Well I'm so and so, | |
I was given this name by my parents, | |
I've been to such and such a college, | |
I've done these things in my profession, | |
and I produce a little biography. | |
Buddha says forget it. | |
That's not you, that's just some story. | |
That's all gone, that's all passed. | |
I want to see the real you! | |
Who you are now! | |
Well nobody knows who that is, you see? | |
Because we don't . | |
. know ourselves except through listening to our own echoes . | |
. and consulting our memories. | |
But then there's a real you, and that again leads us back to this question: | |
Who are you? | |
You will find that the Zen people are quite divided on this. | |
They will say, \"No we don't believe literally in reincarnation. | |
That after your funeral, you will suddenly become somebody different, living somewhere else.\" | |
They will say, \"Reincarnation means this: | |
that if you sitting here now are really convinced that you're the same person who walked in at the door half an hour ago, you're being reincarnated. | |
If you're liberated, you'll understand that you're not. | |
The past doesn't exist. | |
The future doesn't exist. | |
There is only the present and that's the only real you that there is.\" | |
The Zen master Dogen put it this way, he said | |
\"Spring does not become the summer. | |
First there is spring and then there is summer,\" | |
T.S. Elliot has the same idea in his poem \"The Four Quartets\" | |
where he says, \"When you settle down in the train to read your newspaper… | |
you are not the same person who left the platform.\" | |
If you think you are, you are linking your moments up in a chain, | |
and this is what binds you to the wheel of birth and death. | |
But when you know that every moment in which you are is the only moment, | |
this comes into Zen—a master will say to somebody | |
\"Get up and walk across the room!\" | |
and he comes back and the master says \"Where are your footprints?\" | |
They've gone. | |
So where are you? | |
Who are you? | |
When we're asked who we are, we usually give a kind of recitation of a history, |
Well I' m so and so, | |
I was given this name by my parents, | |
I' ve been to such and such a college, | |
I' ve done these things in my profession, | |
and I produce a little biography. | |
Buddha says forget it. | |
That' s not you, that' s just some story. | |
That' s all gone, that' s all passed. | |
I want to see the real you! | |
Who you are now! | |
Well nobody knows who that is, you see? | |
Because we don' t . | |
. know ourselves except through listening to our own echoes . | |
. and consulting our memories. | |
But then there' s a real you, and that again leads us back to this question: | |
Who are you? | |
You will find that the Zen people are quite divided on this. | |
They will say, " No we don' t believe literally in reincarnation. | |
That after your funeral, you will suddenly become somebody different, living somewhere else." | |
They will say, " Reincarnation means this: | |
that if you sitting here now are really convinced that you' re the same person who walked in at the door half an hour ago, you' re being reincarnated. | |
If you' re liberated, you' ll understand that you' re not. | |
The past doesn' t exist. | |
The future doesn' t exist. | |
There is only the present and that' s the only real you that there is." | |
The Zen master Dogen put it this way, he said | |
" Spring does not become the summer. | |
First there is spring and then there is summer," | |
T. S. Elliot has the same idea in his poem " The Four Quartets" | |
where he says, " When you settle down in the train to read your newspaper | |
you are not the same person who left the platform." | |
If you think you are, you are linking your moments up in a chain, | |
and this is what binds you to the wheel of birth and death. | |
But when you know that every moment in which you are is the only moment, | |
this comes into Zen a master will say to somebody | |
" Get up and walk across the room!" | |
and he comes back and the master says " Where are your footprints?" | |
They' ve gone. | |
So where are you? | |
Who are you? | |
When we' re asked who we are, we usually give a kind of recitation of a history, |
Well I' m so and so, | |
I was given this name by my parents, | |
I' ve been to such and such a college, | |
I' ve done these things in my profession, | |
and I produce a little biography. | |
Buddha says forget it. | |
That' s not you, that' s just some story. | |
That' s all gone, that' s all passed. | |
I want to see the real you! | |
Who you are now! | |
Well nobody knows who that is, you see? | |
Because we don' t . | |
. know ourselves except through listening to our own echoes . | |
. and consulting our memories. | |
But then there' s a real you, and that again leads us back to this question: | |
Who are you? | |
You will find that the Zen people are quite divided on this. | |
They will say, " No we don' t believe literally in reincarnation. | |
That after your funeral, you will suddenly become somebody different, living somewhere else." | |
They will say, " Reincarnation means this: | |
that if you sitting here now are really convinced that you' re the same person who walked in at the door half an hour ago, you' re being reincarnated. | |
If you' re liberated, you' ll understand that you' re not. | |
The past doesn' t exist. | |
The future doesn' t exist. | |
There is only the present and that' s the only real you that there is." | |
The Zen master Dogen put it this way, he said | |
" Spring does not become the summer. | |
First there is spring and then there is summer," | |
T. S. Elliot has the same idea in his poem " The Four Quartets" | |
where he says, " When you settle down in the train to read your newspaper | |
you are not the same person who left the platform." | |
If you think you are, you are linking your moments up in a chain, | |
and this is what binds you to the wheel of birth and death. | |
But when you know that every moment in which you are is the only moment, | |
this comes into Zen a master will say to somebody | |
" Get up and walk across the room!" | |
and he comes back and the master says " Where are your footprints?" | |
They' ve gone. | |
So where are you? | |
Who are you? | |
When we' re asked who we are, we usually give a kind of recitation of a history, |