The Human Route

Coming empty-handed, going empty-handed - that is human.

When you are born, where do you come from?

When you die, where do you go?

Life is like a floating cloud which appears.

Death is like a floating cloud which disappears.

The floating cloud itself originally does not exist.

Life and death, coming and going, are also like that.

But there is one thing which always remains clear.

It is pure and clear, not depending on life and death.


Then what is the one pure and clear thing?

-Zen Master Seung Sahn

Zen Hillbilly Granny

I love this scene from a 1966 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies

Granny makes an art out of showing the beatnik kids how potatoes are dug up. She takes a mundane event and does it completely and authentically without having to try and think her way through it.

The beatniks are just trying hard to be counter to something while Granny is just being Granny.