Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Buddhas know pretty well that nothing has an independent existence. What is the universe? The universe is exactly the vastness of existence, in which all sentient beings walk in peace and harmony, without discrimination. That naturally happens. This is the universe.

So, I think there is nothing special we try to depend on – in terms of Katagiri’s ideas, in terms of Americans’ ideas. Anyway, if we realize the original nature of the universe, we are exactly living and walking hand in hand together in peace and harmony, without discriminations. That’s why [there is] nothing to depend on personally. Let’s walk together.

So, nothing has an independent existence, “and that buddha seeds spring from conditions.” And also the functioning of the universe is constantly working at super-speed, dynamically. And then when the time is ripe, conditions are arranged, something happens. We don’t know why the time is ripe. We don’t know why conditions are arranged! We don’t know. Because there are many conditions, visibly [or] invisibly.

That’s why biologists and scholars in [our day] always try to see the origin of life [as] like chemical elements. Maybe so, chemical elements. But when the time is ripe, the conditions arranged, not only one thing arises. When the time is ripe, conditions arranged, many things happen simultaneously. This the beginning of the world, exactly.’ (from Katagiri Transcripts)