Reality - "a hot knife against your cheek"

     "A simple disciple can see all people in this same light of sympathy and affection – including jerks and assholes. This is not to say the world will be transformed into a place of total goodness and light. You will still be played, insulted, disrespected and abused. The Dharma Gate comes forth like a hot knife pressed against your cheek.
     Will the Dark Side always be thrashed by the Force? Sometimes a non-violent response carries the day. Sometimes a more vigorous response to violence expounds the Way. Sometimes it's a mugging, a rape, a murder. You are not spared. Still, the Pure Land comes forth. Aitken Roshi notes 'even the Buddha Dharma itself is untrustworthy, and there is nothing whatever to rely upon.'
     May we retain this mind and extend it throughout the world so that we and all beings become mature in Buddha's wisdom.

Aitken Roshi comments
     'Here the Bodhisattva reaches the place of total trust in nothing at all and finds there the glorious light of the Pure Land, and vows that this light may shine brilliantly in the conscious mind of all beings.'"

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/C%20-%20Zen/Ancestors/Torei%20Zenji%20-%20Bodhisattva%20Vow/Torei%20Zenji.htm 

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