Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘So reality in life is a little bit of a state of human life. Prior you put a certain label on your life, “I want to do,” or “I don’t want to do,” before you get the idea. This is reality in life. So this reality in life is, well, beyond germination of a sign of your consciousness, idea or thinking.

This is reality. So reality in life is something lively, alive, lively. But you cannot understand intellectually. But it’s already there. This is reality, your reality. But this reality is yours, but simultaneously not yours, because this reality in life is extending into others’ life, in tree’s life, universe, everything. So this reality is reality with capital R. This is universal reality. Universal reality. Universal reality is, well, what is called Oneness. In Buddhism we say, Heaven, Earth and I are in one and the same root.

Heaven, Earth and I are in one and the same root. If you realize this, that time it is called Enlightenment. The one and the same root in which mediate diamonds exist is called the Way. The Way. Or the Buddha Way. It is the Way. But let me use the reality with a capital R, reality in life. Reality in life. This reality is yours, but simultaneously not yours. This reality is universal.’ (from the Katagiri Roshi Archive)