The Human Route

by the late Zen Master Seung Sahn

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed—that is human.
When you are born, where do you come from?
When you die, where do you go?
Life is like a floating cloud which appears.
Death is like a floating cloud which disappears.
The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.
Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.
But there is one thing which always remains clear.
It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.

Then what is the one pure and clear thing?

Source:
https://kwanumzen.org/teaching-library/1981/09/01/the-human-route

I have been quite delighted ever since joining vivaldi.net, there are so many wonderful posts and contents that are thought and soul provoking!

This poem comes to mind after reading something related and worth pondering here:

https://luckylars.vivaldi.net/2021/06/08/are-we-just-a-fluke/

#human #whoami #whatami #lifeanddeath #我是谁 #我是什么 #人？ #何谓生死