Even though
everything has buddha-nature, it does not mean you can mix up everything. As Dogen Zenji said in his Instruction for Cook, “Something which should be put higher place, should be put higher place. Something which should be
lower place, should be lower place.” Everything has its own function and
virtue. So according to the virtue, we should treat them. Only when we treat them according to their virtue, everything will have same value. Because water cannot be
exchanged for fire, fire has its own virtue and water has its own virtue. So
water should be in the kettle and fire should be under the kettle, you know. If
everything is its own place, everything has same value, he says. So we should
not mix up everything. -------------------------------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 67-12-06-B as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC
