Zen: A Way of Life

Zen means understanding your true self, so we ask, "who am I?" An eminant teacher once held a cup of water to a student asking, "What is this?" The student replied,"that is a cup." "You are attached to name an form, sure a cup is a cup, but what is a cup?" This student was stumped and did not know how to reply so he answered, "I don't know." Wasting no more time this …

…understand yourself-nor do you understand a human being's instinct. The entire cosmos is one large tree. If I think that chopping large or even small chunks from the trunk of this tree won't hurt myself-the branch-I am delusional. We all share one body in this world. If I stab my heart howver, my body dies. So what is your purpose, your instinct? Bodhisattva vows. Help all beings everywhere, even if this takes 10,000 years. Only try.