Zazenkai Dharma Talk January 2014

Allan takes up a Haiku by Issa – This Dewdrop World, written by Issa after the loss of his beloved one year old daughter:

This dewdrop world

is but a dewdrop world

and yet, and yet

In Allan’s words:

‘It’s very attractive to imagine that realisation is a magic key that will miraculously free us entirely and forever from pain and sadness. If this becomes a fixed position, or a ‘view’ , or some sort of ideal to which we struggle to aspire, we will almost inevitably become disappointed and frustrated. The Zen tradition reminds us again and again that our lives, as they are actually lived, are complex and dynamic, and impossible to pin down. I ask you, ‘Would it be appropriate to not feel pain at the loss of a beloved daughter?’

This talk was also published as an article in the 2014 Summer edition of Mind Moon Circle