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Zen

Kusen Birmanie - - 29 September 2007

A poem says: “The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain.” The blue mountain is immutable. The white cloud is pushed by the wind, its shape changes constantly. We are a changing form, a passing form of the eternal universe. We must understand our place, our position in the universe. “The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain.”

Man cannot control the universe; he cannot put himself beyond the universe. He can only follow the laws of the universe, follow the cosmic order. The Titans, the Asuras, all want to fight with the gods, but their fight is already lost. We must identify our true place in the universe, our position, and follow that which is greater than our own personal consciousness, that which escapes the human gaze. There is an ungraspable dimension which defies science. Prometheus stole the fire from the gods. Man has become a technician, a warrior, but technique, power, weapons, cannot run the world. In Burma, the army controls the monks. The army is the arm’s political power, but on no accounts its head.

“The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain.” This truth is eternal. To go against it, is to be mad. You know the story of that powerful samurai boasting in the village’s square, and when a small monk came to bump into him inadvertently, while doing his shopping at the market, the samurai said to him: “Hey! Do you know what is standing in front of you? You have in front of you a formidable warrior, a man whom can slit your head without moving an inch.” And the little monk to answer: “You have in front of you a man whom can have his head slit without moving an inch.” The Burmese monks are being slaughtered without moving an inch. Tonight’s ceremony will be dedicated to the Burmese people.