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Near Salt Point, California
Saturday, July 21, 1979
Dear Shih Fu,
"Highway Reflections on the
Dharma Ending Age"
The Avatamsaka says that all the periods of time are the same. Past, present, and future are false discriminations,
All the past, present, and future are.
nothing but talk.
Isn't the Dharma Ending Age, then, the same? Just the prattle of false words? "Everything is made from the mind alone," says the Sutra. However you look at it, that's the way it is. Cultivate the Dharma's ending and it becomes the Dharma Ending Age. Cultivate the Proper Dharma, and it becomes the Proper Dharma Age. Nothing is fixed. All the differences in the world arise from the minds of living beings. Level and equal, reaching to all places, the Dharma has no beginning and no end.
Yet, the idea of a Dharma Ending Age really cripples people's spirits and Bodhi resolve. It's a huge false thought, and a burned-out view of the world. Acquiescing to the Dharma's demise is being turned by external states. Like the demons we meet while bowing: think about them in advance and for sure they'll show up; worry and get afflicted with fear and they get worse. Ignore the demons and treat them as "no affair," and they vanish. Don't false think about them, and they don't come. Ugly men and beautiful women come to obstruct our work in the same Way. We bring on all our troubles with our false thinking. When the false thinking stops, all our troubles vanish. So it says,
When one attends to the
here and now,
The false returns to the true.
-- Gatha for Recitation
Beads Hand & Eye #29
Isn't the idea of a Dharma Ending Age the same? With an untiring, non-retreating thought of, "pure mind, continue, continue!"--the false returns to the true, and the Dharma's extinction becomes the Dharma's prosperity. The patriarchs and the ancients didn't follow states--they made states follow them.
Before coming to Gold Mountain Monastery, I heard some talk like this: "Oh, Gold Mt? All those Buddhist disciples are just too strict and inflexible. They take the precepts too seriously --especially the prohibitions on meat, intoxicants, and sexual misconduct." I heard that others criticized, "This is the modern age! They're stupid. In the Dharma Ending Age this stuff doesn't hold. It's every man for himself. But they keep the bitter practices and build Way-places and now a big university... They don't know how to bend with the times. Why stick your neck out like that in the Dharma Ending Age?"
In the Avatamsaka Sutra it says that all is one; one is all. To the ends of empty space and the boundaries of the future, all is perfectly fused and interpenetrating without obstruction. There is no time, no coming or going, no place to rely or dwell. So where am I going to hide in the Dharma Ending Age? Under the bed? In a remote temple? Maybe on another planet? Wherever we go, we are not outside the Dharma Realm. Our self-nature and the Dharma Realm are one, not two. So where is there a place to hide?
In Cambria, California, there are some people who never heard of the Dharma Ending Age. For them it's the Dharma Proper Age, and things are starting to look up, not down. Don is an insurance salesman who used to be a school teacher. He and his family came out on Sunday, "just because bowing is so peaceful and nice to be around." They made offerings and watched quietly. Later Don came back and related that his job was in jeopardy, and "frankly, there's a whole lot about life that's pretty upside down and meaningless," he said. He was very interested in Buddhism. He wanted to be a good father and husband and to help other people, but couldn't get an anchor down inside his own mind. Traditional religions left him cold. He started reciting the name of Kuan Yin Bodhisattva every night in a quiet corner of the house. A few weeks later he came back. He looked younger and centered, back on solid ground. He told us he got a new job and "all sorts of things have started to look better." Then he said, "You know, the other night while I was reciting Namo Kuan Sh'ih Yin Pu Sa, a strange thing happened. The face of an old man with long white hair and a beard appeared. I felt very relieved and not the least bit afraid of him." The description he gave fit that of the Venerable Hsu Yun.
Tom and his wife and three children operate a motel near the ocean. They came out with an offering and said, "We envy you. This is what we should have done with our lives. But now it's too late. We got married young and have children." They thought the only way one could practice Buddhism was as a monk and nun in a monastery. They were happy and surprised to hear about all the levels of involvement and especially of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. "You mean, people can cultivate and bring their kids along, too?!" Tom later came back and told us he was really at loose ends. He had got involved with drugs and drinking, acquired a lot of debts, and felt hemmed-in by relatives and the responsibilities of being a parent. He was ready to despair. Then on an inspiration, he sent to Gold Mt. for a copy of the Shramanera Vinaya and Rules of Deportment. It's basic and solid teachings on how to base your practice on proper morality. Tom really identified with the principle that "everything that happens to you comes from what you do." He felt that the reason his life was a mess was because he didn't follow the rules. He wanted to change and begin all over again.
