Seeing Dharma in Every Moment

From a letter to a student…

Just a note about training in the Dharma. Teachers have different characteristics, capacities, skills, methods, and shortcomings—just like all other beings. It is the same for sanghas, too, as it is for any collection of beings. Whatever the method, training is training ourselves to be a sentient being among sentient beings. Practice is to see the Dharma and the Buddha in all beings; then training becomes truly valuable. Since this quality is distinct in each mind moment, we call it formless—not because formlessness is special, but because it's ordinary. Learning how to use a teacher to learn that clarifies how the Dharma arises individually in each one of us, uniquely, as a student of the Way.

Much teaching emphasizes various qualities of mind, insights, and mastery of methods. Zen training recognizes that these are effects of our efforts—not the core reason for study. That's why Zen Master Seung Sahn would say that any method is not intrinsically good or bad. To see that enables us to see our fundamental nature as the foundation of all our practices, and to see how it arises in each of our practice moments. To see that is to train ourselves to see the Dharma in each moment. To see the Dharma in each moment is to take each sentient being as your teacher. To take each sentient being as your teacher is to realize that you are constantly surrounded by bodhisattvas. Whatever their intention may be, if you see them that way, that is what they become for you. This is central to enduring hardship and embracing joy, sorrow, success, and failure as the flow of life. To have that as the core is to see how all this applies to you—your specific characteristics and circumstances. That allows us to align well with circumstances.

We don't point to these texts often in the Zen tradition, but both the Dhammapada and the Brahmavihara are excellent guides on how to be a sentient being among sentient beings. You have a strong affinity for the Dharma. Don’t let disappointment with others tarnish that for you.