July 2019
Dear Friends,
I wonder, sometimes, if we live in a great dystopian era of distraction, divorced from reality by all our devices and mechanical conveyances. Is anyone home and available nowadays? But then I catch myself and ask, “Am I home? In this provisional bag of aging skin with all its unimaginably many forms of sentience living and dying inside, am I present and available?”
Interestingly enough, the first question is a distraction all its own. Our minds are so easily led astray. To be at home – what does that mean anyway?
A kong-an story from the Wu-men Kwan, case #12, comes to mind.
Master Jui-yen used to call to himself every day, “Master!” and would answer, “Yes?”
“You must keep clear!”
“Yes!”
“Never be deceived by others, any day, any time!”
“Yes! Yes!”
In finding that “yes” we find our true home, our entire world, and our beautiful function.
Yours in the great era of dharma,
Jeong Ji
