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Heng Ch'au:
Saturday
March 11, 1978
"NO WAY"
Rain, cold, heavy winds, and biting fog. Scattered thoughts, cant concentrate. Sleep urge hits, the desire to curl up and hibernate when faced with difficulty. Sleep is one of the five basic desires. I can see why. When our egos are most threatened, in times of stress and uprooting, we dive for sleep. "Highway closed and dangerous for travelers ahead," says the CHP.
Sometimes inside and outside gets so thick and heavy with obstacles you feel there's no way through the mire. But if you can hold on and take one more step past the point at which you felt you couldn't go another step, suddenly a clearing opens and a road appears. I really like this quote from Ch'an Master Hua. It has kept us going when we felt there was "no way" at all.
"When you die and have been cremated to ashes, where have you gone? To find the 'you' of your true nature Which does not die is the spiritual Exercise of Ch'an. When your meditation Reaches the point that the mountains Are leveled, the seas disappear And you doubt that there's a Way at all, then suddenly, there beyond The dark willow and the bright flowers Is another village. Although You felt there was no way, there is yet Another world, another realm-the Realm of light peace. Those who can Bring their meditation to the ultimate Point can experience freedom, independence, And the bliss of both body and mind- A bliss which is incomparable."
A reminder to myself: "Be just like the earth"
"Listen well, O Buddha son, For now I'll tell the truth. Whether one gains a speedy release, Or has trouble getting free. If one seeks to eliminate One's measureless evil deeds Within the Buddha dharma one must Be constantly vigorous, a Courageous hero." --Avatamsaka sutra.
There are no gifts or cheating in cultivating the way. Skill and accomplishment cannot be given or stolen. If it were that easy, we would all be Buddhas by now. It is all up to you to get rid of your own "measureless evil deeds."
There are no short cuts. Whether one's release is speedy or unbearably slow and difficult has nothing to do with anyone else at all.
Suffering and bliss begin in the same place: a single thought of the present mind. Pure thoughts bring blessings, defiled thoughts bring suffering. This is the immutable law of karma: "as one things so one receives in return."
Be compassionate. Tragedy and happiness, blessings and misfortune, belong to all of us, because all of us belong to one. Others' unhappiness and suffering is just my own. My good fortune and blessings are for everyone. My hang-ups and faults are my own. Others' good luck makes my happy. Share blessings, swallow sufferings. Cleaning up your mind invisibly benefits everyone.
"He eradicates all poisons from the mind.
In his thoughts he cultivates the highest wisdom.
Not for himself does he seek peace
And happiness.
His only wish is that living beings get
To leave suffering."
Avatamsaka sutra.
The "mind's poisons" are greed, anger, and stupidity. Don't lay your jealousy and arrogance on others. Don't drag living beings into your garbage heap. Give whatever makes beings happy. Give strength, your possessions, laughter, courage-give by taking a loss. The highest gift is the giving of dharma. The giving of dharma is just being a real person: pure, peaceful, and happy and without the slightest bit of self. Manifest a body to speak the dharma-a body of kindness, compassion, joy and giving in every thought, word and deed. Gather in the entire universe, and in great peace and happiness contain all things. Just like the earth.
"His mind is skillful, he dwells in peace without compare. His intentions are constantly pure, He is greatly happy. In this way for others he vigorously Cultivates. Just like the earth which can Universally accept all things." -- Avatamsaka sutra.
"Papa Joe"
"What is mindfulness of parents' kindness? Alas! My parents. They bore me with Hard labor, ten months in the Womb, three years at the breast, drying My bottom, changing my diapers, swallowing bitterness and feeding me sweetness. Only then was I able to become a person......" From, "essay on the Exhortation to bring forth the great Bodhi mind" By great master Hsing An(d. 1973 A.D.)
The Hyatts, a young family from Cambria, drove out on a blustery day to share a meal offering. There was ken and sherry, their two small kids, Abe and rose still in diapers. And all bundled up in blankets, warm and dry, sitting in the back seat, was their aging father, papa Joe.
