Good morning!
Today, March 11, one year ago in Japan we had the triple tragedy of the record earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster claiming almost 20,000 lives, about 400,000 people still evacuated, almost half of them from nuclear disaster – losing their homes, jobs, and ordinary living – some of them never being able to return to their homes.
It is said that our sufferings are threefold – individual, social, and environmental. Earthquake we can not prevent, but directly with less casualties. Tsunami caused great damage leaving a lot of deaths and rubbles. The nuclear disaster was manmade and its effect is deep, wide, and long for millions of years. This is from our nuclear delusion.
The fundamental root delusion is that of a separate substantial self, which causes greed and anger – these three poisons poison the whole world. Even though more than 70% people there are now against nuclear power-production, still interest groups want to stick to it with the delusion of self-righteousness and safety mythology.
The Buddha clearly penetrated this self problem and taught us with lessons. One day he and his followers, once fire believer, were looking the nearby fire. He told them that the world is on fire – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind on fire. He also told a family lost in the desert and out of thirst and hunger the parents eating their beloved son’s flesh.
Now our world is on fire and we are eating the future generations. We must squarely see this dire situation and seek the true solutions. He saw our world would be destroyed unless we became awakened. The Buddha gave us the solutions in principle and practice. He talked about elephant’s footprints surpassing all small ones of small beasts and insects.
The four noble or holy truths are well known by those who know the awakened way, but the four stages of meditation are not well known, much less practiced. He taught us living beings as karma machines and the four applications of decreasing presently existing bad karmas, stopping them, starting new good karmas, and increasing existing good karmas.
The three poisons come from our karmas evolved through four billion years and especially distorted in recent eras. We use our bodies and brains for very selfish purposes in our artificial pyramidal civilization conquering others. So, the Buddha taught us it better to conquer one-self rather than thousands upon thousands in the battlefield.
We fight for more matter and power, as they are limited. If we are awakened, we must know that there is no separate substance self and that our life systems are in the law of dependent origination on limitless causes and conditions. We must shift to limitless truth, goodness, beauty. The Buddha taught the eightfold holy path of right seeing, thinking, etc.
In it right livelihood is crucially important. Yesterday my neighbor, once a Marine, came to me and asked about the situations in Japan. He said Japan doesn’t need bases and even said if people don’t enlist in the military, there won’t be wars. We must see far and wide, not short-sighted and short-circuited to kill, steal, lie, conquer, and commit crimes.
We should not be shortsighted thinking that nuclear power is safe or our economy, environment, and empire are sustainable as they are now. If we are wiser, we understand that polluting our air, water, land, food, etc. pollute ourselves and others throughout space and time. We must keep ourselves, our societies, and environment pure and peaceful.
Dogen said that all living beings want to know their selves, but only buddhas know the true self – the dharma dhatu – truth realm. We cannot live without clean air, water, food, environment, and so forth. So, we are more like ocean, rather than bubbles. We must not only envision this truth, but also embody and engage in all beings always and anywhere.
When we sit and see the dharma realm, we are like vast sky, but usually act like particles in it attracting vapor, ice, becoming clouds, snow, storms, thunders, tornadoes, etc. These disappear quickly. Our pyramidal systems and civilizations are magnificent cumulous nimbi, just castles in the sky dispating and disappearing instantly in a cosmic perspective.
When we sit still and serene, we start to see the dharma realm like the vast sky beyond dark clouds and cumulous nimbi. Ryokan said that when we have disasters, we had better meet with them. Earthquake and tsunami may come but go soon, but nuclear bombs or reactors won’t from our bodies and minds in space and time.
All the buddhas and bodhisattvas live in poverty, but purity renouncing royal palaces and kingly positions, fame and fortune, thus enjoying holy truth, peace, goodness, and beauty. We are reading Dogen’s Gyoju, Praxis, from which we see the practitioners living simple, eating acorns and chestnuts, but saving all not becoming enslaved by matter and power.
When we sit in zazen, we come back to the original resort and ultimate refuge. People suffer in the disaster-stricken areas and even out of them. The Buddha taught to orient our minds and hearts from and to the source. We hope more people practice the awakened way and attain holy truth, peace, goodness, and beauty in limitless life, light, and love.
3/11/12
The last three pictures are taken by Mr. Otsuka in Japan