Good morning!
Early this morning we had a very dim moon behind the clouds – a very slender crescent moon, almost new. It soon came out from behind the clouds and shined brightly. Just recently we saw the renowned full moon in mid-autumn. Things change so fast.
Last night I forwarded to our e-list a news piece from Japan about the attitude change of students seeking jobs. They wanted money before but now, because of the triple tragedy of the record earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster, the top motive is social service.
With these tragedies, people in Japan now realize more that money can’t buy life, love, joy, etc. If we see far enough, we understand that nothing can keep us from death. There is no place to avoid it – it is like all the mountains from four corners pressing forward upon us.
The last story in Gyôji I (Praxis), which we read in our last class, is about Xue-feng (Snow Peak). He said, “Things coming in through the gate are not the house treasure. Only those going out through the gate are the house treasure.” We must lose even our own bodies, and much more so, outside things.
A monk asked his teacher,
“When the cosmic fire destroys all, is this also destroyed?”
The teacher said, “Yes.”
The monk asked, “Does this follow the other?”
“Yes, this follows the other.”
The monk left this teacher, disappointed with his answer (which does not admit eternal soul or substance). The monk visited a new teacher, who approved the answer of the previous teacher and who told him to return to him. When he did so, his previous teacher had already passed away. So, he returned to the new teacher, only to find him dead, too.
Dogen says in the above book that when we want to meet or ask our teachers, the teachers are already gone. So, we must be prepared to lose everything. That’s why we sit down, stop our karmas, and see the truth. Otherwise, we are constantly driven by karmas and consequently we must suffer, not only within ourselves, but also in our world, due to bad karmas.
There is a famous story of Bai-le-tian, the famous Chinese poet, concerning knowledge and action. When he was a newly appointed governor, he visited the Rev. Bird-nest (he received this nickname from his habit of sitting in meditation in a treetop in his district). When Bai-le-tian saw him, unwittingly he shouted,
“Hey, you are in danger!”
The monk said, “YOU are in danger!”
Bai-le-tian asked, “What did Buddha teach?”
Rev. Bird-nest quoted the common verse of the seven Buddhas:
Doing all the good,
doing no evils, and
purifying the mind
is the teaching of all Buddhas.
The poet said, “That’s easy. Even a child of three could know it.”
The monk said, “Of course, but even an old man of eighty can’t DO it.”
How can we find out good and bad, right and wrong? Unless we purify our minds, we cannot, and we endlessly struggle and suffer, causing many problems – nuclear disasters, nuclear bombs, global warming, and now mass extinction. How can we stop them?
Only when we sit and stop our karmas can we stop our suffering, which arises ultimately from the separated self and arouses attachment and aversion, samsara suffering. But, when we sit still and serene, we live in the pure realm called Brahma-vihâra (pure residence – abode/life way).
The four Brahma-vihâra are equanimity, joy, compassion, and friendship. These are also called the Fourfold Limitlessness. Only when they function inseparably and limitlessly, do they become holy (wholly wholesome), true, free, and full functions.
These four correspond to the four meditation stages, with equanimity, concentration, comfort, joy, contemplation, investigation. When we put these qualities into more concrete actions – going out of the gate – they become sameness, beneficial action, loving words, and giving.
When we sit still and serene, we know we are together (with/mit) in one integral world as friends (mitra). So, we have compassion, joy, and equanimity. All universal religions describe a future savior, or our potential, as “Friend” (Mitra, Mithra, Maitreya, Mazda, Masiah, et al.).
Before losing everything, we must be awakened to the pure, truthful, peaceful supra-mundane realm. Then only can we realize true peace in the world. The Triple Treasure is the true treasure, coming from our innermost essence, not borrowed from outside.
Only when we become awakened can we become truth itself and true community, sangha. When we sit, stop karmas, and settle in truth and true community, do we live on joy, attaining amrita, ambrosia/immortality. Anybody can do this, and everybody must live on joy.
9/25/11
