Question
First, I want to thank you for answering my question about why I never see anyone practicing zazen on a chair in a dojo or monastery. It allowed me to move forward, walk through the doors of a dojo, and probably soon those of a monastery. I am very happy about it; the adventure continues despite everything. Thank you again.
I have known the state you refer to: when the mind wakes in the morning, calm and serene, without thought, and the night has passed as in zazen, without dreams.
Total listening to the other person, the mind calm and serene because it has nothing to say.
Who would speak of loneliness when life is everywhere? At the time, even the trees made me smile.
So I experienced this at one point in my life, when I lived alone. Then I met a woman who became my everyday partner. This state gradually left me. What happened? I feel the mind cannot be free if it is dependent; that dependence breeds disorder and confusion, just as fever signals an infectious syndrome; that love can have no object. Am I mistaken, or does the mind need maturity to realize itself, like a grape that can burst only when fully ripe?
I feel I am brushing against the answer.
I don’t know how to thank you in advance for the answer you will give me. This riddle has haunted me for so long.
What happiness to have met you.
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
Why did I follow, love, and choose Master Deshimaru rather than another master? I met many others…
Because he always urged us to bring practice and the Way into contact with our ordinary lives and worldly problems.
That is why a path that made us special people cut off from the world and unable to adapt to any complex situation would not seem authentic to me.
If you aspire to absolute wisdom and peace, you must reject nothing, but always adapt to the situation as well as possible while firmly preserving your practice and faith.
That is how my disciples still practice today, following the teaching of Kodo Sawaki, Master Deshimaru, and myself.
For example, Master Keisen Vuillemin, now a Zen master, never neglected his family responsibilities or his work and responsibilities at the highest level in building CERN’s particle accelerator, which he saw through to completion. And for twenty years he has never missed a zazen session or a sesshin.
Kosen