Papa Joe could no longer walk; he showed signs of senility and required a lot of care and patience. But the Hyatts didn't seem to be put out or burdened. Ken carried papa Joe out to the picnic spot and when a rainstorm came up, he quickly wrapped him in a blanket and carried him to the car.
We all squeezed together in their V.W. bus along with a friend of theirs and her infant, making nine in all. They listened with bowed heads as H.Sure and I chanted the meal offerings and rang the hand bell. Over hot vegetable soup and homemade bread, the Hyatts told their story.
"Papa Joe was ready for the nursing home, but we didn't feel right about it, so we asked him to please come and live with us. We felt he'd be doing us a favor. We were so happy when he agreed."
"At the time" said ken, "we had no house, no money and I couldn't find work. But you know right after our decision to ask papa Joe to come live with us, things opened up. A big old house came our way and I got a fine job offering in this area even, where jobs are almost non-existent."
Papa Joe sits quietly, smiling now and again, as the kids crawl around his legs chasing a ball. He's so obviously happy and at peace.
"We feel all our blessings came from doing right by papa Joe," says Mrs. Hyatt. "We just did what came naturally."
A cold rain blows against the windows. The Hyatts say they came out because they felt somehow Buddhism stood for filiality and just doing the right and natural things in life. Lynn, their friend, picks up that we don't talk much and says,
"I talk too much. My tongue is like a snake." Everyone laughs. The Hyatts are drawn to the moral precepts of Buddhism and the spiritual goal to "go back to the root, return to the source." It's as if the principles of Buddhism are already deeply rooted in their minds, in a timeless, natural understanding.
They identify with the Buddha dharma as much a=or even more so than with their home state, Ohio. (Someone mentions the monks are from the Midwest, and H. Sure form Ohio. Pap Joe perks up and grins, reaching out to shake hands. Ohio!? That's where I'm from. "Papa Joe has been listening to every word about Buddhism nodding where he agrees. When he hears "Ohio" something connects and suddenly Buddhism is very close to home, like it was as American as corn and apple pie).
"But what really excited us was when we heard that filiality is a fundamental teaching in Buddhism. We just had to come out" says Mrs Hyatt.
The ultimate expression of filiality is cultivating the way. To repay the kindness of parents is a primary motivating factor in spiritual history. It is a belief shared by the ancients and enlightened teachers of all countries over the centuries. The Buddha, Shakyamuni, spoke the earth store sutra to rescue his mother, and also set forth the bodhisattva precepts( Pratimoksha in the Brahma net sutra to repay his parents.
"At that time, when Shakyamuni Buddha first sat beneath the Bodhi tree, after realizing the supreme enlightenment, he set forth the bodhisattva Pratimoksha out of filial Compliance towards his parents, his masters among the Sangha, and the triple jewel. Filial compliance is a dhrama of the ultimate way. Filiality is called precepts, also called Restraining and stopping." Brahma net sutra
Why the precepts? Because precepts are the only way one can end the suffering of birth and death and leave the turning wheel of the 6 paths filiality is an ultimate teaching moreover, because one who is enlightened sees all living beings as his own parents. Therefore, he restrains himself to act with utmost kindness and compassion and filial regard toward all that lives.
"All male beings have been a father to me in former lives and all females have been my mother. There is not a single being who has not given birth to me during my precious lives, hence all beings of the six destines are my parents." -- Bodhisattva precepts.
It is from this understanding of the oneness of all beings and interrelatedness of all things that Buddhism takes its roots. The Hyatts recognized it immediately. Filiality is basic to being a person and to accomplishing ultimate wisdom.
"If you want to be person, the very first thing you should know is that compared to the sea, your parents' kindness is deeper; compared to the sky, your parents' kindness is higher.... If you plan to repay them, you must First learn to have virtue and to reach Living beings to cultivate the way. It is said, 'if one child obtains the Way, nine generations will leap over Birth and death.'" From record of water and mirror reflections, By Ven. Master Hua
More advice against continuing on highway I. Local people volunteer gas and water, and check out alternate routes.
"Papa Joe" was our dharma lecture for the day. We learn from everyone.