Question
Can we consider everything to be work? Despite myself, I find I disagree with people who spend their time saying and assuming, thus disparaging everything others do, that others do nothing because of their different profession, activity, youth, student status, age, sex, country of origin, or even by ignoring the possibility of a disabling illness. I wonder why these people think they alone work, and above all feel such anger toward those they address, seemingly without knowing the reasons. But can reasons be put forward without also seeking work? At what age should we get angry with a child to force them to work? Ultimately, what is the meaning of the horrible ways we hear parents address their children about learning to work? “Work, you’ll cost me less.” “Why did I have you?” Why is this relationship to money and earning a living so often passed on through guilt about existing? Why is there this confusion in my mind, this barrier between love and money?
Thank you for your answer.
Anonymous
Master Kosen’s answer
In Zen, work, samu in Japanese, has always held an important place because it is an integral part of practice.
SAMU means understanding and experiencing matter as mind. What is the point of living in this material world if we do not realize our thought through matter? Work in this spirit truly becomes a panacea for consciousness and forms the basis of spiritual powers. All great masters practiced it diligently. That is why most Zen stories take place in vegetable gardens, on building sites, or in temple kitchens.
Of course, many activities, such as accounting, sewing, answering online questions, or preparing teachings, are equally considered full-fledged samu. Notice that in ancient Zen stories, mind is often compared to a sesame seed, a grain of rice, or a roof tile, which might seem incomprehensible in a purely philosophical context.
What has corrupted the meaning of work is, above all in my view, the idea of slavery and forced labor, in which our creativity, freedom, and identity are stolen and violated. What does the most damage is not our relationship to work but our relationship with whoever makes us work.
At that point, the notion of violation arises more often than love.
Nowadays, slavery has taken a much subtler form called democracy. The advance is that we freely ask to be enslaved, even beg for it. The social context itself leaves the vast majority of citizens no alternative but to accept being forced to sell their bodies, their time, often their souls or identities, in order to survive, have a roof over their heads, and feed their families.
Even then, beyond the positive fact that it earns us money and the negative fact that it means sacrifice and effort, this work still brings us, despite everything, a fundamental balance and a sense of being useful and existing.
Your question is indeed remarkable and generous, and you touch on interesting points. Although the word “travail” itself has strongly negative roots, from the Latin “tripalium,” an instrument of torture, you are right to say everything is work and everything is love.
Kosen