Good morning!
We are going to have a very warm day going up to 63 degrees – rather unusual. We, of course, cannot dream of it being in the 80s, or be so deluded as thinking of the 100s.
We have been enjoying our candlelight instead of electricity, bright enough and feeling warm, not artificial and cold, much less dangerous as when nuclear-powered.
We must live with natural light and warmth. We say we rely on the self light and dharma light. The Buddha said we should rely on the dharma island and the self island.
We rely, however, on dreams and delusions, which lead to bondages, discriminations, exploitations, and exterminations.
Me-ism, materialism, militarism, moneyism are all delusions in the interdependent Indra-net world. We had better wake up in the truth world rather than dreaming and deferring.
Japanese alphabet tells: Though fragrant color (flowers) falls. Who can be permanent in our world? Passing over deep existential mountains, I’d not dream or become drunken.
1/16/12
Note:
1. Two islands (dîpa: Pali, dvîpa: Sanskrit) are self island (attan-dîpa, âtma-dvîpa) and dharma island (dhamma-dîpa, dharma-dvîpa). Light or lamp is padîpa (Pali) or pradîpa (Sanskrit) (thus popular rendering of self/dharma-light/lamp is not correct. Cf. two refuges in the rough sea and self-light/lamp smaller than the moon or the sun light).
2. An old-style Japanese alphabet known as iroha-uta, iroha-song (abc song), was arranged to read as above translated: All alphabet sounds are translated into the Buddhist idea of impermanence and awakening to its truth. (色は匂えど散りぬるを、誰ぞわが世常ならむ。有為の奥山今日越えて浅き夢見じ酔いもせず。)
The present alphabet is arranged according to the phonetic rule in line with that of Sanskrit alphabet: a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko, sa…ta…na…ha…ma…ya…ra…wa…n.
