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Dear Shih Fu,
The Bodhisattva vows that all beings
will be able to perfect the speaking of
the Buddhas' road to Bodhi and con-
stantly be happy to cultivate the giving
of the unsurpassed Dharma.
-- Avatamsaka Sutra
San Bu Yi Bai, Heng Ch'au and I have learned respect for the rules. Following the rules makes us happy. When we subdue our thoughts about how things should be and quietly, sincerely return to true principle, everything works out just right. No thoughts needed, no effort wasted. It's true every time.
So what are these rules? Why are they true for us the same way they were true for the ancients? Why will they be true in the future?
You can sum it up in a few words. The rules are called the Buddhadharma, the Middle Way. When it's too little, add to it. When it's too big, reduce it.
Or you can speak of them infinitely and never finish, e.g., the Five Precepts; the Ten Good Acts; the Five Constants; filiality; the Ten Vows of Universal Worthy Bodhisattva; the Three-fold Non-outflow Study of Precepts, Samadhi, and Wisdom; the Six Paramitas; repentance; giving; faith; the Ten Thousand Practices, and so on. All of them are true principles. All of them lead back to the unchanging, perfectly balanced Middle.
Everything speaks the Dharma all the time if only we are receptive to it. For example, last night it was late and I hadn't studied my Avatamsaka memory-project, as I try to do each night. A little bit each day helps me keep balanced, on the ground, and in touch with the rules. When I miss it, I feel as if my mind hasn't eaten that day. My wisdom goes hungry. When people hear the Sutras tell of filiality, repaying the kindness of the Buddha, our parents, teachers, and elders, it never fails to touch the heart. Putting our seniors into rest-homes and breaking up families is unnatural. It weakens the country. It wastes a priceless natural resource: the wisdom of age and maturity. When people hear that Buddhism takes filiality as its basis and repaying kindness as its first duty, they want to hear more right away. It's like adding water to thirsty, dried plants. Filiality is a rule. It is the same with the others of the Five Constants.
The first of the Five Constants is Humaneness. To be humane means to be kind and compassionate to all life. It's a fundamental truth: when we don't kill, the world finds the natural Middle. Of all the vehicles that pass us on the highway, there is one kind that we can identify with eyes, ears, and nose all closed. The death-trucks are unmistakable. This is ranch land and the trucks that carry the cattle, sheep, and horses to the slaughterhouses drive by in a dark cloud of evil energy. Add to it the smell of the fearful animals jammed inside, the sound of their bleating, and it's a heavy moment each time. They know they are off to meet the butcher and their fear is a tangible, horrible presence on the country highways. Animals that die in fear produce toxic chemicals in their bodies. Doctors now recognize this "poisoned meat" as the source of many currently incurable diseases. The cure? Be humane. Don't take life, don't eat the flesh of living creatures.
The Second of the Five Constants is Righteousness. Whatever is righteous feels right on. It's natural, balanced and in harmony. Another way to say it is don't steal. Theft is out of harmony.
It makes waves and causes trouble. We've learned that our thoughts are like radio-beams. What goes on in the mind is broadcast to the world, there are no boundaries. When we have thoughts of greedy desire and seeking, we steal from the Dharma Realm, just as if we reached out a hand to swipe an apple from a fruit-stand. This lesson has been thoroughly taught to us.
One day, by the Half-Moon Bay Airport, we bowed through a big wind-storm. I have trouble concentrating in the wind, and my mind was full of thoughts of "Oh, pity me!" I was cold and hungry and had false thoughts of food and the shelter of the car. We returned at the end of the bowing day. Stacked by the car were over ten bags of groceries, all stolen by my greedy thoughts from kind-hearted people of the area who picked up on my broadcast. The food-blizzard continued for two days. Stealing is not righteous. We barely had room to sit in the car. Over a hundred bananas! This ain't the Tao! No false thinking is the rule. It keeps the natural Middle in perfect harmony.
Disciple Kuo Chen
(Heng Sure)
bows in respect