Dear Bill McKibben,
I have admired your courage and perseverance for a long time, and I would now like to get into a conversation with you.
Thank you for the newsletter, I am also following many other voices that thankfully get louder and more diverse. Having economists in the play is very encouraging!
Coming from a different position I would like you to know about the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. I have been a Zen practitioner for 30 years, am currently the Resident Priest and guiding teacher at the Milwaukee Zen Center.
The bodhisattva, an enlightened being on the path towards buddhahood, vows to save all beings and at the same time is aware that separate beings don’t exist. Many years of meditation bring clarity to the vision of the three marks of existence: impermanence, no-self, and suffering.
From that wisdom it follows that death is unavoidable, in fact anything that has appeared will also fall away. Life is unbelievably precious, and we must be infinitely grateful and respectful towards anything we come in contact with.
Our world is the world of suffering, because we cling to ideas of permanence, knowing that nothing will last. This incongruity creates fear, and all our actions are based on the unrealistic hope that we can change the nature of reality.
Being aware of the cosmic joke, that all of this is only real in our minds, one could get out of this conundrum, but the bodhisattva vow includes a deep commitment to stay with suffering beings until all are awakened to the truth.
First, there needs to be a clear recognition of the facts as much as we can know, understanding that we know very little; then accept reality as it shows up. Thirdly, do what I can to change old karma into action that will now make a difference.
This is our practice, and it is work that needs to be done personally as well as globally.
I am not sure if you will be reading this. If you do, please respond to info@mkzen.org.
There is a group of American Zen teachers who are very concerned about the crisis, which is not only about climate, but also about racism, militarism, and all the other -isms.
Being joyful in a much deeper sense, in the knowledge that all is well and LIFE goes on, even without us,
Reirin
