Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki [22]
We have a saying, "Dana prajna paramita." "Dana" means to give, " prajna " is wisdom, and " paramita " means to cross over, or to reach the other shore. Our life can be seen as a crossing of a river. The goal of our life's effort is to reach the other shore, Nirvana. " Prajna paramita," the true wisdom of life, is that in each step of the way, the other shore is actually reached. To reach the other shore with each step of the crossing is the way of true living. "Dana prajna paramita " is the first of the six ways of true living. The second is " sila prajna paramita," or the Buddhist precepts. Then there are " kshanti prajna paramita," or endurance;*' virya prajna paramita," or ardor and constant efifort;" dhyana prajna paramita," or Zen practice; and " prajna paramita," or wisdom. Actually these six " prajna paramita " are one, but as we can observe life from various sides, we count six.
Dogen-zenji said, "To give is non-attachment," That is, just not to attach to anything is to give. It does not matter what is given. To give a penny or a piece of leaf is " dana prajna paramita "; to give one line, or even one word of teaching is " dana prajna paramita." If given in the spirit of non-attachment, the material offering and the teaching offering have the same value. With the right spirit, all that we do, all that we create is " dana prajna paramita." So Dogen said, " To produce something, to participate in human activity is also* dana prajna paramita.' To provide a ferryboat for people, or to make a bridge for people is ' dana prajna paramita.' " Actually, to give one line of the teaching may be to make a ferryboat for someone!
According to Christianity, every existence in nature is something which was created for or given to us by God. That is the perfect idea of giving. But if you think that God created man, and that you are somehow separate from God, you are liable to think you have the ability to create something separate, something not given by Him, For instance, we create airplanes and highways. And when we repeat, "I -create, I create, I create," soon we forget who is actually the "I" which creates the various things; we soon forget about God. This is the danger of human culture. Actually, to create with the "big I" is to give; we cannot create and ovni what we create for ourselves since everything was created by God, This point should not be forgotten. But because we do forget who is doing the creating and the reason for the creation, we become attached to the material or exchange value. This has no value in comparison to the absolute value of something as God's creation. Even though something has no material or relative value to any "small I," it has absolute value in itself. Not to be attached to something is to be aware of its absolute value. Everything you do should be based on such an awareness, and not on material or self-centered ideas of value. Then whatever you do is true giving, is " dana prajna paramita."
When we sit in the cross-legged posture, we resume our fundamental activity of creation. There are perhaps three kinds of creation. The first is to be aware of ourselves after we finish zazen. When we sit we are nothing, we do not even realize what we are; we just sit. But when we stand up, we are there! That is the first step in creation. When you are there, everything else is there; everything is created all at once. When we emerge from nothing, when everything emerges from nothing, we see it all as a fresh new creation. This is non-attachment. The second kind of creation is when you act, or produce or prepare something like food or tea. The third kind is to create something within yourself, such as education, or culture, or art, or some system for our society. So there are three kinds of creation. But if you forget the first, the most important one, the other two will be like children who have lost their parents; their creation will mean nothing.
Usually everyone forgets