"Does a dog have Buddha nature?" This is the first and perhaps most famous of 48 Zen koans compiled in the early 13th century in "The Gateless Gate." To the question, the Zen Master Zhaozhou responded: "Mu." Mu means "nothing." A dog is a dog. Buddha nature, the innate potential for enlightenment, is a concept. Two seemingly independent things in the now. Yet, all things before and after the now are one thing: nothing, mu....
Kindness connects things of like kind. When we realize every thing is a facet of one thing, the Everything, we connect to all things with love....
What is it now?* One day, a Zen master with a clay pot on a wooden table before him asked several students: "What is this?" Some said it was a clay pot. Another said that it was an artifact. Another said it was an assemblage of clay and wood. Soon there were other perspectives as well. A lively debate ensued, while the Zen master shook his head and laughed. One student approached the table and threw the pot to the ground, shattering it into many pieces. An audible silence enveloped the room, until the student asked: "What is it now?" Silence again filled the room. Some students were shocked and others embarrassed by the aggressive arrogance of the student who shattered their master's clay pot. Then the silence was shattered by laughter from the Zen master and the student. The Zen master and student laughed as they recognized the other students were like the blind men in the "Ten Men and the Elephant" parable. Each certain of a their individual identification of the pot and the collective view that breaking the pot was disrespectful. A pot is a pot, temporarily. All things are ever-changing. The pot cannot be described, as it is different now than it was in the now upon which the description is based. Those who know it can only say that it is what it is whatever it is. *Courtesy of Bill Wisher....
Sometime in late 1988, I found myself on a hundreds long line of people awaiting to ask for a blessing from Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad-Lubavitch spiritual leader. As customary, the Rebbe gifted everyone on line a crisp, new US dollar bill. The gift was a sign of humility; the great Rebbe expressing gratitude to those who ventured to his house. As well, it suggested the bill recipient treat others likewise; that is, on every occasion, treat others with kindness. I imagine all those dollar bills are still around, in wallets and places of safekeeping. They are sacred mementos. My dollar I've kept in my wallet. Now, 36 years later, it has virtually disintegrated. What a loss! It would have been more valuable had I given it to someone soon after receiving it; more valuable to both me and the recipient....
No one is getting out of here alive, but those who realize they are the Everything....
Does a rock have consciousness? Consciousness generally refers to the state of being aware of one's surroundings, thoughts, feelings, and sensations. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having a sense of self as separate from that which is not one's self. However, what exactly is consciousness has been long debated by philosophers, theologians, linguists, and scientists and no consensus has emerged. While a rock is a rock, what is a rock? Is a rock an independent thing or something given agency by our consciousness? If a rock is an independent thing, it may have consciousness that is beyond our general understanding of consciousness. Alternatively, if a rock is an illusion created by our mind, a rock does not have consciousness. Every thing in the now is interdependent and interconnected. That is, every thing is not a thing, but a facet of one ever-changing thing, the Everything. Things in the now that appear independent, like a rock, are illusions created by the mind. As a rock is an illusion, it does not have consciousness. If we don't recognize our consciousness has created the things in the Everything, we have the consciousness of a rock. ...
Many a thank you is heard in the Rewards Department. Many complaints in the Complaint Department. God runs the Rewards Department and the Devil runs the Complaint Department....
Before and after the now, we are the eternal soul. In the now, we are the self; a temporary expression of the soul. The soul simply is, asking for nothing. The self is selfish, demanding all our attention. As the self denies the soul's existence, we lose touch with the soul. Ironically, the self will inevitably no longer exist and we will surely die if we lose our connection to the soul....