Question
Hello! I am not particularly interested in money or power over others; I have no political calling—money is winning anyway. I know I will die one day, tomorrow or later, and I try to love those I love without succeeding as I would like. In short, a bit like everyone else, I think. I tell you all this because when I see people throwing themselves into action, professionally for example, it is always for their own interests or their families’—all right, we have to eat—or they claim to help others because they know what is good for them. I think it mostly causes a lot of damage, and personally I do not find it easy to see the consequences of actions. So I would like to know what action means in Zen. Is it “doing good,” as for Catholics? What would action be in a Zen society? When I see what is still happening in Tibet, at first I thought I understood the Dalai Lama’s actions and compared them to Gandhi’s, which went rather well. But now many people are still dying in Tibet, and no one cares because they have interests in China. Shouldn’t we move on to something else? What is right action for Zen?
Pierre
Master Kosen’s answer
The essence of Zen teaching through action is expressed by the term “mushotoku.” If you realize mushotoku, you have satori, you are a buddha, you are free, upright, natural, nondual. Mushotoku is a word that exists only in Zen language. It cannot be translated into any language, not even Japanese or Chinese, and even if it were translated and appeared in dictionaries, you could not understand it. Even my disciples, after ten years of practice, still do not understand it. Sometimes we understand it at death, but then it is too late. The only valid attitude is mushotoku.
Kosen