Good morning!
We are now in our spring equinox sesshin. Sesshin means touching the mind (接心) and embracing the mind (摂心); touching and embracing the buddha, awakened, mind.
In our ordinary living we are with monkey minds and horse wills driven by our karmas (actions/habits) devoted to and distracted by fame and fortune, matter and power.
Thus we create all kinds of problems and sufferings. Our karmas through four billion years life history have produced our psycho-physical system with self survival instinct.
So, our sense organs have been developed to get information from the world, looking out with our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body called the “frontal five consciousnesses.”
We have developed our brains to hold dharmas (form/norm, lit. holdings), name-form, and to hold together our sense perceptions, functioning as “manas,” mind or minding.
Beneath it is the seventh consciousness called “mental consciousness” (mano vi-jñâna, lit. dividing knowledge) watching with “I-maker” (aham-kâra), discriminating self/other, etc.
Basing it is the eighth consciousness called “store consciousness” (âlaya vijñâna like hima-âlaya, the snow-stored mountain Himalaya) storing past and present karmas.
The store consciousness has stored all our karmas (action/reaction/habit) not only in this life time but since immemorial time in our genomic systems to survive and satisfy,
This is usually dealing with the pressing needs for fight or flight, thus with short-sight views and short-circuit actions, naturally for self survival, and eventually self-centered.
We are habituated with and strengthen our karma machines. So, we don’t have time to sit, much less to stop karma. They destroy the wholly wholesome system. Haste makes waste.
The Buddha found sentient beings as karma machines and the karma machines as the ultimate causes of our problems. He prognosticated, proved, and provided their solutions.
He lived and taught to sit and stop karmas, and to see truth and stay in peace, settling in the original, ultimate, wholly wholesome learning, liberation, light, love, and life.
When we sit, we have enough time and ability to look into our inside and out deep and far. The more we sit, the better we see and settle, and the freer and fuller we can function.
Our psycho-physical systems settle calm and clear like a bowl of water – when the bowl settles, the water settles without turbulence and turbidity.
When clouds clear, we can see the vast sky and the full moon. The eighth consciousness transforms into “mirror consciousness,” reflecting truth and illuminating the whole world.
The seventh consciousness transforms into “equal nature consciousness,” not self-centered, but see things in equality, not from the small self, but from the full moon mind.
The sixth consciousness turns into “subtlety observing consciousness,” observing how our minds, worlds, and all phenomena function into fruition.
The frontal five senses – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body – become “duty fulfilling consciousnesses.” So, our senses function and fulfill their duties knowing what to do.
Thus, our minds become penetrating pure peace like space, that is, nirvana, ceasing winds of defiled, selfish, perceptions, conceptions, emotions, and volitions.
We attain prognosis, far reaching light like the full moon, unsurpassed awakening in the great penetrating pure peace like vast sky and space.
Our equality consciousness sees things in perspective, and our five senses understand the priority, not from smaller self, but for greater good in greater systems in time and space.
We usually function from our selfish karmas and regard our selfish actions as successful, but Dogen said they are only “active contrivances in the dark dungeon of devils.”
As fighting devils, we fight, waging wars. We think we win, but we waste in the wholesome whole: bubbles or clouds can’t conquer the great ocean or sky.
With our modern sciences and technologies for matter and power, now we can destroy our global life system any time, many times and pollute and contaminate forever.
So, we need to sit and stop our karmas to become buddhas. This is the best fortune and success. We can cultivate and control our life and death in pure peace and prognosis.
By cultivating and conquering one-self we can enjoy all things in truth, goodness, beauty and become friends with all and share all with all.
With our cultivation and controlling we can live in systemic, sustainable, saving, safe, and simple life according to the universal law, life, love, liberation, and lielessness.
In concrete way we must reduce, reuse, recycle, rearrange, and restore material things, and access, assess, agree, act, and advice in information for wholly wholesome life of all.
We hope we practice and prognosticate enough and enjoy our life, tasting amrita, ambrosia of immortality, together with all.
3/25/12
Note:
Global system: 5Ss: systemic, sustainable, saving, safe, simple
Global ethic: 5Ls: law, life, love, liberation, lielessness
Material flow: 5Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, rearrange, restore
Information flow: 5As: access, assess, agree, act, and advice
Photo taken by Erin (恵林）, trimmed by Rosan