ABSTRACT
The three universal qualities of human existence, according to Buddhist teaching, are impermanence, suffering, and the nonexistence of the self (Das, 1997). The base from which the four noble truths proceeds is the axiom we suffer, “Buddhism’s fundamental principle” (Kohno, 1998, p. 45). Suffering is a given with a human condition if one sees oneself as the center of the universe, attributes all reality to the flesh, and yearns for fixity, fearing flux. Certainly, Western thinking, with its emphasis on externals, extroversions, and dualities, has difficulty accepting Eastern notions that require a profoundly different shift in attitude. Even though the prophet Isaiah of the Hebrew scriptures reminds us that all flesh is grass (40:6-New American Catholic Edition), Western thinking-so bold and bodied-does not easily dance with metaphor. From a Western perspective, grass is grass, flesh is flesh.
