Good morning!
Yesterday I received pictures of mountains from Mr. Otsuka taken by our friend, Mr. Hirasawa. Like the picture of mountain ranges above clouds, we can come above the clouds of karma or the karma world. When we see from mountains, we see the human world far below, and we cannot see it when we are above clouds. We can be separated from the human karma world.
The Buddha said that we cannot reach the end of the world by walking. This does not mean we can reach it by rockets, but it means that we must sit and still our karma to reach the end of our karma world. We may be able to shut off our social karma world by climbing mountains, but we cannot separate from our own karma however much we walk.
By sitting still we can still our karma (past/present physical/verbal/mental actions/habits/heredities: volitions/emotions/conceptions/perceptions) and see dharmas/Dharma of Dependent Co-origination. Then, we can resort to and take refuge in the Dharma and deal with the karma world not caught by karma kinetics – conventions, conflicts, confusions, etc.
Dogen said that we attain awakening with our bodies. Karma is set in the body (brain/bones/blood, etc.), which must be stilled and seen. He called the zazen posture Buddha-seal, as all buddhas attain awakening in this most stable still posture. As he said in the Fukanzazengi, we must find the right form with proper alignment and subtle adjustment of bones, muscles, etc.
12/16/17
The following pictures were taken by Mr. Masayoshi Hirasawa
sent by Mr. Noriyuki Otsuka, frequent contributor
Japan Alps
