Gratitude is All a Lie (Cancelled)

Thinking of what next to ramble on about, I hit upon the words of the myokonin Saichi, that "Gratitude is all a lie". 

A myokonin by the way is, simply put, a Pure Land saint. The word literally means a "wondrous excellent person". Maybe that can give the wrong impression, but just to say that the "excellence" consists of knowing oneself as wretched yet still "one" with Amida.

Saichi was a cobbler by trade. Happy enough in his wretchedness.

As in:-

There is no bottom to Saichi's wickedness; there is no bottom to Saichi's goodness; how happy I am for the gift! Namu-amida-butsu! (From Saichi's Journals)

Anyway, moving on, Saichi often gives voice to his gratitude. In fact, reading through his Journals the word gratitude figures very often indeed. But then comes the cry:- "Gratitude is all a lie!", then:- "Gratitude is a fraud!" And why? "Because there is nothing the matter with one!" says Saichi. 

Well, I was going to do a blog on this but quite frankly I am not ready. I have no idea just what Saichi is on about - or at least, it is immersed in a thick mist and perhaps best left there for the moment; the contradiction I see perhaps to be resolved at another level.

However, for now, within that thick mist I hear again the words of Eckhart:-

 Love has no why

It strikes me now just how close those words come to nihilism.

Maybe it does. So much for logic.

 No "why"? Again it strikes me how easy it is, when in the non-dual world of much "eastern" thought, to judge it nihilistic. Here are the words of Hee-Jin Kim as he speaks of the thought of Dogen, the 13th century zen master:-

  To cast off the body-mind did not nullify historical and social existence so much as to put it into action so that it could be the self-creative and self-expressive embodiment of Buddha-nature. In being "cast off", however, concrete human existence was fashioned in the mode of radical freedom - purposeless, goalless, objectless, and meaningless. Buddha-nature was not to be enfolded in but was to unfold through, human activities and expressions. The meaning of existence was finally freed from and authenticated by its all-too-human conditions only if, and when, it lived co-eternally with ultimate meaninglessness.

 Put this with the "emptying ourselves" of Eckhart, and of God therefore having to (or must! - see previous blog) enter in, put this with Love has no why - again from Eckhart - and we find "east" and "west" joined at the hip! 

Actually I did not start this blog with any intention of it leading towards any ecumenical/inter-faith outcome, but now its here, I'm impressed! And grateful! 

I should have just titled this "Gratitude", where I would have been on clearer ground. But no matter. 

Now I think of it, I remember a Christian gentleman insisting that one needed a God to thank for all our gifts, that a Buddhist could not feel gratitude. The zen man, Thich Nhat Hanh, was unimpressed by such a claim, having woken up each morning for many a year, full of gratitude for the precious gift of the day ahead. Illogical? 

What has logic to do with anything.

Thich Nhat Hanh being illogical

Related Quotes:-

  If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. 

(Meister Eckhart)

When eating fruit think of the person who planted the tree. 

(Anon)

To say "How grateful!" is a lie; the truth is, there is nothing the matter; and there is nothing more that makes one feel at home. Namu-amida-butsu! Namu-amida-butsu!

(From Saichi's Journals)