With Passion He Creates.

Man has asked the same question time and again, 'What is the purpose of my existence?', "Why am I alive in the first place?" "Is this all there is to my life?" Personally i rare came up with a good answer myself and often enough sought out what the ancient wisdom  has to say about it, but ever now and then the mind when not so wrapped up in useless thoughts would come up with a surprise twist of an answer of its own. What gives meaning to life? What makes life bearable to live for some while for others it is a long and tedious waste of time that every so often ends up tragically with suicide. It is in our human nature to seek for peace and happiness all through our lives and sometimes we are willing to go overboard in trying to achieve these goals, like try to out run, out do, out play all those that stands in our way; we are even willing to gamble away our soul when all else fails.
Like music and art, religions and philosophy has played a vital role in keeping our minds with a sense of some purpose for whatever reason that we as humans are here to live out allotted years. They has given some sense of comfort and some amount of justification for us to keep on living despite all the trials and tribulations that we face while at it. Some are in the form of promises of future rewards while others the satisfaction being able to witness the miracles and beauty that transpires all around us to inspire us to keep on living. It no small matter when our very sanity hangs in a balance at times when we are confronted with life issues that is beyond our endurance; it is imperative that we find some truth for our selves on the reason why, why are we here.
We are here to fulfill a Cosmic Desire, the wish for the creator to witness Himself in all His infinite forms and attributes. Like looking into a mirror an seeing all this as life evolving throughout the universe and each and every entity having its significance to play its part with or without its own self awareness. How man has evolved to become a close to his Divine Nature or his Original Nature before he was conceived by his parents. Some have fallen along the way and succumbed to the baser or dark side of his nature that looses its connectivity with the whole, that is creation. While most has waded through thick and thin to fulfill the roles set for them and they passes on leaving behind memories for others to emulate or live by that the string of life keeps going on unbroken.

Instead of staying in monasteries like most monks, Ikkyu gave teachings in places monks didn’t usually go. He taught in the streets and in brothels. His students were hobos, criminals and prostitutes. A lot more of his students were laypeople than monks because he thought the Dharma was for everyone.

He created his own version of Zen. He called it Red Thread Zen. The Red Thread represents passion. He taught that passion could be a road to enlightenment. He thought that Zen should be life affirming and positive. He didn’t believe that the renunciation that many monks practiced was helpful. He had a great passion for life and said that we should too.

Passion for life is what most of us are beginning to lack as we let ourselves be sucked into the day to day mundane existence of the physical world. We have little passion for whatever we do and living has become an act that is imposed upon rather than that which is blessed with grace. We breeze through life pretty much killing time and occupying space while at time pissed mad at the very world we live in. Artists, poets songwriters, philosophers, and great men of science throughout the ages have been instilling upon us the need for passion so as to keep our spirit in motion towards greater heights of human glory rather than surrender to mediocrity.

Red Thread Zen was radical in its non-dualism. This version of Buddhism includes the entire world in its teaching, rather than being confined to sacred spaces. If all beings have Buddha nature, then enlightenment isnt a matter of lifestyle, it’s a living experience. When his teachers tried to get him to stay in a monastery, he wouldn’t do it. He wanted to be in the world, working for the Dharma.

When you have passion in what you do albeit cooking or cleaning, meditating or singing, when you are able to single mindedly perform your all your deeds, you will never fail to impress nor fall short of your goals. Your performance comes straight from the heart and you become the Creator or act in His Image. It take ultimate passion to create this whole Universe as it is with all its strength and weaknesses, all its faults and successes. I doubt that the Good Lord ever claimed anywhere in His good books that He was Creating a perfect Universe.; correct me if I am wrong I for one am for sure far from perfect.