Question
I am an alcoholic, sober for six years. I am drawn to zazen, but I cannot understand how Master Deshimaru could have become an alcoholic, and therefore attached.
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
If Master Deshimaru was an alcoholic, then Jesus was too, Rabelais was too, Bacchus was too, Noah was too, Milarepa’s master was too, and how many other great masters, whose names I could fill pages with until my thirst was quenched. If these masters had possessed only a human dimension in their words and deeds, they would not precisely have been called masters.
Kosen