Good morning!
In our solid sitting we feel like we’re “sitting alone on the Great Courageous Peak.” The Great Courageous refers to the Awakened One. I remember sitting in the thick mist on Vulture’s Peak, where the Awakened One used to sit. When the mist dispersed, the world where people live appeared down below the peak.
In our world we have a lot of commotions. Yesterday, a man killed 95 people over a long period of an hour and half. Radiation caused by nuclear disasters is destroying more people with diseases and discrimination, not only those living near the power plants, but also across the globe. The red dust and red dots of radiation (as graphically depicted with maps and illustrations) are falling around us.
Nuclear waste, called “death ash,” accumulates at the rate of hundreds of thousands of tons per year. With no solution for its disposal, it will cause trouble for hundreds of thousands years. And, while unpublicized, there have been thousands of nuclear-bomb-related accidents – a major one associated with a plane crash, for example, taking place every year – that are bringing contamination and cancer to places and people.
When a monk asked, “Does a dog have Buddha nature?” Zhao-zhou said, “No.” The monk asked, “Why not?” Zhao-zhou replied, “Because it has karma-consciousness.” Because humans have more karma consciousnesses, they are creating a global problematique of wars, pollution, global warming, mass extinction, and many other problems.
How can we stop such problems and sufferings? The fundamental and crucial solution is in sitting and stopping our karmas. The Buddha knew this and came out into the world to save it from destruction. Essentially and eventually, each of us must become awakened to problems and sufferings far and deep enough to strive to stop them.
The Buddha taught us the Four Applications (pradhâna, pahâna): application or dedication of oneself to decreasing existing bad karmas, stopping them, starting new good karmas, and increasing good karmas. We can change ourselves and our world in this way. Then, we can make a green world and enjoy green trees, natural truth.
7/24/11
