The most typical example of common sense in everyday life is that we all believe that we are born into this world and that one day we will die and leave this world. But is that really the case? It is my body that was born into this world. It is my body that will one day die and leave this world. My body is my body, but it is not "me." "I" refers to the "True Self," or the "Self" in "I am the only one." It is everlasting reality that is neither born nor dies.

It is my body that was born from my parents and exists in this world. The mind is also there as an invisible body. If we think of our body and mind as ourselves, then the body and mind that were born in this world will eventually die and disappear from this world. Perhaps the cause of all the suffering in life lies in this identification of the body and mind with oneself.

If we consider our body and mind as ourselves, then "I" must follow the teachings of my parents and the customs of my family, abide by the rules of the local community, and live in accordance with the times. Love for family and community gives rise to patriotism, a feeling that the country's institutions, traditions, and culture are essential to one's life. By living this way, we are protected by our families and our country, and supported by our institutions, traditions and culture, but at the same time, we are also bound by them.

While love for family and country is very important, this way of life often makes one turn inward and defensive. When people are only thinking about themselves and their own interests, it can develop into hostility towards other people and other countries. While it is important to value everything that is connected to us, if we take one wrong step, it can cause conflict. This is how ethnic and racial prejudice and discrimination are born. Aren't all of the various complex social problems rooted in this identification with our body and mind?

The body and mind give us joy, but they give us all our suffering and pain. Therefore, as long as we believe that our body and mind are us, we will not be freed from the suffering of living.

There is a Zen koan called, "Our original face before our parents were born." It is the question about what our true nature before our parents were born is, whose question urges us to trace the essence of the self back to its origins and asks about the fundamental self that transcends the individual frameworks of one's parents and oneself. This is a teaching that tells us to search for our self as a universal being, that is, the "True Self."

The Zen master Ikkyu wrote a poem that goes, "When I hear the silent cry of a crow in the dark night, I long for the father who is yet to be born." Crows are black, so we can't see them in the dark night, and we can't hear a crow that doesn't cry. By transcending the senses in this way, seeing what cannot be seen and hearing what cannot be heard, we are able to see the father who is yet to be born. Is the father who is yet to be born the "True Self"? There must be a world of enlightenment there.