Don't Waste Your or Other's Time

This morning I was reading the Winter Edition of Newsletter for the Zen Studies Society. Something Eido Tai Shamano Roshi said really caught my eye. He wrote, "Don’t waste your life, it won’t be reimbursed. Don’t steal someone else’s time. It’s a crime, even though you won’t get sent to jail. It puts a big stamp on your karmic passport."

Having a human life is not a small thing. It's actually a very, very, very big deal. To have this opportunity, to have a human life is extraordinary. What are the chances of that? A million to one? A billion to one? And not only that, but to have the where-with-all to want to practice Zen and feel that urge is really something. It shows that on a certain level we are very conscious and aware of our so-called "True-Nature," otherwise we wouldn't notice that something has happened with It.

And so now we face our day. What will we do with this moment, this now? Will I fritter it away on some useless exploit or will I make it count for something? Do I have the right to pretend to be something that I am not with you and waste your time? Based on what Eido Roshi is saying, I'd think not. Actually it doesn't even seem fair to pretend to ourselves and live some make-believe life. Zen is about authenticity in the easy, in-between and hard moments of our life.

This is the second day of the new year. Do we have a specific goal or direction? Do we have a bucket-list, like I was talking about a few weeks ago? I do. I very much life Bassui Tokusho Zenji words in his "Talk on One Mind." He said, "If you don't come to realization in this present life, when will you? Once you have died you won't be able to avoid a long period of suffering in the Three Evil Paths. What is obstructing realization? Nothing but your own half-hearted desire for truth. Think of this and exert yourself to the utmost." True, true, true.

Let me now repeat Eido Roshi's words, more forcefully. "Don’t waste your life, it won’t be reimbursed. Don’t steal someone else’s time. It’s a crime, even though you won’t get sent to jail. It puts a big stamp on your karmic passport."

Let's work hard on this together. Let's not be wasteful.

Gassho,

Jaye Morris, Curator
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