Dear Andrew,
Yesterday evening after I finished my daily reading from “Zen Mind,
Beginner’s Mind” (it’s so good), I saw that the next reading was entitled “The
Quality of Being.” At the same time, I was fully aware that the next day was
the 25th of July, and so I was fully aware that the next day was
your 23rd birthday. I thought, I bet tomorrow’s reading will be very
fitting for the day of Andrew’s birth. And I wasn’t disappointed!
The very first lines of the reading go, “The purpose of zazen is to attain the freedom of our being, physically
and mentally. According to Dogen-zenji, every existence is a flashing into the
vast phenomenal world. Each existence is another expression of the quality of
being itself.”
To me, that totally speaks of you!
The reading is a couple pages long, but here is the paragraph that
especially made me think of you, and me, and you and me.
“Today I am sitting in Los Altos. Tomorrow morning I shall be in San
Francisco. There is no connection between the “I” in Los Altos and the “I” in
San Francisco. They are quite different beings. Here we have the freedom of
existence. And there is no quality connecting you and me; when I say “you,”
there is no “I”; when I say “I,” there is no “you.” You are independent, and I am independent; each exists in a different
moment. But this does not mean we are
quite different beings. We
are actually one and the same being. We are the same, and yet different.
It is very paradoxical, but actually it is so. Because we are independent
beings, each one of us is a complete
flashing into the vast phenomenal world. When I am sitting, there is
no other person, but this does not mean I ignore you. I am completely one with
every existence in the phenomenal world. So when I sit, you sit; everything
sits with me. That is our zazen. When you sit, everything sits with you. And
everything makes up the quality of your being. I am a part of you. I go into the quality of your being. So in this
practice we have absolute liberation from everything else. If you understand this
secret there is no difference between Zen practice and your everyday life. You can interpret everything as you wish.”
I miss you and love you brother.
Happy Birthday!!
Sending you love and light always.
Your sister,
Lara
1 comment:
I feel like that photo is perfect for describing each of us.
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