Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Here, in the time we call the “present” there are currently conditions around us that include injustice and evil, poverty and war, violence and oppression, discrimination, and so on, conditions that we must address and change. To say that the present is absolutely perfect within upright sitting in which there is nothing gained does not mean that it is all right to close your eye to the situation indulging yourself by feeling good nor is it acceptable to approve of the present situation as being good, praising it as good, and thinking that there is no need to change it. Making all sorts of effort, it is necessary to change such a situation. We mustn’t use upright sitting with no gaining mind as an excuse not to make an effort. To the contrary, we must be active in correctly leading the effort to make actual change. We must practice in such a way. More often than not, it happens that because the people who participate in movements to do real change are twisted and turned about by their inconclusive principles and ideals so that they are not in touch with the crucial reality, their attachment to their self-centered sloppy acknowledgements of reality, by bringing forward their own individual chaotic feelings (greed, anger, prejudice, and so forth) and acting on them, that finally they end up causing these social movements to become deadlocked. 

I think that it is precisely those people confronting such situations where complicated problems are entangled who must temporarily pause and clearly let go of those earnest problems and concerns that they must do something about, and then from that vantage point perceive the reality as it is. They need to foster the power to deeply see through the whole thing.’ (from the Soto Zen Journal)