World peace not possible, also not necessary

“World peace is not possible, but also not necessary.”

This is a quote from Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn. But what does he mean by that? In this article, I’ll discuss what this teaching points to, and how it can help us understand true peace, our True Self, and how to end suffering.

Just by looking at the world, we can see that humans cause a lot of suffering.

We’re always fighting with each other—my country against your country, my opinion against your opinion, and so on.

And we think, if everyone just had my opinion, everything would be great—world peace would already be possible.

We blame people on the outside and think that if they just changed, everything would be great. Then world peace could be possible.

If everybody—except myself, of course—would change the way they act and behave, this could be such a great world.

What we often don’t realize is that this thought itself is already very violent.

And we can see it play out when we just watch the news: two people each have their own idea of what world peace is supposed to look like, and then they fight with each other about it.

The moment I don’t accept something as it is, means being violent towards it. It means we oppose it, it means we want it to change—sometimes even with force.

We hope to get world peace if we fight against war. But this is actually just more fighting.

That’s why Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “World peace is not possible.”

Whenever we attach to our relative thinking, which means to attach to name and form, we can’t see clearly.

In the Hindu tradition, they often give the example of clay and compare it to our original substance. We can take clay and form different shapes, different potteries with it. Each piece of pottery will look different, each one has a different form, and we give a certain name to it.

Then we forget about the original substance of all the various pieces of pottery, and we think that each one is different. But actually, each piece shares the same substance.

We have also forgotten about our shared substance. We only look at the different forms and names, we attach to them, we take them for real, and then we come up with various thoughts about them.

This form is better than the other, this one looks nicer, this one looks really bad, and so on.

Sooner or later, these forms will go to war with one another, not realizing that they are made of the same substance.

When we practice Zen, we practice letting go of these forms. We practice seeing the substance in everyone and everything.

This substance is indestructible, it has no form, it has no name. It can’t be created, it can’t be destroyed.

That’s why Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “World peace not necessary.”

If we attach to name and form, world peace is not possible.

If we let go of name and form, world peace is not necessary.

This teaching is very relevant for us human beings right now. Actually, it has always been relevant, because what’s happening today is no different from what has been happening throughout all of human history.

Even if “our side” were to win this battle right now, nothing would actually change. Since everything is impermanent, since every name and form is impermanent and always changing, world peace on the outside would only be another interval between two wars. And war would only be another interval between two times of peace.

So the peace we usually think of is just another form—a form made by our thinking, a form that’s exclusive of other forms—which means it’s not actually peace.

True peace doesn’t mean changing how things are on the outside. True peace means seeing our original substance, our true nature, in each and everything.

In order to do that, we have to attain our original substance. Attaining our original substance means returning to our mind that’s before thinking. Before thinking, before names and forms appear, everything is One.

Zen means keeping a mind that’s before thinking. Seung Sahn also called this “don’t know mind.”

Don’t-know mind means not holding onto our preconceived ideas about reality, but keeping a mind that’s before thinking. We could also say it’s keeping a radical openness to the present moment.

When we keep this don’t know mind, there is no war, there is no peace.

When we do that, our mind becomes clear like a mirror. When the color red appears in front of this mirror, only red appears. When the color white appears, only white is reflected. There are no stains, no distorted view of what appears in front of our mind.

You see everything just as it is.

You can see the sky, only blue. You can see the trees, only green.

Finally, you can perceive truth... just as it is.

And how does truth function?

You can see a hungry person, you can give them food. You see something in need of help, you just help.

This mind is already enlightenment. Seung Sahn called it “Great love, great Compassion, and Great Bodhisattva way.”

This is how we really make world peace.

I hope this was helpful for you.

Your friend of the way, 

Bye!