There is this idea of Buddha ancestors that I think is helpful to discuss. When first encountered it seems to mean that lineage of Zen masters before a Zen master who passed the Dharma on one to the other until present day.
This is not a wrong interpretation, but it is not the one I think goes deeper. Zen teaches that we exist moment by moment as entirely new beings, and so if we’re going to live, it has to be in this moment. This isn’t optional, it is a property of our existence we can either express fully or let pass asleep.
In a previous post, I wrote rather mischievously:
“We never make noodles for ourselves, but perhaps our descendants may enjoy them. For now, the crackling of the packaging is enough.” Have you had the noodle dream? — Blanket Theory
We are the Buddha ancestors of our future selves. Or rather, the larger Buddha-mind activity around us and containing us too becomes a Buddha ancestor. Buddha remains Buddha, although the specifics of things may change from moment to moment.
And so when living in the moment, understanding correctly, we act not for ourselves. We attend completely, expressing our deepest human nature when freed from self-centered perspective.
We should leave no trace, completely consumed in attending to this moment as it is. This moment is enough. Through this practice we ensure our children will carry this care forward. We cannot give anything but this practice to our children, it is the one thing we would like them to have.
The packaging and us, the activity of the Buddha-mind right now, fully perceived without effort. We will never enter the promised land of the noodles ourselves. But the crinkling packaging is enough, and then it is gone, along with us.
We were never really two, but oneness with distinctiveness. In each moment there is wholeness and, in between, home where there is rest and from where our children set forth. The wholeness makes even the crinkling a song for the ages, a song our children may compose anew.
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