At the boundary
of personal and social
There the virus lurks
by Zenkai Taiun Elliston Roshi
We Live In An Interconnected Universe.
We live in an interconnected universe. This teaching of Buddhism has been brought home with spectacular force by the current pandemic. It is as if we had all forgotten something very basic and important, and Wham! Like being hit with the kyosaku stick when we didn’t ask for it, we have all felt the shock of a brutally rude wake-up call.
When I say “we” I am referring to human beings, primarily, but such events affect not just human beings, which points out another dimension of Interdependent Origination — Buddhism’s perspective of all life as intertwined. Whether technically qualifying as living or non-living, the coronavirus is definitely a being, one that we ignore at risk of our own life. It is a boundary-being, one that is clearly organic, but that thrives in a twilight zone that is even smaller, and more elemental, than single-celled organisms such as bacteria.
The boundaries between apparent entities are similar to those between the apparent realms of our existence. In the model illustrated below, I parse the zones of existence into four major distinctions: the Personal; the Social; the Natural and the Universal. While they are all part and parcel of one single interconnected reality, they can usefully be considered separately. Focusing on the boundaries can be especially illuminating.
Ironically, at a time when the influence of social media on the psychological dimensions of existence, and social maladies that afflict us, are growing in importance on a daily basis, the virus has forced us to confront that interconnectedness along with our enforced isolation. It is as if the forces of nature and society are conspiring to shine illuminate the differences. At the same time we turn to our video screens which can be isolating in other times, to enhance our sense of community. As a fan of science fiction, it is easier to look at this from a global perspective than to bemoan the loss of the personal and familiar. In fact, by sheltering in place, absent the myriad of daily distractions, we are more clearly and cleanly thrust into a navel-gazing introspection.
The social distancing that we are practicing involuntarily, is actually a characteristic of Zen training. Retreats, retiring to a monastery or separate “space” for an intensive period of training, or more specifically, going on a hermitage, are all traditional examples. We yearn for social interaction, and yet we long for solitude as well. As D.T. Suzuki said, “Not this, Not that, Not Anything.” The truth is that we are never “alone” on an absolute level and that we are always alone, even in a group. No one has your world.
Zen practice recommends exploring the social, natural and universal spheres from the perspective and focus of the personal. This guidance is behind Dogen’s admonition to not go looking for what you are seeking in foreign lands or exotic places. It suggests that we look inward for any transformative insight into reality. Yet when we look “inward,” we see that there is no such place, that the inner world is intricately interconnected to the outer. As we penetrate to deeper levels of stillness — physical, emotional, and mental — we engage the natural realm of biology, and the universal dimension of birth and death as a sentient being. Our place in society may be profoundly altered by changes in our personal grasp of JUST THIS. Zen points at this reality. Please examine this thoroughly in practice.
