BIG EXISTENCE

BIG EXISTENCE



If we think of ourselves as our bodies, the teaching then may be our
clothing. Sometimes we talk about our clothing; sometimes we talk about our
body. But neither body nor clothing is actually we ourselves. We ourselves
are the big activity. We are just expressing the smallest part of the big
activity, that is all. So it is all right to talk about ourselves, but
actually there is no need to do so. Before we open our mouths, we are
already expressing the big existence, including ourselves. So the purpose
of talking about ourselves is to correct the misunderstanding we have when
we are attached to any particular temporal form or color of the big
activity. It is necessary to talk about what our body is and what our
activity is so that we may not make any mistake about them. So to talk
about ourselves is actually to forget about ourselves."

Shunryu Suzuki--"Zen mind, beginner's mind."