Our greatest blindness is to think that we do nothing wrong

A sutra says that taking care of living beings requires us to see our mistakes and to give them up. We make all sorts of small mistakes without seeing it, without knowing it. We have all sorts of bad habits that we don’t question.

The sutra continues: our biggest blindness is to think that we do nothing wrong, that we do nothing harmful, that we do nothing foolish. We tell stories that show us to advantage. We blame others for our own mistakes. Sometimes, we charm others to gain an advantage. We criticize others to make ourselves look good. We pretend to be kind, when in fact we are not at all. So we make all sorts of little mistakes, but without realising it. Our biggest blindness is to think that we do nothing wrong, that we do everything right.

The opposite of this attitude is to admit our mistakes, to open the doors of truth, to open ourselves to reality. To practice the Buddhist precepts is to be careful not to be driven by ignorance, greed and aversion when we act. To see our mistakes is necessary, but not sufficient. We must see our mistakes and give them up, see that we don’t respect, that we don’t observe the precepts in all aspects of our life, and when we see that, resolve to give up these harmful behaviours.

Then, in zazen, our mind at peace, we can continue our deep and silent exploration of the causes and conditions of existence, and from there see the true nature of all things — the vast network of reality, the vast network of interdependence between all phenomena.

This practice applies to zazen, but also to every moment of our daily life — at every moment, to see the defilements, to see the illusions appear in our mind, and, at every moment, to recognize them and abandon them.

Stop wanting to fight against illusions if we dislike them; stop wanting to hold onto them if we like them. This is to live as an awakened being, to stop being blindly carried away by our karma, by our habitual defilements. As I said yesterday, the point is not to destroy our illusions, but to refrain from cultivating a relationship of aversion or greed with them.

To think that the way of the Buddha, that the practice of awakening, doesn’t concern us, this is our greatest blindness. To think that we do nothing wrong, that we do nothing harmful, to ourselves or to others, that we do nothing foolish, this is our greatest blindness.

Admitting our mistakes, in particular those that we don’t see, that we don’t usually see, corresponds to the first ceremony of entering the way of the Buddha, the ceremony that takes place before receiving the precepts. During that ceremony, we acknowledge that, from time immemorial, we have been acting, speaking, thinking, driven by ignorance, greed, and aversion. We acknowledge this and we resolve to be vigilant, at every moment.

Taiun JP Faure, July 2026