Mu!
Below is a quote from a teisho (talk) give in 1976 about the Zen koan “Mu!”
From the Mu point of view, that is, from the Buddha nature point of view, that is, from the Awakened point of view, this world, this universe is the fully blossomed Buddha nature. In other words, everything, tangible or not, visual or not, ugly or beautiful, life and death, is Mu. Why then do we need to say this? Why do we need to realize this? It is simply because we have a one-sided view of reality-the existential view that all things are separate and different-and we think that this view of reality is the whole view.
The beautiful point expressed in this quote reminds me to wonder what views of reality that I’m only seeing one side of. Metaphorically, if I look at a pile of coins, I can only see one side of every coin. This is how I go about my life, I see only one side of everyone I meet, of every event in my life. Sitting in zazen is a chance to work to break this down and allow me to encompass the whole of my experience.
The Digital Zendo has a rich library of writings on Zen. Jaye Morris is the curator of digitalZENDO.com and he writes a blog with daily inspirational messages and other topics.
