Nowhere Else

With palms together,


Good Morning Everyone,



Katagiri-roshi said, “Your basic nature is no solid form.”



Dogen Zenji quoted an ancient as having said, “Craving life, day after day goes by in distress; if one does not turn one’s head when called, what can be done?”





Nothing we do or say can change the fact that everything changes. The tree buds; the bud blossoms; the bloom fades.





Sounds trite, but our basic nature is every moment change. When we realize this in every moment, we step forward and do what is there to be done. It is in this doing what is there to be done that we manifest our buddha nature and reveal the buddha-dharma. Everything is one; everything is not-one. We experience our morning coffee as itself and the universe. Respect, compassion, and authenticity follow.





We must not crave life. We must not grasp the moment. On the other hand, we must not crave death. We must not deny the moment. Craving and grasping are, as Buddha taught, sources of suffering.





Life is to be lived. To do so we must release ourselves into it. Letting our life’s condition be what it is as we face it openly; receiving it with compassion, we let go of what was and what will be.





Here we are and nowhere else.





Be well.