Good evening!
Dogen said,
“To learn the Awakened Way is learn the self. To learn the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is be verified by all dharma. To be verified by all dharmas is to drop off the bodies and minds of the self and of others…”
To drop off the body and mind is not enough. The Buddha’s purpose in coming out into the world was to prevent the world from being destroyed. He knew that the self, self-centeredness, would eventually destroy the world.
He was first reluctant to come out into the world, as the world was deeply sunken in laya, layers of karma (habit, habit energy). But Brahma (all the dharmas) urged him to come out. He always wandered, never staying at the same place two nights, to share the dharmas.
To see Dependent Origination is to see all things in interrelated, systemic dynamism, with no separate, self-sustained substance. This is why we must work to save the world. Dropping off the body and mind is not for the selfish purpose of attaining fame, fortune, etc.
Buddhists must first know the reason why the Buddha came out into the world. Dogen knew this and also knew how to drop off the body and mind to realize it. When he came back from China, he said that he felt like shouldering the heavy burden with this task.
It was not for self interest, fame and fortune. He devoted himself to transmitting this way. The Buddha’s followers must know why we practice. It is not for the self’s sake, but for saving the world. Awakening means to be awakened to all dharmas, the whole world.
The Buddha said,
“The world is on fire. The eyes are on fire. The ears are on fire. The nose is on fire. The tongue is on fire. The skin is on fire. The mind is on fire.”
As he said, we now have wild fires, global warming, nuclear fission, etc. As he foresaw, we are heading to mass extinction, including ourselves. Why can we sit for self’s sake? How can a Buddhist save the world without trying to do so?
We must first witness unconditioned peace and unsurpassed awakening ourselves, so that we can share and save all beings, solving individual, social, and ecological problems and sufferings, and realize the wholly wholesome world.
5/27/11
