The Wheel Of Samsara

That combination of the cause and the action leads to a result. That result becomes the next cause. I remember Zen Master Seung Sahn pretending to hold a match in his hand, and he said, “This match is the cause. Fire is the result.” But you need to strike the match in order to create fire. So it's in the action that determines what the result will be. It's only by being awake that we can have some new impact on what that result will be.

The wheel of samsara goes around and around. We're trapped in this cycle that's never ending and it always leads to misery. It's only by this awakeness that we have the possibility of changing the result of this moment. And if we change the result in this moment, that means the next cause is different, and we have a whole new life. The world, the whole universe, has now shifted on its axis because our action was different. But the only way to have that new action is to be awake in that moment.

By Zen Master Bon Soeng