Inka Speech — Dusan Silvasi
On September 3, 2022, Dušan Silváši received inka at Shinjomsa Temple, Slovakia.
[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
Someone said: “For stupid, everyone is stupid.” And one ancient Zen master said, “Buddha sees buddhas everywhere, and a pig sees just pigs.” So normal is not normal; not normal is normal. But look! Can you see it?
[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
Can you hear that? This very sound cuts off all your thoughts, and without thoughts there is nothing normal, nothing not normal.
[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
But there was a woodcutter who was so busy with cutting that he had no time to sharpen his ax. So when your ax is flat, sharpen it, and don’t cut. When you are tired, it’s normal to go to sleep. Don’t watch social media, OK? So normal is normal, not normal is not normal. Which one do you like? Which one sounds normal to you?
KATZ!
I am so happy to see this wonderful big sangha here—more than sixty people—in this small retreat center in Slanske Nove Mesto on this wonderful, normal September day. This event is also kind of an opening ceremony of this new retreat center. We wanted to do this ceremony with Oleg PSN [pointing to the urn with Oleg’s remains on the altar] maybe two years ago but COVID-19 and Oleg’s passing away have changed everything. So please, let me use this rare opportunity to, at least, thank everybody who helped to build this center, especially Peter Klen, Martin Svarc, Denisa Nagyova-Matuszakova, Oleg Šuk PSN, a couple of my karate friends, and of course my wonderful wife, Olinka. OK, the commercial is over.
About twelve years ago, when our first daughter, Dorotea, was born, [pointing to her in the audience] my wife and I thought that it is totally normal to have such an intelligent and clever girl like she is—until our second daughter, Alicia, was born. She was born with special, not normal conditions. She is a special needs child. Then we realized that to have Dorotea is not so ordinary, but rather it’s great luck! In spite of her special conditions, Alicia is a very cute baby. Yes, we still call her a baby even though she is five and a half years old, because she still acts like a baby. And she doesn’t differentiate—she can touch me, she can touch Dorotea or our cat, and—as some of you already experienced—she can touch any of you. But also she can stroke a refrigerator or anything else. And strangers in a restaurant too. And not just touching but also kissing or pinching—very hard—she is really good at it! And she sometimes takes your phone, so if you cannot find yours, please ask her. But after a couple of years visiting many doctors and therapists, we have realized that having our Alicia is normal, because this happens all the time in many families around the globe. So we realized that not normal is normal and normal is not normal.
Another example: I work for an IT company, and I also lead short morning meditations there. About six to eight people used to come. That’s about a third of company—we are not a big company. And you know, for programmers, it is not easy to sit—there are too many problems to solve, algorithms, deadlines, some of them very close. But one hot summer morning during sitting with all the windows wide open, an old communist-era truck outside began to start the engine: ddddddd, ddddddd, ddddd, dd, dddddddddddd! Fifteen minutes, which was the whole meditation time! After sitting, we always have a short sharing, and one of my colleagues said, “You know, normally I cannot keep meditation mind but today, thanks to this truck, I could keep the moment mind for whole time—it was wonderful!” This sound was so distracting but could be used as a wonderful meditation technique. So maybe the next time when you sit and hear some annoying sound or have some unpleasant feelings or pain, you can try to use them as your meditation technique. Or just stand up from sitting meditation and continue practicing like that.
Now we can really see that normal is not normal and not normal is normal. But! All those judgments—normal/special, nice/ugly, this/that—they depend just on our dualistic point of view, on dualistic thinking. But originally nothing is labelled normal, ordinary, special. Just our thinking makes those tags. And without thinking, everything is already complete. So nothing is normal or not normal. But still! When somebody near stumbles, your normal reaction is to catch them. It is a normal instinctive reaction to help, to protect somebody else or ourselves. This means it is actually our true nature. Without thinking, our reaction is to help, to protect. But there are many points of views about helping. You can see one example not so far from here, just about fifty kilometers to the east in Ukraine borders. The Russians say they came there to help, to “denazify” and “demilitarize.” And about two weeks ago we had an anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. That time they also came to help—to “save” democracy here. There are many views, so how can we see what help is needed and what is correct and what is not? To see it, you need just two things—no, Facebook is not one of them! You just need a clear mind and compassion!
[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
Originally everything has the same substance, so originally everything that happens is already complete.
[Raises the Zen stick over his head, then hits the table with the stick.]
But look around and you will see how many not normal, “special” operations (president Putin called his war on Ukraine just a mere “special operation”) not only here [pointing eastward toward Ukraine] but all over the world, are making a lot of suffering for many people and other beings. So what can we do?
KATZ!
After the ceremony, our sangha will serve some refreshment and gifts to you, so you can be happy and relaxed. That’s the normal compassionate practice of all Kwan Um Zen centers around the world. Thank you very much for your attention, and Kwan Seum Bosal to all beings in need. [Bows.]