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May 24, 1979
Blakes Landing, California
Dear Shih Fu,
We meet a lot of different kinds of people on the road. But, it's clear that the happiest and healthiest ones are active and exercise. People stop to jog, bicycle, do T'ai Chi or Yoga or just walk. Some people work outside all day. The all have a spark of youth. It's just like moving water that's pure and clear, while stagnant water goes bad. Acupuncture has the same principle: energy that freely circulates is the key to health and long life. This is the value of sleeping sitting up--it keeps the blood and energy freely moving, even while you sleep. Unless you lean against things. Last night while sleeping in meditation posture, I slouched back on some stuff sacks. This a.m. my body was stiff and sore. When I can sit upright and not lean or prop myself up with artificial supports, I wake up feeling like I've just taken a cool shower or done a set of T'ai Chi. False thinking cuts off circulation in the same way. Attachments leave you stiff and sore. Our basic nature is nowhere dwelling and leaning on nothing. Heng Sure has a sweater I had my eye on. I didn't need a sweater, it was just another false thought surfacing. The sweater was a desire surrogate (all desire is one desire). We had been bowing in a cold, stiff wind, and the pressure of cultivation was at a peak. No people, no talking, no towns--the mind was facing emptiness and squirming. On impulse, I picked up the sweater. Heng Sure, seeing my interest, gave it to me. I "stole" the sweater. I went for it under pressure. Immediately I felt a change. The air became heavy and close. I felt like I was suffocating in a small cave. My eyes grew dusty, and the sweater felt uncomfortable and confining. During meditation it got unbearable. So, I took off the sweater and returned it. Right away the world got big, cool and smooth again. The dust left my eyes, the heavy, hard-to-breathe state lifted. Ah, at home again! It was a good lesson: greed and too many possessions cuts off the circulation; seeking self-benefit is the source of suffering and unrest, personal and world-wide.
He makes no mistakes,
His mind is vast, big, and pure;
He is happy, blissful, apart from
all vexation and worry;
His heart and will are soft and
flexible;
All his organs are clean and cool.
-- Avatamsaka
Each false thought and attachment, all greed, anger, and stupidity cut off the circulation. Afflictions drain our energy. Worry, jealousy, arrogance, and fear cut off the light and make us old fast. Whatever we can't see through and put down blocks our natural wisdom. It's just like laughter makes you young and crying makes you old. The principle is the same. Holding precepts purely and concentrating with a single mind is the source of blessings, happiness, and the pure light of wisdom. When we can do this, we are like little children without a wrinkle or care--just full of the energy of spring. But, as soon as we get uptight or start false thinking, then trouble appears where there was none to begin with. This is the energy of winter. Truly, the mind is boss. When we bow sincerely, if it's cold we get warm; if it's too hot, it cools off. Strong winds and heavy rain are no problem. No matter what happens, it always feels "just right". But, as soon as we strike up false thinking or get uptight, then if it's too hot, it gets hotter. If it's cold, it gets even colder. The wind and rain make us angry and we want to fight with them. If our thoughts are scattered, the bugs and insects give us trouble. The hotter we get under the collar, the more trouble they give us. It's all made from the mind. The ultimate source of all health and happiness is "an unattached, unbound, liberated mind." When thoughts are right, everything is right.
Exercising the body is good. But, no matter how good we treat the skin bag, it goes bad and falls apart. My T'ai Chi teacher once remarked, "Some day you will know that Ch'an is the highest." Back in Pacifica as we did T'ai Chi outside a laundromat in the early morning, I had an insight, "If I didn't false think and form attachments, I wouldn't need to do T'ai Chi. Originally there are no obstacles or deficiencies. Naturally we are healthy and free. False thinking and attachments make all our problems--they make the world go bad, too. It's all the same." So it's said,
The best power-spot (acupuncture
point) is right in the square inch
(the mind).
This is the big lesson of this pilgrimage: "Everything is made from the mind alone." The way of the world is to ruin your insides trying to look good on the outside. The way of cultivation is to return to the source and purify the mind and forget about the superficial. I am seeing how my false thinking to be #1 cuts off my circulation. My running out after forms (desire) wastes my energy. My bad habits and deviant views cut off others' circulation and block the energy in the world. The entire Dharma Realm is one body--perfectly fused and interpenetrating. Nothing exists in isolation. No one stands alone.
The realm of living beings and the
Dhartma Realm are not two,
The Dharma Realm and the self-nature
are non-dual.
-- Avatamsaka
We cultivate and everyone benefits. If we don't cultivate, everyone loses. Everything created from body, mouth, and mind touches all living beings. If what I do is good, the world improves a bit. If what I do is selfish, then everyone suffers. It is becoming so clear to us that what counts is what we've got on our minds. It's easy to hide behind the covers and put on a good show, but sooner or later the truth comes out. Why not put it all down and go for broke?! What else besides cultivating a pure mind matters? All beings accomplishing Buddhahood together, what else is worth anything? There is something special about bowing outside in the stillness of nature that cuts through all the garbage and leaves cultivating the Way standing tall and strong, above all else,
...like Sumeru spreading across the
seas, lowering retinues of peaks'
high altitudes...
-- Avatamsaka Preface
Each day the truth of cultivation grows brighter and our happiness grows with it. Like the song says, "I'm really lucky to study Buddhism." When we work on the mind ground, we work for everyone. The sounds of the world are the sounds of one's own heart.
Peace in the Way,
Disciple Kuo T'ing
(Heng Ch'au)
bows in respect
* * *