Good morning!
We have just heard the refreshing sound of rain falling on leaves. We have beautiful fresh flowers on the altar. The Buddha Dharma transmission was expressed in the koan of “Holding up a flower, smiling at it.” Asked “What was the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the West?” Joshu said, “The cypress tree in the garden.” He seemed to point out the great old tree in the garden of his monastery.
The Buddha Way was first expressed by the Bodhi tree – so-named because under it the Buddha was awakened – before the Dharma-wheel, his feet, or a statue of him. Tree and true came from the common root of dhṛi (enduring), the root of Dharma, the Norm of forms or the Law of phenomena, Interdependent Co-origination. Kings, et al., were amazed at the peace of his many disciples sitting all over the monastery precinct.
As shown in the Four Stages of Zen (chan, jhāna, dhyāna, meditation), Zazen, sitting Zen, stills karma (physical, verbal, mental: conceptions, emotions, volitions), settles us in nirvana, awakens us in truth, peace, and harmony, like trees, so we’re freed from samsara and suffering as in the 12-limbed Interdependent Co-origination, tasting amṛta, ambrosia of immortality, fearless in holy harmony, health, and happiness.
The human species as the culprit in the global problematique (global warming, mass extinction, etc.) must make a paradigm shift from the pyramidal civilization with its five calamities (delusion, bondage, discrimination, exploitation, destruction) to the life Indra-net culture with its fivefold blisses (awakening, freedom, equality, love, peace), every crystal ball reflecting all in holy truth, goodness, and beauty.
August 17, 2019 C.E. Dharma talk
お早うございます！
私達はたった今しがた葉に落ちる爽快な雨音を聴きました。祭壇には美しい新鮮な花がありますね。仏法伝法は「拈華微笑」の公案に表わされています。「祖師西来の意如何？」と問われて趙州は「庭前柏樹子」と言いました。彼は自分の僧堂の庭にある大きな古木を指し示したのでしょう。
仏道は法輪、仏足、仏像など以前最初は菩提樹で表されましたが、その樹の下で（仏陀：覚者が）悟り（菩提：覚醒）を開いたのでそう名付けられたのです。「樹（tree）」と「真実（true）」は法（dharma: Norm of forms: 諸法の法：縁起）の語源dhṛi (永続する)に由来します。王様などは僧院境内至る所多くの弟子達が坐っている平和に驚嘆しました。
禅（chan, jhāna, dhyāna, meditation）の四段階に示されるように坐禅は業（身口意：観念・感情・意志）を静め樹の様に涅槃・真理の覚醒・平和・調和に安住し、12支縁起にある様に輪廻と苦から自由になり、甘露、不死の神饌、を味わい聖（全体健全）な調和・健康・幸福の中に不畏となります。
地球問題群（地球温暖化、種大量絶滅等）の張本人としての人類は五禍（錯誤・束縛・差別・搾取・殺戮）の金字塔文明から五福（覚醒・自由・平等・博愛・平和）の命帝網文化への枠組転換をして、全ての（網目の）水晶が聖なる真善美を持つ一切を反映するようにしなければなりません。
2019共通年8月17日 法話
The above pictures were taken and sent by
Mr. Noriyuki Otsuka
from Shimoda, Shizuokaken, Japan