The Great Matter

In Zen, this question of death is called the great matter. We live in a culture that's really one of denial. It's a culture focused on youth and whatever is smiling and sexy. Even if you store up rhinoceros horn, wear a tiger's eyeball, drive away evil with a peach branch or make a garlic necklace, even if you warm your belly with dogwood wine,. "You cannot avoid death, but have sought eternal life in vain," Han Shan writes.