E=TM + D

by Zen Master Tan Gong (José Ramírez)

Zen Master Dae Bong relates that Zen Master Seung Sahn used to tell them, “If you have try mind and correct direction, then you have correct practicing. Then one day you realize, try mind and correct direction is enlightenment.”

Like Einstein’s E=mc², Soen Sa Nim gave us E=TM + D. 

Try Mind (TM) is how we keep our mind. Try mind is only do it mind. There is a scene in the movie Green Book where the driver Tony Lip is eating fried chicken and tells Dr. Don Shirley, who is in the back seat, “My father used to say, whatever you do, do it a hundred percent. When you work, work. When you laugh, laugh. When you eat, eat like it’s your last meal.” Try mind is the mind that does it “a hundred percent”: when we are hungry, we eat; when we are thirsty, we drink.

In addition to try mind, one of the treasures of our Kwan Um Zen is the emphasis on Direction (D).  When I started practicing at Providence Zen Center, Zen Master Dae Kwang asked me in an interview, “Why do you eat every day?” This question was a bit perplexing because we usually do not ask that type of thing; eating is something we do, and we give answers like, because I need to eat, because I like to eat, because I don’t like being hungry, etc. But these are I-My-Me answers; answers with no direction. 

If our direction is clear, then our function is clear: if someone is hungry, give them food; if someone is thirsty, give them a drink. In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul makes our function even more poignant: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink.” (Romans 12:20). No distinction between enemy and friend. Our direction, our function is all sentient beings, not giving rise to distinctions.

“What and for Whom?” is our direction. Our practice gives us the opportunity not to deceive ourselves but to ask honestly: “Is what I am about to do rooted in craving, aversion, ignorance?” Is what I am doing just for myself or for others? Sentient being are numberless; we vow to save them All. The vow includes All sentient beings, but we are in the habit of having an exclusion list that includes those sentient beings we do not like, the ones we disagree with, the ones who do not like us, the ones that …

What is our intention? What and for whom? I like the way Lama Zopa Rinpoche puts it:
“Do we choose to do something beneficial or something destructive? Do we take the essence of this precious life or waste it? Do we benefit others (and therefore ourselves), or do we follow self-interest and ensure suffering for ourselves and others? In every second we have the freedom to choose between enlightenment or hell, even in the smallest, most insignificant action.”

In this moment, what would you choose?