Vraiment vivant.e !

Zen says, “When a person is truly alive, the whole world awakens.” When you are in the light, the light of the whole world shines forth. That is why it is also said, “To awaken alive in this world, what joy!”—but let’s see what is meant here by “alive.” Wanshi: “In this moment, everything comes back to life”: when we are truly alive, our own light increases—and the light of the entire universe increases simultaneously. This light is that of each and every one of us… We cannot say, “This is my light”: it is The Light, it is always all the light. And of course, for me, this is interpreted in light of my favorite phrase from Master Dogen's Shōbōgenzō, which says: "See the phenomena, see the shining heart," or another translation: "...see the pure heart." "Seeing" with right vision, when we look with "open" eyes, with the Buddha-Eye, then, whether it's the snow-covered mountains, the meal on the table, or the flowers on the balcony, we see the pure heart. It's not seeing phenomena as we see them, in the sense of "seeing" with our eyes, this form that is us, our ideas about what is beautiful or not, etc. It's seeing the light, seeing the pure heart, seeing phenomena "as they are" without adding or subtracting anything, a "right" vision—one might say: no one can see "just that"! It's also this other Zen phrase: "To wake up alive in this world, what joy!" “Joy”: it’s not the joy of the five senses and consciousness, not the joy of being alive and not dead, or simply because it’s a beautiful day… When I see phenomena only as phenomena—from my own perspective, with my eyes more or less dusty, when I’m not “awake”—there’s: I like it/I don’t like it, it’s pretty/not pretty, etc. I’m in samsara, and there, the only demonstration of joy I can offer through my very life will come through my body: I’ll smile, or my eyes will sparkle. It happens in my body, in this assemblage composed of the sense organs and the mind, always changing, incomplete, colored by my approach to the world. That is the joy of samsara. A joy, yes, but limited, or at least impermanent, dependent on circumstances; I cannot rely on this changing joy of samsara. But if I go to where, as Wanshi said, “all words are forgotten in silence,” I also see the pure heart, that is, the interdependence in which I live, this interbeing that sustains me and that I sustain, and emptiness, that is, all these phenomena without a defined or constant nature, without stability. Then, when I return to what I call “I,” the “I” of this moment, the living self seen through the Eye of Buddha, it is no longer this limited and changing self that I call “I”; it is the light of a pearl in Indra’s Net. Because I am body and mind, I live in the world of phenomena. But when we awaken to the fact that everything is connected to everything else, like the knots of Indra's Net, we realize that we are supported by all things and that we live with the totality of all that exists. That's when I awaken to life in this world. I am in samsara and in the unity of Indra's Net. This is the present moment, "in this moment, everything comes back to life," which includes—and we mustn't misunderstand "the present moment"—the before, the present, and the future of this moment. It's not like: I wake up and there, all my past is behind me, all the future ahead; this moment is: "In this moment, everything comes back to life. In this moment, I awaken in this world." And after that, it's this moment again, and this moment and each moment contains everything: fullness. In this moment, everything comes back to life. At this moment, I awaken alive in this world. Because our life is greater than ourselves, even though, of course, we will take care of all things. Awakening to our own nature. Awakening in our Buddha Nature. Awakening in the pure heart. As we sing at the end of ordination ceremonies: "A cloud in a boundless sky. A lotus in muddy water. We live in the pure heart of the Buddha." Awakening alive in this world, this human world, this world of samsara, this world of suffering which is also the only world that allows us to pass beyond, into nirvana. Obviously, it doesn't have to be morning for you to awaken alive in this world. It is now, it is already. "When all words are forgotten in silence, you appear before yourself with clarity." Realizing this, the boundaries of time disappear. And in that moment, everything comes to life. Just that instant for the pearl to illuminate the entire universe… Full text: https://www.nousasseoirensemble.org/blog