On loss and gain

Fall is a season of death and letting go as we pass into the cold darkness of winter before spring opens us to new life, it seems fitting at this time that we consider how growth often comes through what on the surface may appear to be death or loss.

In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi writes:

When we lose our balance we die, but at the same time we also develop … we grow. Whatever we see is changing, losing its balance. The reason everything looks beautiful is because it is out of balance. … This is how everything exists in the realm of Buddha nature, losing its balance against a background of perfect balance. … Everything appears to be in the form of suffering. But if you understand the background of existence, you realize that suffering itself is how we live, and how we extend our life.