Good morning!
We now have a beautiful Sunday morning. Sitting with the Buddha, the beautiful flower on the altar, the cool breeze, the sound of water flowing and birds’ singing penetrates through our world.
We can now enjoy the full moon. Dogen made his last poem just before his passing away:
Even in the autumn, when
I’d expect to see it again,
I could not have slept
With the moon tonight.
Only when we deeply see our world and our lives, can we appreciate so beautiful a moon. Especially when Dogen was thinking of his approaching death, he adored that bright, brilliant, clear, and calm moon – nothing so beautiful. Especially when he thought of the Buddha mind illuminating the whole world.
Ryokan also loved the full moon. He was so enamored with the full moon that he completely forgot his guest and really appreciated it for a long time. He truly lamented it when another guest could not take the real treasure of the beautiful moon, but only quilts. I appreciated the full moon last night and early this morning in the cool wind, this morning almost chilly, with the strong sound of insects’ chirping.
I felt I had never seen the full moon so beautiful, brilliant, and clear. I found the moon to travel so fast. In the mid-sky it doesn’t look like it’s traveling fast, but in the focused camera as I was photographing it, it was constantly moving so fast. It has been moving, in fact, for more than four billion years, since before the time when our life started. It has changed the earth, ocean, and all life forms, even now working on our bio-rhythm. It is living in us all. That’s why we appreciate that beautiful moon.
How many people, however, appreciate it as deeply as Dogen, Ryokan, and the Buddha? King Pasenadhi and Queen Mallikâ, seeing the full moon on their terrace, talked about what the dearest thing is, and came to the conclusion that it is the self. They were a little anxious about their conclusion, however, so they visited the Buddha and asked if it was correct. The Buddha agreed with them, but he said that they must also admit others’ selves to be dearest.
Our life is like the shift of the moon, constantly changing. But we don’t know this truth, and we carelessly use our precious time for other things – money, matter, power, etc. – not only not appreciating the beauty of the full moon, but agonizing, torturing others’ selves, and eventually our selves. This is our world. Why can’t we sit down and see the truth, peace, beauty, and goodness of life?
Why can’t we live our brief lives not doing bad things, but rather doing good things for all beings? Dogen said, “When we love mountains, mountains love us.” When we love our garden, our garden loves us with more green, flowers, and fruits. Even plants know such grace, and other animals like the teased turtle or sick sparrow know how to return the grace given to them.
The day before yesterday, I put a net over a peach tree to protect it from the squirrels’ wholesale harvesting. I saw a hummingbird trapped inside the net. So I opened one side of it and left for a while so that it could escape. I thought it had flown away, but it hadn’t, and it was still trying in vain to escape from the top part of the net. I caught it and set it free. Yesterday, in the early morning, I went out and saw a hummingbird coming and staying for a while just in front of me.
Dogen described a teased turtle being freed and a sick sparrow healed and set free. The former story was transformed into a popular children’s story titled “Urashima Taro.” One day the fisherman Urashima Taro saw a turtle teased by kids, so he bought it and set it free. Later, a huge turtle came and invited him to the Dragon Palace beneath the Ocean.
Urashima Taro enjoyed good food, music, and dance there. But after a while he became kind of tired of these things and felt homesick. So, he wanted to bid farewell to the palace. The Queen gave him a box, telling him not to open it until he came to his wits’ end, as a last resort. Returning to his village, he could find no one he knew. Feeling forlorn, he opened the box, and – Lo! He suddenly became an old man with white hair – time had passed so long in this world.
Ryokan told this story, of a rabbit in the moon:
Long, long time ago,
there lived in the world
Monkey, Rabbit and Fox
bound in friendship;
playing in the morn
in fields and on mounts,
returning at evening
into the forest.
Thusly as years passed,
the Lord of Heaven,
hearing it, wanted
to know if it’s true.
Becoming an old man,
he tottered along
to where they lived,
and asked them,
“I have heard that
you are different
in species, but are
playing in the same
mind among yourselves.
If it is as I heard,
please help this old man
of his hunger.”
So saying he rested,
throwing his staff aside:
Having said, “It’s easy!”
and after a while,
Monkey came collecting nuts
from the woods behind.
Fox gave fish to him
brought from a stream in front.
Hare hopped and jumped,
but never to gain.
Being abused of the mind,
different, poor indeed,
the Rabbit plotted and said,
“Monkey, bring firewood.
Fox, please set fire!”
As they did as asked,
The hare threw herself
into the smoke, and gave
herself to the old stranger.
The old man, upon seeing this,
cried bitterly looking up
to high heaven, and
fell down to the ground.
In a while, beating his bosom,
he said “You three friends
are inferior to none,
but the Rabbit is specially
kind-hearted,” and
resuming the heavenly body,
he picked up the dead body, and
sent it to the moon palace.
The “Rabbit in the moon”
is because of this –
Thus up to the present time
It has been told, and
Hearing this I also
Drenched thoroughly
The sleeves of my robe.She offered her invaluable
body to the old man.
Poor are we now not hearing
such in this world.Let’s continue telling, talking,
and remembering dearly
the mind mirror polished
for endless eons to come.
By cultivation only we make our minds greater, deeper, and keener. We can cultivate ourselves to taste amrita (ambrosia of immortality) in limitless life, light, liberation, and love, with unconditioned peace and unsurpassed awakening.
8/14/11
Note on sparrow and turtle:
A sparrow attacked by a kite in the air and afflicted by ants on the ground was saved and cured by Yohu (Yanbao). A few months later when recovered, it flew away, but it came back every evening to live like a house member. One day, in place of the sparrow, a big flock of sparrows came and hovering over the house, they cirped mounfully for the sparow’s death. After the flock left, a boy visited Yohu and reverentially offered a few rings of white jewels. He told Yohu that his offsprings would take ministry offices for four generations. This prediction came true.
Kokeiko (Konjinggeng) ordered his seal as a governor of Yohutei (Yubuting). The carving of turtle of the grip of the seal showed its head turned to the left, even after remodeling of the grip. Kokeiko, having been told of this strange happening, recalled the day in his youth when he journeyed through Yohutei. He happened to see the village childrren teasing a turtle violently. He bought and freed it into the water. The turtle, in the midstream, turned its head to the left dearly looking back at him.
