Dogen said, “It is the nature of the minds of living beings to seek the knowledge of their selves. Rare, however, are those who see the true self. Only awakened ones know it.”
Because we don’t know the true self, we have all kinds of problems and sufferings – individual, social, and ecological – and we go through the transmigration of birth and death, up and down.
The Buddha said, “I see no single thing so uncultivated and unfit for cultivation as the mind.” and also he said, “I see no single thing so cultivated and fit for cultivation as the mind.”
Unless we cultivate our minds, we are simply driven by karma, that is, self-delusion, attachment and aversion, greed and anger – the five calamities of delusion, bondage, discrimination, exploitation, and extermination.
How can we cultivate our minds? We stop our karma, that is, we sit down and see the truth of the self, the delusion of selves. Only then can we be awakened to the truth of Dependent Origination and attain the five blisses: awakening, freedom, equality, love, and peace.
And then we can enjoy amrita, ambrosia or immortality, stopping the transmigration of birth and death, up and down, and eventually, unsurpassed awakening and unconditioned peace.