Faith

Rev. Mugo at Jade Mountains has some thoughts on faith for this post-feast day.

Faith is believing that everything is OK. That's despite the human wish for things to be a certain way. Safe. Secure. It's got nothing to do with that. It's not just believing that everything will be alright, but that it is right at this moment. It's not magic, that's for sure, and it doesn't mean that everything will turn out the way this human being wishes. Trust and faith are, what's the word, intrinsically linked.

In my recent essay on faith, I wrote, "Faith is about living in an open-hearted and courageous way and not a closed up, self-protecting way." I think Rev. Mugo and I are on the same page.

I don't know where I heard this story, and I'm not sure I've got the details right, but here's what I remember -- many years ago a monk in Japan developed tuberculosis. As was the practice at the time, he lived in a little hermitage on the monastery grounds but away from the other monks while he convalesced. Food and medicine were brought to him regularly, but he spent much time alone.

His one visitor was the monastery's abbot. Every day the abbot would come, and the monk greeted him with a list of worries. He worried he would fall behind in his studies. He worried that his chores would be undone. Every day the abbot would say, "That is not a problem."

Finally the monk got around to what was really bothering him. "Roshi, what if I die?" he asked. "That is not a problem," the old man said. "If you feel you need to die, just go ahead. We'll see to it you get a nice funeral."

Wu-men's verse:

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.