Description
“What is this?” asked the eccentric Zen teacher Budai, holding up odd objects to a crowd. The universe is an intimate net, its jeweled facets contain everything, including the smell of fresh toast. All living beings must turn toward the ultimate. This is deeper than any sorrow, horror, disgrace. The strangeness and beauty of now, of life, is beyond explanation. And this moment has always been here.
Summary
“What is this?” asked the eccentric Zen teacher Budai (Hotei), holding up odd objects to a crowd.
The marvelous invades us! What if it’s a disaster? That’s it too, the masters say.
We are all in the great matter, and nothing we can do, no protestation will get us out of our eventual fate—the matter of death. Life is inside of everything, even death.
When Priam came to ask Achilles for the body of his murdered son, they wept together. Even enemies come together over grief. Anglo-Saxon sagas exhibit empathy for the other—the enemy.
In Zen, the great matter is always here and you can’t avoid having it in the mix. Nor can you avoid your own shadow. The universe is an intimate net, its jeweled facets contain everything, including the smell of fresh toast.
All living beings must turn toward the ultimate. This is deeper than any sorrow, horror, disgrace. The strangeness and beauty of now, of life, is beyond explanation. And this moment has always been here
Sunday Zen session recorded October 22, 2023. With music from Jordan McConnell.