A year later, Tom and his family stopped on their way to a weekend outing. They were all real happy and obviously back together again. Tom was confident and relaxed. All his bitterness and pessimism were gone. The children now looked natural and bright, whereas before they were uptight and disrespectful. "You know," said Tom, "that book really changed my life...our lives...I can't tell you what a difference it has made!"
The McCauley family were devout Catholics all their lives. But they "left the Church" said Mrs. McCauley, "because it just didn't go far enough. This is the Space Age, and there's a new spirituality. Our children especially are asking questions and looking into things we never had the courage to when we were young. We are all really happy to see this pilgrimage and to hear about the City up north (CTTB). Buddhism seems to take everything in and still meet a person's quest for personal enlightenment. Our sons have followed you and are really hungry to go where our traditional religions never explored. It's healthy and I'm all for it. My husband and I will follow right along and learn. You know," she said quietly, "there's a lot of us peeking out from behind the bushes and hiding in the closet watching and waiting..." A Bodhisattva makes four great vows and never retreats or takes a vacation, even in the Dharma Ending Age,
Living beings are boundless, I vow to
Save them all;
Afflictions are endless, I vow to
server them all;
Dharma-doors are limitless, I vow
to study them all;
The Buddha Way is unsurpassed, I vow
to attain it.
Some people say, "World peace is impossible. Ending disasters and suffering is dream talk." So what? All the more reason to try. Or many say, "Society and the family are falling apart." That makes the Buddhas' teachings even more relevant and necessary. How are these reasons to rollover and belly up? It is just because of people's suffering that the Buddhas appear in the world.
Living beings from beginningless time,
Have always flowed and turned in
birth and death
And not understood the true, real Dharma.
That is why the Buddhas appear in
the world.
Avatamsaka Sutra,
"Verses in Praise in the
Tushita Heaven Palace"
If everyone were enlightened and free from all the sufferings and the evil destinies, then what use would the Dharma be? The Dharma is medicine. The more suffering and confusion there is, the more the medicine is needed. "But this is the Dharma Ending Age. It's useless. You're stupid to stick your neck out. No matter what you do, the Proper Dharma is going to go extinct," says someone. That's just the reason to do it. Because it's stupid. When the world is being driven to the brink of collapse by smart ones, it's a good sign that there are still "stupid" people who don't know how to look out for themselves, and just stick out their necks to benefit others like it didn't matter.
So I ask myself, "If you save your neck, monk, what are you saving it for? When you die and have to part with it, what good will you have done with it? The Ghost of Impermanence will just take it anyway. So big deal. Might as well put it out where it can do some good." The Bodhisattva not only sticks his neck out, but he gives away his arms and legs, eyes, ears, even his bone and marrow to benefit living beings. "No problem," he says, "I only want all beings to end suffering and attain bliss. I'm not the least bit concerned about saving 'me and mine' or anything that belongs to 'me and mine'. Being one with everyone is called Great Compassion. My body is the Dharma body."
The Dharma Ending Age is just another day to take as it comes, without weariness, without retreat.
He never retires from the vows of a
Bodhisattva. Even though all kalpas
might be exhausted, his heart never
wearies. He does not grow weary of
enduring all kinds of bitter suffering.
None of the many demons can move him.
He is protected and thought of by all
Buddhas. He cultivates the bitter
practices of all Bodhisattvas. In
his cultivation of the Bodhisattva's
practices he is earnest and vigorous,
not careless or lax. He never retreats
from his Great Vehicle vows.
-- Avatamsaka, "Ten Practices"
Why? Because at some point it becomes clear that "every man for himself" isn't where it's at. The realm of all beings and the universe (Dharma Realm) are non-dual. All things are one. They don't increase or decrease. They aren't produced or destroyed. There's no self or others, nothing to attach to or rely on. Cultivation is forever, and because a Bodhisattva's work is inexhaustible, therefore the Dharma never dies.
It is like drilling wood to make a
fire. What fire can do is inexhaustible,
yet fire itself is never extinguished.
The Bodhisattva is this way as well.
His transforming of living beings is
an inexhaustible matter, yet he always
dwells in the world without cease.
Avatamsaka, "Ten Practices"
Peace in the Dharma
Disciple Kuo T'ing
(Heng Ch'au)
bows in respect