Grass Hut - 30 - "What Do You Depend On?"

[AlanLa]

My (clearly wrong) answer is that I depend on emptiness, and emptiness depends on form.

In my daily life as practice, I lessen that dependance to the extent that I can. I see how far I can fall. (Life has been disappointing lately, so I sit with that hurt).

In my daily life, I depend upon dependance. After falling, I use the ground to get up. (At some point, I use that disappointment to move on and try to improve my life).

[Joyo]

I don't know either, Jundo. I was raised to believe in god, and faithfully did so for 35 years. Walking away from Christianity turned my world upside down. Many questions, much doubt and wondering, stress and pressure to figure it all out. If not a god, then what? If a god, than which one, or is there an only one? In the end, questions gave rise to more questions, I lived in confusion, and never found an answer. I did find this however,

"He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehood and errors" Thomas Jefferson

It helped me find my "answer." My answer was peace in not knowing. As someone who loves nature and has always had a deep connection to all beings (even though being raised in a rough, redneck ranching family who just did not get this at all!!) I can definitely say this "something" is there, in the eyes of a calf, in the mama cow as she bellows for her newly weaned baby to return, in the sky, trees, rocks it's everywhere actually!! And it is truly beautiful and also very sad and ugly. And for me, that is enough. Others believe it is God. My husband believes in a loving god that we are all going to see in heaven some day (even his Zenny wife and atheist children) He knows I'm very skeptical of this. But who am I to say for sure. As Kodo Sakaki so elegantly puts it (lol!!) --

People often say, "In my opinion...."Your opinion is no good so keep your mouth shut"



Gassho,
Joyo
sat today