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Influential teacher and founder of the San Francisco Zen Ceneter, Shunryu Suzuki gave a talk and when he finished, a man raised his had asking with distress: “You’ve been talking on and on about all these complicated Buddhist teachings, and really, I don’t understand anything that you’re saying. Is there something you can tell me that I can understand?”
Of course, the question caused some anxiety among those in the room who were laughing quietly but nervously because the question could be perceived as disrespectful. However, Suzuki took it quite seriously. When the laughter subsided, he quietly answered: “Everything changes.”
Suzuki presented “reality” from the Buddhist perspective. Reality is impermanence, reality is change and, therefore, we have to live our lives in keeping with the way things “really” are, not the way we wish them to be.
Of course, the question caused some anxiety among those in the room who were laughing quietly but nervously because the question could be perceived as disrespectful. However, Suzuki took it quite seriously. When the laughter subsided, he quietly answered: “Everything changes.”
Suzuki presented “reality” from the Buddhist perspective. Reality is impermanence, reality is change and, therefore, we have to live our lives in keeping with the way things “really” are, not the way we wish them to be.
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