Dogen

I liked the theme of change in this passage. Nothing can ever be permanent since time moves forward and no two moments are alike. We’re constantly evolving into something new physically and mentally.

“Wood burns and there are ashes; the process is never reversed. Just as wood doesn’t become wood again after it has turned into ashes, a person doesn’t return to life after death.” I imagined a piece of wood used to build a home and a piece used to build a slave ship. Neither the home nor the ship is permanent, and both pieces of wood, if burned, will become ash. The same is true for humans. A man can live his life spreading love or live it spreading hate. When both die, their physical bodies return to the earth and not back to life. This quote made me think of connections I never would have considered before. The pieces of wood and humans have an ability to leave a legacy of comfort and love or pain and hate.

I’ve always heard, “You can’t go back in time”, “What’s done is done” and “This too shall come to pass”, but these saying never brought me much comfort in my times of distress. I appreciate Dogen’s quote because it makes me feel like if life’s good, cool, enjoy it! But when the good passes and life sucks, don’t worry, you only have to do this life once and you’ll be relieved with death one day.