Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Whether we feel good or bad, the truth is truth. We have to try to accept it. This is so called selflessness. Because of our small self, it is difficult to accept it. When we find out our small self, how small our small self we will accept it, the big mind, and we will accept the truth as it is. And so things-as-it-is, we mean, is not to accept or to do something without making any effort. That is not to accept things-as-it-is. When we accept everything as it is we must make some effort to adjust my eye or my ear because knowing we have some tendency to observe things in our selfish way, so trying to correct ourselves is at the same time trying to accept things as-it-is. 

So Buddhism is eternal effort to accept things-as-it-is, with effort, eternal effort. Eternal effort is wanted even though we attain enlightenment, this effort will continue. You may think after you attain there will not be any need to make effort. That is wrong understanding. As long as you have your eyes, your ears and your body it is necessary to make some effort. But difference is before you are completely persuaded with this truth you have suffering in accepting things-as-it-is, but for a mind who accept completely this truth, or who attain enlightenment, it is pleasure to accept this truth and to make our effort to try to accept things-as-it-is.’ (from the Suzuki Roshi Archive)

In the Monday group this week we looked at the Transiency chapter of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, but read the transcript version, as it had some ideas – like the paragraphs above, that didn’t make it into the published version unscathed. The group was particularly interested in the constant effort our small selves have to make to adjust to the reality of impermanence.