Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘In Zen Center, someone says, “I don’t like to kill cockroaches.” In Tassajara, “I don’t like to kill flies.” But in the summer you know how numberless flies are! I can’t say you should kill flies. I can’t say you should leave flies alone. I can’t say you shouldn’t kill cockroaches.

This is a koan, you know. This is your practice.

If I told you you should kill flies, it would mean it is all right to kill cockroaches. To let a human being live more comfortably by making a sacrifice of a fly. If I told you don’t kill cockroaches, it is also not true. It would mean to let flies or cockroaches live by making a sacrifice of human beings. You may ask me forever, “Is it all right to kill flies or cockroaches?” I will never give an answer. The question is answered forever, within yourself. What to do is within yourself.’ (from Wind Bell)

I started reading this Wind Bell again ahead of my class on the Bodhisattva Vows which starts later this month, and came across this passage – which reminds me very much of this old post.