Homeless Kodo's "TO YOU" - Chapters 18, 19 & 20

[Shinchi]

Hi Steve,

First, of course, there is no reason to always agree with everything old Kodo says. However, it is best not to look at this quote only one way:

For the Zen fellow, from one absolute perspective, there is no sickness, no death, no "me vs. you," no hunger for nothing lacking, no oppression or oppressor, etc. etc. Yes, all this world is as a dream.

And yet, in this dream of a world, there is sickness and death, hungry children, oppression, war, etc. etc.

It is our real dream, what Dogen called a "dream within a dream" which we should dream well, lest it becomes a nightmare. There is no sickness and death, yet there is ... so take your medicine. There is nothing lacking ... yet there is, so feed the hungry children.

That said, a lot of what we fight for is simply things we create in our own desire and delusion ... as foolish as marching into the holy land on a crusade to punish the infidels. These things are fights of our own making, our own false flags that we ourselves fight for without reason. So, is a particular battle or campaign truly necessary to save lives and bring peace, or is it just foolishness that leads us to battle for phantom causes? We have to be discerning. Right now, in much of the world, it seems that people are making wars and violence for things that may not be necessary to fight for, and they should instead learn to live together in peace (the South Asian Buddhist ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya come to mind, as one example), while other battles may be needed (e.g., to rescue people from concentration camps). And, even though there is no death from the absolute perspective ... yet there is death here in the relative world, so we should avoid killing and mourn those who are killed.

Yes ... the whole world is a dream. But it is our dream of life, so dream it well.

Does that help a bit?

Gassho, J

stlah

Hi Jundo,

Thank you for this response. Yes, this is helpful. I agree with you that much of what is fought for is done so out of desire and delusion, and therefore the importance of discerning whether a particular path towards peace is the "right" or most appropriate path. I think part of my struggle in understanding many of these things also might come from only a surface level understanding of non-duality. But I will continue to sit, read and listen.

I do really like what you wrote here too: "Yes... The whole world is a dream. But it is our dream of life, so dream it well."

Thank you again. Much appreciated. [emoji120]

Gassho,
Steve
STlah

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