We have a nice beautiful Sunday, especially after sitting. We feel calm and clear, very peaceful, because we are, in a sense, in nirvana, a windless state, with no wind of karma blowing. That is what nirvana means: no wind blowing. Because when we sit, we are not moving; no karma, no physical, verbal, or mental action or habit energy is functioning. So, we become truly calm and clear, like a bowl of water, without turbulence and turbidity, settled still. Now our bodies and minds are calm and clear.
In this clear and pure, calm and cool state, we go beyond karmas. Dogen said, “People say you attain verification (awakening) with the mind. But actually, you attain it with your body.” However much we try to attain awakening in our brain, we cannot. Only when we sit down and settle still can we stop our karma and witness this state beyond karma.
Usually we are like mice running on tread-wheels, constantly moving, in a rat race. We may think mice enjoy this activity, but if they are out of confinement, they don’t behave this way. In a tread-wheel, a mouse feels unsafe due to its shaky support. Instinctively, it moves to counteract the wheel’s motion, causing the wheel to move more. Thus, running and moving mutually speed up. Then, the mice cannot stop. This is our situation.
We are driven by karma, driven by fear. We want to escape from this shaky state, this unstable life. That’s why we want to accumulate food, clothes, matter, and money in an endless rat race, fearing death, loss, enemies, and many other things. Thus, we become more self-conscious and self-centered. So the three poisons of self-delusion, attachment, and aversion are always working.
Whenever we are moving in this unstable karma world, we are fearful of death and loss – birth and death – and we get caught up. This is called samsara, transmigration in up and down, birth and death, without end. Usually we are in this shared karma world. So, we don’t sit still, but just race around in conflict. Our efforts are directed only toward competition and conflict. That’s why we have problems and sufferings.
We boast that man is the lord of all creation. We are the lord and the primate, the primary being, of all creation. We create ABC weapons – atomic, biological, and chemical – and we’re causing global warming, the sixth mass extinction, and the exhaustion of natural resources. Out of turmoil, we see rioting and revolutions, and still we never settle down in peace.
We never attain peace and awakening because we are all animals, “moving stuff” in Oriental languages. Whenever we move, we are in the karma world, shut in this karma wheel. We never go beyond the karma or sense world.
The Buddha said that all are karma machines. The only solution is to stop and see this. He said, “I see no single thing so uncultivated and unfit for cultivation as the mind.” Without cultivation, we have this kind of world. He said that the tears we shed amount more than an ocean. And we shed blood also, just because we don’t cultivate our minds.
If we cultivate our minds, we can solve all problems, even death. Karma creates birth and death. Stopping karma results in no birth and death and no three poisons. So, the Buddha also said, “I see no single thing so cultivated and fit for cultivation as the mind.” If we cultivate our minds, we become buddhas, awakened.
Still things are already truthful and peaceful, like trees (sharing an etymological root with true), living harmoniously with all – wind, water, the earth, the sun, and all – throughout space and time. But animals cannot stop their karmas unless they sit still. Only when we stop karma, we go beyond the bubble-like small self, finding limitless life, like an ocean, and functioning with limitless light, liberation, and love.
In this process of karma, evolution, and development, we’ve developed our bodies, brains, and sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin – in order to sense and survive. Our senses are constantly functioning to survive and satisfy amidst strife and suffering. If we want to solve our problems and stop suffering, we must stop karma and see truth, working with all in holiness (wholesome whole).
When we cultivate our minds by stilling karma, we transform in calmness and clarity. The 8th store-consciousness becomes mirror consciousness, reflecting truth. The 7th consciousness, called mind-consciousness (I see, I think, etc.), becomes equality-consciousness (selfless). The 6th mind (perception, conception) becomes subtlety- observing consciousness (supramundane, ultimate truth). The five senses become duty-fulfilling consciousnesses.
If we want to become the primary beings among all creatures, we must stop our karma – artificial things, the pyramidal system – and become buddhas, seeing the dharma world. The Buddha said, “This is the ‘come and see’ way.” So anybody can come, sit, and see unconditioned peace and unsurpassed awakening, and taste amrita, the ambrosia of immortality. When we sit still, we stop karma, going beyond the karma world.
We can have a good day every day, experiencing peace and truth, holiness and happiness. So let us continue our practice for the benefit of all with our universal vows, saving all beings, attaining unsurpassed awakening, and living the awakened way, day by day, moment by moment.
11.1.30