entity truly separate from humanity. They said God had indeed created everything, but even though we have the free will not to believe in him as the great creator of all, thinking we too were creators was a creation of our ego. Apart from that, everything they said they practiced was my practice. But at one point I felt they were preaching in a way that seemed doctrinal, and I told them we should not try to explain everything, believe we have understood everything, or think we can grasp everything mentally. They said, “In any case, we were guided this morning, you and us, by God, by Allah, and this meeting with you is not chance.” Our discussion lasted about fifteen minutes. When I went outside for a cigarette to take a break after this encounter, the internet café manager told me they had paid for half an hour of connection time. There it is. What do you think of what is happening to me here and now? Sabine.
Sabine
Master Kosen’s answer
It is guidance.
Kosen