I’d like to share with you words from my fellow teacher, Rafe Martin. He is the author of several translations of the Jataka Tales, mythic stories of the Buddha’s previous lives.
We live in a reciprocal universe. No one and nothing is ultimately isolated or alone in deepest reality. Whatever happens anywhere, in some way affects us, and conversely, how we live and act and think affects everything everywhere.
Given what is now going on, and the suffering involved to so many, please do what you can to keep your practice in mind as you go about your day. When sitting please really sit. Don’t just sit in zazen dreaming of other things. Commit as fully as you can to this breath, this count, this koan, letting all else go. In this simple way you will be participating in actively helping to bring peace, or in helping to establish the possibility of peace in our deeply suffering, terribly un-peaceful world.
I think of the jataka tale of the Brave Little Parrot. The forest is burning and the little parrot sees one little thing she can do to help stop the blaze. And she does that one little thing with her whole heart. Bringing her tiny drops of water, one-by-precious-one, ultimately has an effect much greater than logic could ever predict.
The so-called “big picture” is built of very small things. Breath by breath, drop by drop.