[...]
The understanding of the duality of things is comparable to different people looking at a cup of water at the same time. For the ordinary person, it’s just a drink to quench his thirst. For the scientist, however, it is a chemical compound. And for the poet, ah, it’s a romantic symbol of a river running between banks, a place to keep a tryst with or to bade farewell to one’s beloved.
So each one of us peers at this cup of water from different perspective, just as we look at life and death from differing levels of understanding. The main question remains : How can we transcend that duality to reach the One, the One that encompasses both the one and the many, so that we can attain Enlightenment and become Buddha? To understand that both extremes, both opposites, are not contradictory but complementary means that you can transcend the duality to realize the One just mentioned, so as to become enlightened. That’s what Zen is all about.
So, do not say that laughing over crying, for both are necessary and essential for awakening your Mind to the Truth. Both are the Truth. Try to accept both of them as One, and you will be proud of being a Zen adherent.
A Zen talk
at International Buddhist Meditation Center
The understanding of the duality of things is comparable to different people looking at a cup of water at the same time. For the ordinary person, it’s just a drink to quench his thirst. For the scientist, however, it is a chemical compound. And for the poet, ah, it’s a romantic symbol of a river running between banks, a place to keep a tryst with or to bade farewell to one’s beloved.
So each one of us peers at this cup of water from different perspective, just as we look at life and death from differing levels of understanding. The main question remains : How can we transcend that duality to reach the One, the One that encompasses both the one and the many, so that we can attain Enlightenment and become Buddha? To understand that both extremes, both opposites, are not contradictory but complementary means that you can transcend the duality to realize the One just mentioned, so as to become enlightened. That’s what Zen is all about.
So, do not say that laughing over crying, for both are necessary and essential for awakening your Mind to the Truth. Both are the Truth. Try to accept both of them as One, and you will be proud of being a Zen adherent.
[...]
A Zen talk
at International Buddhist Meditation Center
Los Angeles, August 1981
Trích "Basic Buddhism" by Thich Man Giac
Trích "Basic Buddhism" by Thich Man Giac
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