Good evening!
The temperature went beyond one hundred degrees (108) today. Kaisen Osho said, “The heart-head (fountainhead) being extinct, even fire is cool.” Zazen is to go beyond heat and chill, beyond all phenomena, to go back to the origin and witness the dharma and nirvana.
Our civilization has been trying to acquire more matter and power. As the global system is limited, we face the dilemma of pushing more karma, creating more problems. When we use energy to cool down, we warm up the globe. So, we cannot go on this way.
Based on the present karma and going further in, it makes the situation worse. So, we need to change direction, going back to the dharma (truth) and reorienting our life to one of culture, cultivating limitless truth, goodness, beauty, and holiness.
When we see the dharma and live in the dharma, we can solve our problems and stop our sufferings. The only solution lies in becoming awakened in the dharma and finding joy in the dharma, tasting the ambrosia of immortality (amrita, 甘露、不死).
7/21/11
When flowers open, butterflies come; When butterflies come, flowers open. – Ryokan