'We just follow circumstance.' — Bhante Bodhidhamma
Original source: satipanya.org.uk
Drawing from a profound Zen saying by Dōgen Zenji about following circumstance even when 'the world ends,' Bhante Bodhidhamma explores how Buddhist practice prepares us for the most challenging situations life can present. Using contemporary examples of global crises—thermonuclear war, climate catastrophe, and natural disasters—he examines two fundamentally different responses to overwhelming circumstances.
The essay contrasts the self-preserving reaction that tightens around ego-protection with a fearless acceptance that expands to embrace the full situation of ourselves and others. When we identify strongly with this human form, we become trapped in existential loneliness and the very fires we seek to escape—what Buddhism recognizes as the Hell Realm. However, through cultivating Right Awareness and developing an 'unshakeable heart,' we discover a deeper refuge that cannot be breached by external circumstances.
Bhante Bodhidhamma reveals how genuine vipassanā practice develops satipañña—the intuitive wisdom that allows us to remain both fully engaged with challenging circumstances and inwardly stable. This teaching shows how Buddhist training transforms our relationship to crisis, moving from self-obsessed suffering toward compassionate collaborative response, ultimately discovering the refuge of awakened awareness that remains unshaken regardless of external conditions.
I came across this saying from Dōgen Zenji, the founder of Japanese Sōtō Zen.“When the world ends, and the fires blaze unobstructed through everything, and all falls to ruin, we just follow circumstance.” (Kinder Smith)There are two possible ways in which we, all life in fact, could fall to ruin by fire at this present time – thermonuclear war and climate crisis.We have seen from massive earthquakes, most recently the devastation in Turkey and Syria, what the consequences are. Immediate death, long term physical pain and anguish and eventual death, disabled for life and lives filled with grief and despair. And the possible aftermath of political instability and social turmoil.In such a scenario, will we be able to ‘just follow circumstance’. At first this phrase may seem too cool to be true, even callous. Does it mean we have to harden our hearts, stay aloof and save ourselves.Or might that circumstance expand beyond its tight self-centred circumference to embrace the full surround of impact on others.That can only arise from a fearless total acceptance, ‘this is the circumstance now’, the total circumstance of myself and others in this situation, recognising that collaborative effort will produce the best results for everyone. And to mourn shared loss together most healing. In encompassing others, we lose the suffering of self-obsession. In its most exemplary expression to give up one’s life for another.That is a hard ask for the self will be consumed with self-preservation. The more we identify with this human form, the more will the circumference tighten around us. But this will not release us from the fear and despair. Worse, it will magnify it. The self will stand exposed to its essential existential loneliness. Unable to bear the suffering, the self becomes the very fires it seeks to escape. This is the Hell Realm.Is there an alternative? An escape? A refuge?There is an even deeper circumference within us of a different kind, one that cannot be breached. No matter what fires burn within us or outside us once accessed we find ourselves insulated and yet able to ‘follow circumstance’. Both fully aware and mindful, engaged fully in the surrounding situation, we discover the Unshakeable Heart.This is the purpose of our practice: to discover and experience over and over until we settle permanently into that intuitive awareness, Satipanya.