Karma World & Dharma World

Good morning!

We have a warm atmosphere impregnated with moisture, so we may have rain. We cannot see the moon now, with the clouds. Last night we could see the beautiful, bright, full moon.

When we see the moon with our flesh eyes, it is smaller than our zafus, much smaller than our bodies. If we see this planet from the moon, it is the same.

Soon we’ll have the spring equinox, ohigan (yonder shore), which means nirvana. On this side we regard the moon as small, and ourselves larger, but from yonder it’s just the opposite.

As long as we see things from this side, the self is bigger than the moon. The moon there beyond the clouds – the mirror moon and the mind moon – reflects the sun, the truth.

Only when we see from yonder – nirvana, unconditioned peace – and from a state of unsurpassed awakening, from the Dharma world, can we illuminate our karma world clearly.

Only when we sit and stop karma can we see the Dharma world, freed from the karma world. This is the significance of cultivation and verification.

Without cultivation, there is no verification. Even with verification, it is difficult to cultivate. Cultivation and verification go together, never separated.

Only practice makes perfect!

3/18/11