Good morning!
We had the half moon on New Year’s Day, and then the full moon, and this morning we saw the half moon again. Now we have bright sunlight brightening trees, snow, and the sky. After a few sittings we have a very peaceful state, like vast space. Our mind is like the vast harmonious space with no turmoil, nothing blocking, windless state – nirvana. This is our original state, originally nothing but just vast emptiness.
Fifteen billions years ago our universe started, stars started to form, then galaxies gathered. Out of hundreds of billions of galaxies our Milky Way galaxy emerged. At a remote corner and only a tiny part of it is the solar system. And only a part of it is this earth. On it life started four billion years ago. And life evolved so that now we have our bodies and brains. We can enjoy this beautiful sunlight in peace, harmony, and truth.
But, we create all kinds of problems – wars, pollution, global warming, mass extinction, nuclear meltdown, and economic and ecological meltdowns. Why do we make so many problems and sufferings? Because our bodies and brains give rise to our self sense, and the self wants to survive by all means, or take advantage of all things. Now we are developing a desire to take all – a winner take all system, i.e., human pyramidal system.
People think this is the best way, but this is the real cause of all kinds of our problems. The Buddha advised us to return to the source, yoniso manasi-kâra, mind-making to the source. We need to know the source of our problems and to find their solutions. Because of our bodies and brains, we sense our world, start our attachment and aversion, and then we create our self-centeredness – the fundamental delusion.
In this vast universal or global system there is no such thing as an “independent eternal self” or “winner takes all.” No one can exist alone or take all. If we want to solve our problems in the long run and real way we must sit down, stop our storms of karma winds blowing, and stop the fires of the world, which are essentially those of our eyes, ears, noses, tongues, bodies, and minds, consuming our beloved ones as well as ourselves.
The sun and the north wind contested to take off a traveler’s coat. The harder the north wind blew, the tighter the traveler held his coat. But as soon as the sun started shining, the traveler took off his coat. We need to become like the sun, illuminating and warming all, or like the full moon, illuminating and calming all. The north wind creates a snow and ice world. When the sun shines forth, it melts snow and ice, and starts the spring season – all things springing up.
The sun keeps the earth shifting – spring into summer, autumn, winter, and spring again. There is bountiful beauty, goodness, truth, and peace in this natural world, if only we sit down, stop our karma, and see the truth of all things. Then, we can really enjoy limitless life, light, liberation, love, and learning, tasting amrita, ambrosia of immortality. We need to stop the dependent origination of our sufferings and cease them to return to the source.
This all depends on our real practice and witness. We truly hope that all practice and witness it, become aware of our sources of sufferings and their solutions, acknowledge the path of true conquering of one’s self, not others trying to take all, and become awakened to the truth, goodness, beauty, and holiness of our life. May all enjoy limitless truth, goodness, beauty, and holiness every day, each moment, here and now!
1/15/12
