Return to Summer/Fall 2003

Buddha’s Birthday Talk at Chogye Sa Temple

by Steven Cohen JDPSN

Today we have come together to celebrate the birth of the historical Buddha, whose clear mind continues to save all beings across more than 2,500 years. There is a poem, Just seeing is Buddha Nature, which says:

If you want to attain the realm of the Buddha
You must keep a mind which is clear like space

Let all thinking and all external desires fall far away

Let your mind go anyplace without hindrance 

While we do not know the exact age of the Buddha, it is generally accepted that the Buddha was born at this time of year. One of my thoughts about making these remarks on the occasion of Buddha’s birthday was, “Oh, Buddha was born under the sign of Taurus, the bull. Maybe if he were here now, he would check his horoscope.”

So, let’s look at the New York Post Horoscope for Taurus on May 8, 2003: “There is no point in beating about the bush today: You know what is wrong with your life, and you know what needs to be done to put things right. So get going and do it, and don’t worry too much about whose toes you might be treading on in the process. The most important thing is that you are true to and follow your own desires!”

Not only does the Buddha’s horoscope fly in the face of his teachings, but almost anyplace he might look in our modern world, he would find the same suffering— war (violence), pestilence, famine—that he recognized as the human condition so long ago.

Now, if the human condition has hardly changed since the Buddha gave us his wisdom, his insight, and his teachings, of what use is this teaching? Someone once said, “The Buddha taught all the Dharmas to save all minds. If you do not keep all of these minds, what use are the Dharmas?”

Dae Soen Sa Nim comments: Mind appears, Dharma appears. Dharma appears – like and dislike, coming and going, life and death – all these things appear. When mind disappears, then  every thing disappears; speech and words also disappear. Opening your mouth is a big mistake. What can you do? Put it all down. Don’t touch the fishhook. When you are hungry, just eat. When you are thirsty, just drink.

What are we celebrating today? How does the Buddha’s clear mind continue to save all beings? If you visit the Chogye International Zen Center of New York, every day you will hear the following:

Sentient beings are numberless.
We vow to save them all.
Delusions are endless.
We vow to cut through them all.
The teachings are infinite.
We vow to learn them all.
The Buddha Way is inconceivable.
We vow to attain it.

So, just now we are celebrating this try mind. Dae Soen Sa Nim always taught, “Try, try, try for 10,000 years. Nonstop. Soon get enlightenment and save all beings from suffering.”

THIS is the meaning of our coming together to celebrate Buddha’s Birthday.