SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

16 Sōtō Zentheory, said, ÒScholarship moves forward because of theselfless cooperation of many scholars who devote themselvesexclusively to the search for truth without any self-seekinginterest.Ó Buddhism considers self-centered attachment todesire and ignorance as to the True Nature of things to be thesource of suffering. Shakyamuni Buddha respected the laws ofhuman life and the universe, recognized the True Nature ofthings and, rejecting all arbitrary metaphysical speculation,stressed the need to question our assumptions. The wisdomfound in the Hannya Ky‡ (Skt. Praj– S‰tras) is not in conflictwith scientific knowledge. Accordingly, here in the East we donot see the struggle between science and religion that occurredin the West, resulting in the persecution of scientists.The law of impermanence declares that nothing has a real(in the sense of unchanging) existence and that therefore wemust avoid all words and actions which tend to make us cling tothings. From a religious viewpoint all actions arising from thedesire to receive personal gain are a source of suffering. OurTrue Self will appear when we negate our lustful self (i.e., ourself considered from the view point of egoistic gain). This maybe regarded as the turning point of self or as a fundamentalreform in our life. All religions seek this self-denial. It is asubjective awakening to the fact that we have no eternal self(Skt. tman). Only when we rid ourselves of the false self canwe find our True Self. The gospel of St. Paul says, ÒI live; not I,