Question
Dear Bárbara Kosen,
I know little about you, but you were not given Dharma transmission for nothing!! My question is this: when I was attending a Zen dojo regularly (once a week, in addition to
practicing at home), I experienced a sudden calm. I prayed a lot and felt good within myself… I felt the wish and desire to help anyone who needed it. But now everything is different… that feeling has disappeared!! I still practice Zen, but alone at home… Was that change caused by zazen? Can any practitioner reach satori through zazen practice? Can a disciple or master practice zazen throughout their life without reaching satori? I am 17 and have sent several emails to Master Kosen but have not received
an answer to any of them… I would like an answer!!!!
Thank you in advance!!!!
Javier
Answer from Master Kosen
Hello, Javier,
Thank you for your question. You are very young to practice alone; you need a guide. We have all needed a guide to practice the Way. Even for me, now that I am old, with many years of practice, and my master has been dead for so many years, he has always remained intimately at my side so that I do not go astray, so that universal love is my path rather than a selfish Zen aimed at attaining satori.
Satori is like a bird: if you put it in the cage of your will and desires, it does not truly sing. Sometimes we are in the world of Awakening, and sometimes we return to the ordinary world. Sometimes we pass by without seeing satori; sometimes we pass by and it fills us. Zazen places us in the normal condition of the body and mind of a true human being, and notions of having or not having—whether satori or a sports car—disappear.
Best wishes,
Kosen