Good morning!
We have a beautiful spring Sunday morning with flowers, though the temperature goes up to over the 80s and 40s, with a fist-size hail storm – strange and scary. The last chapter title of Uchiyama Roshi’s The Heart of Nurturing Together is the same as the book title, giving the ground for his assertion based on the Buddhist teaching of life truth, before and beyond discrimination of self and other, subject and object, heart and world, etc.
He talked about the surprising stories of a visiting monk A talking courteously to him, but hautily to his disciple joined, a doctor B strong toward his patients and activities, but becoming weak after his wife died of cancer and dying soon after, a businessman C successful in his business, but failing in his son’s financial failures, complaining of his karma – perhaps epitomizing a feudal human relation, modern objectivism, and individual religious conviction.
We live our life truth of breathing, etc. before views and knowledge, with two facts: whatever way I fall is my life and the truth now met is a part of my life. Thus we must drive our life’s car freed from excessive thoughts, but full functioning with wakefulness. A child’s life is truth, an adult’s life is truth, but practice makes perfect for all to become true great persons, making true great societies, nurturing together as our own life unseparated and un-overwhelmed.
He quotes “Mayoku’s using a fan” from Dogen’s Genjo-koan, Realizing Universal Truth, and the Buddha’s advice at his last. Mayoku used his fan to realize everywhere-pervadedness of the universal truth of ever-pervading wind nature. The Buddha said, “Take refuge in the self and in the Dharma, not others.” We nurture together in the universal (universe-full life) truth (Dharma), beyond karma conventions and kinetics.
5/15/16
Note: When Mayoku Hotetsu was using his fan, his disciple came and said, “The wind nature is ever-pervading and everywhere-pervading, why do you further need to use a fan?” Mayoku said, “You know the ever-pervadedness of the wind nature, but do not realize the reason of everywhere-pervadedness of it,” The monk said, “How is the reason of the everywhere-pervadedness?” The teacher then only used the fan. The monk bowed.
