A Universe of Resonance

In the 1960s, there was a craze amongst young people for things from the Far East. They set out for India, for Kathmandu. They opened up to the world of resonance. The idea started to spread that the flutter of butterfly’s wings above the Amazon rainforest could trigger a tornado in Texas.

The Universe unfolds by resonance. The slightest of our actions, or even our thoughts, influences the unfolding of the Universe. Everything resonates with everything else. All things are interdependent. All things are interlinked. Interdependence is a law of the Universe. The other law of the Universe is that of impermanence – everything changes at every moment, nothing is fixed.

When the mallet hits the bell, a sound spreads through the Universe; we say that the bell resonates. However, if you grasp the bell with your hand, you prevent it from resonating. As soon as your ego fixes things, you impair resonance. As soon as you want to control, possess, fix things, you prevent the Universe from unfolding harmoniously, freely.

To practice the way of the Buddha is to avoid grasping, of fixing reality with words. It is to avoid wanting to direct, to control others. In zazen, when a thought appears, whether we like it or not, we let it appear. When this thought disappears, we let it disappear. We respect the law of resonance. Every event, even the most insignificant, has consequences. The Universe is a universe of resonance.

Any desire to possess, any desire to control, any desire to reject, goes against resonance, a law of the Universe. This is how we encounter dissatisfaction and suffering, when we fail to embrace reality as it is at every moment.

All our thoughts, all our words, all our actions spread and resonate throughout the Universe. Therefore, the important point is to take into account the nature, the quality of our thoughts, our words, our actions.

Our zazen here and now influences the Universe for eternity. Indeed, we don’t practice for our personal comfort, we practice so that peace of mind may resonate within all beings.

Peace within oneself; peace in the world.

Taiun JP Faure, August 2026