Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘To sit without delving into existence or nonexistence is called wholeheartedly sitting.’ (The Third Turning of the Wheel)

Perhaps this quote might seem a little scary – how can we not be delving into existence – or nonexistence. It brings to mind the phrase from Dogen, ‘no longer concerned with conceptual distinctions.’ I remember how long that line was debated when we studied it at Tassajara in 2004; now I see it very simply. There are conceptual distinctions, just as there is existence and nonexistence. It is the delving into, or being concerned with – or getting bogged down in your ideas about, to put it more bluntly – these things that causes the problems.