A Talent for Enlightenment

A Zen student asked me if everyone has the same amount of ability for awakening, or if it varies in the same way that athletic or artistic talent varies.

I told him it varies just as much as any other innate ability. It is a Buddhist truism that, because all beings have Buddha-nature, everyone can awaken. The reality is that some people awaken deeply and quickly, others take a long time, and some never do, because, as Charlotte Joko Beck puts it, “They’re not strong enough.”

I...