Description
What does it mean that we have “it” already? Why do we still suffer if we do?
Summary
A friend of mine got a buddha tattoo a few years ago from the best artist money could buy. He considered it a reminder to be at peace, something he’d heard about.
Since then he’s moved around the world half a dozen times or so, in search of a place without racism, without war, without anything too old or too new or that reminds him of anything that hurts.
In an old case of The Gateless Gate collection, a student asks Great Ancestor Ma, one of the foundational Chan teachers, What is Buddha? Ma simply replies, This very heart–mind is Buddha.
Gateless–Gate then offers a verse:
On a bright day under a blue sky don’t keep hunting around.
If you ask “What is Buddha?”
it’s like declaring your innocence while clutching stolen goods.
What does it mean that we have “it” already? Why do we still suffer if we do?
Sunday Zen with Tess Beasley & Friends, November 9th, 2025
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