Good morning!
It’s become pretty chilly after the equinox, hasn’t it? We say, “Heat and chill up until the equinox.” Before and after the equinox the weather and the length of the day change, but at the equinox day and night, heat and chill are equal.
So, the equinox is called higan (彼岸: the yonder shore), totally balanced in day and night, heat and chill, beyond vicissitude and variations, and thus identified as nirvana, windless state of karma – calm and clear.
We saw the beautiful bright full moon at Kuryo and Meiku’s moon viewing party. But the moon is now a half moon, and while its brightness is halved, it still brightly illuminates the dark night world.
I read the story “Narnia,” lent to me byErin. Narnia is a country completely different from ours. Four children, who had evacuated to the countryside fromLondonduring the air raids of WWII, slipped into this strange country called Narnia.
It was winter, made so by a witch, who also turned many living beings into stone statues. The children strayed into this country and got involved in a war between the witch’s army and the lion king’s army.
The lion king sacrificed itself for one of the kids, who may have committed a crime, and in being killed was reborn according to a more ancient law. This lion king reminded me of another lion king in the Jataka (Buddha’s Births) that sacrificed itself for a girl who was to be sacrificed.
The lion king’s army and the kids won the war, and the lion king enthroned the kids as two kings and two queens. It is said that once enthroned, they would never lose their positions or qualifications.
The word “Narnia” reminds me of nirvana. Nirvana, however, has neither wars nor witchcraft. It reminded me of the story Urashima Taro (浦島太郎: Shore-isle Joe), about a man who bought a turtle that was being teased by children, and set it free.
The turtle later showed up and invited Urashima Taro to the DragonPalace(Ryûgû: 竜宮), where he enjoyed eating and drinking, and appreciated songs and dances by the courtesans. But, he got bored and homesick.
When he bid farewell to the queen, she gave him a casket and told him not to open it until he was at his last hope. When he returned home, he saw strangers only so, in despair, he opened the casket. White smoke came out and made him into an old man with white hair and whiskers.
The time he spent in theDragonPalace seemed short, but it turns out that many years had passed in this world. Conversely, when the kids returned from Narnia, no time at all had passed. Time and space in both cases were completely different from time and space in this world.
Nirvana can be without time and space, but also with time and space. There is no gate barrier (mumonkan: 無門関) or bridging means (wardrobe or turtle), thus no entering or exiting point; we can switch into nirvana anywhere.
Through the birth and death of our beloved ones and ourselves, we can be in nirvana, tasting amrita, ambrosia of immortality. Nirvana is the windless state, like here, today. When se sit in our practice place, we can be in nirvana.
We can enter into holy harmony and happiness, with our karmic volitions, emotions, conceptions, and even perceptions falling away. In this state there is no fighting between gods and devils. There is no traveling to it, but it is right here and now.
When we sit stable and still, we stop the storming of our karma winds in samsara (transmigration) and suffering. We stop the triple poisons in accord with the four holy truths, settling in the triple treasures with the triple learning.
Before I came here I read some discussion of GMOs on in our listserve. RecentlyBhutan, which advocates GNH instead of GNP, decided to go organic. Splicing genes and nuclei is not really in accord with the Dharma.
When we sit solid and serene, we just come back to the Dharma, devoid of delusion, desire, and divisiveness, completely content with Dharma dhâtu (realm, lit. root), with all beings in their natural state, throughout billions of years.
One can aspire and act in the eightfold holy path to realize unconditioned peace and unsurpassed awakening. Practice here and now is to realize the path cycle of aspiration, action, unconditioned peace, and unsurpassed awakening.
10/7/12
