Sir, according to the Buddha, the apple has no self-nature. Yet, I enjoy eating apples. How can I enjoy eating an apple, and it not have a self-nature?
I enjoy them, too. They taste great!
So, the Buddha was wrong?
I didn't say he was right, and I didn't say he was wrong.
Well, what am I to do?
Enjoy eating apples.
*Brian K. Wilcox. Meetings with an Anonymous Sage.
A student asked in dokusan, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" Suzuki Roshi answered, "It doesn't matter."
*David Chadwick, Ed. Zen Is Right Here: Teaching Stories and Anecdotes of Shunryu Suzuki.
Dokusan is a one-on-one meeting with the Teacher. In Rinzai Zen, the interview is often regarding a koan assigned to the student. Suzuki Roshi was a Soto Zen Teacher. Some Soto schools use koans.
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Speculation, in the sense from the 1500s of conjecture, is one way of attachment to thought that can distract from spiritual realization. Like I have, you may have heard the above riddle. The student asking such a question has nothing to do with growing in the Way.
The late Suzuki Roshi gives a wise reply. He has likely often faced such speculation from students. He, the raft of wisdom, knows no answer is the best answer. His reply throws the student back onto the practice. The practice entails getting out of the head. Getting out of the head invites space for guidance and wisdom to arise spontaneously.
In Buddhism, wedding compassion with insight, or wisdom, is key. Can knowing the answer to the question inspire or guide in consoling the suffering? In providing shelter for the unhoused? In proactively responding to social injustice? In offering a smile to the person at the check-out and "Thank You"?
Does this mean conjecture is out-of-bounds for a spiritual aspirant? The story presents one side. For persons matured enough on the Way, conjecture can be a means of playfulness, yet absent of attachment.
Also, speculation can be an act of compassion. Someone could ask, "What happens after we die? I'm really afraid of death." That is a different question than the tree falling alone in the forest. As a hospice chaplain, I, however, was asked about what happens after death. To speculate would have been dishonesty. I would say, "I don't know. I'm just confident all will be well." Persons on both sides of such questions usually, if not always, only have speculations to offer, though they think their conjectures are facts. The heart can know, while the head only thinks.
One may get to the point of being over speculation. They retain no attraction to such talk. The person is not for or against it. The attraction has exhausted itself. One is so intimate with life, they do not wish to make guesses about it or act like they know what they do not know. Would you rather discuss "What is love?" or give and receive love? You know in the loving.
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*(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2024. Permission is given to use photographs and writings with credit given to the copyright owner.
*Brian is an ordained lay Buddhist of the Plum Village lineage, Root Teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, and practitioner in Open Heart Sangha North, Bath, Maine. He, also, serves as a Buddhist, interspiritual chaplain, providing remote care and facilitating groups in correctional facilities.
*Brian's book is An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. The book is a collection of poems Brian wrote based on wisdom traditions, predominantly Christian, Buddhist, and Sufi, with extensive notes on the poetry's teachings and imagery.
