Good evening!
Even though we’ve had a long, long spell of rain, still it seems to continue. We have a quiet clear world when we sit. Now we encounter heavenly turmoil and earthly turbulences.
To see and solve human-created nuclear disasters, global warming, mass extinction, etc., we need to sit down and secure unconditioned peace and unsurpassed awakening.
Dogen said, “Igi soku buppo” (Dignified forms are themselves awakened norms). When we stop our karmas in our sitting, we witness unconditioned peace and awakening.
So he said, “Awakening is attained by the body, not by the mind.” We must physically sit and stop our karmas; in this way only can we witness Dharma, truth, truly beyond karmas.
He also said, “Zazen is the essential function of buddhas (awakened ones); zazen is the functional essence of the ancestors.”
Only when we sit and stop karma, can we function in truth and peace – essential function. Only when we attain them, can we use them as the functional essence in our daily living.
As the ultimate state and karma become mixed in our living, it is very difficult to separate them. That’s why it’s important for us to sit constantly to stop karma and start from there.
We must sit totally with our total being; only then can karma stop. Only then can we bring this state into our actions in our daily living situations.
Because karma is so strong, we must practice strongly enough to cope with it. Hence Dogen’s saying: endless cultivation; beginningless verification – returning to truth.
5/5/11
