Get Real

 

John Daido Loori, Roshi

1931-2009 

"Learn only to be content"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uttdg3GgtHo


If what our reality us
Is not the same as what our appearance is,
Then we are not yet practising.
We are not yet doing religious practice.

The who we really are
And what we appear to be, should be the same.

If it's not, it's deluded, it's mixed up.
It's a mask, it's where we hide.

Somehow that has a lot to do with
Not being satisfied with who we are.
Somehow being convinced by somewhere, somehow, sometime,
That we're inadequate, that we don't quite make it.

And so we try to be something else, we try to be
What they think we should be.
Or what our parents think we should be,
Or what our goverment thinks we should be,
Or what our profession or job thinks we should be.

So we need to get to that place of who we really are, trust it.
That's all Genjo koan is all about.

Its what our practice is about.
It's like - get real - it really means that.
Get real.

There's nothing to hide,
It's not necessary to hide.
And there's not a single one of us
Who falls short of our own completeness.

And if you really understand that, trust that,
Then the charade is over.
Our life manifests without effort.
That's what the enlightened life is,

Really being yourself.

That's what Genjo koan is,
That's what The Buddha is,
You know, it's not some -
 - I mean we use the words - 
Sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha.
I guess people -  maybe they think
That's what he looked like.

A sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha,
Is a very ordinary person.
Was born, lived, taught, died,
Felt pain, practiced, just like you
And just like me,
Sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha.