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Heng Ch'au
February 22, 1978
Quiet day of bowing in open country. Spring winds waving the tall grasses and cleansing our minds.
Bowing thoughts...
--Ch'an, Dhyana in Sanskrit, or Zen in Japanese, is the practice of "still comtemplation." It s the furnace for smelting the pure gold from ones own self-nature. All the raw materials are already in our hands. Set your mind and will to it, maintain the pure precepts and one is certain to smash through the dark coverings and obtain the fruit of enlightenment.
All things naturally return to the source in their own way and time. When you find the path with true heart a thousand horses couldn't keep you away; if you're not ready a thousand horses could nt pull you across. We walk home by ourselves; others, even Buddhas, can only show the way.
"Where was there ever a man of wisdom Who got to see and hear the Buddha Without cultivation pf pure vows, and Walking the same path the Buddha walked?" -- Avatamsaka sutra "Verses in praise in the Tushita heaven palace chapter"
So although all beings have the Buddhanature, all are not Buddhas. We are gems in the rough that need to be rubbed, ground, and polished before we shine like a jewel. Without hard work we are just uncut stones, stuck in the mud, buried in the earth.
There are no shortcuts or bargains. Walking the Buddhas path is an inch for an inch. Heng sure and I are learning about the truth of self-reliance: out here we get back exactly what we put out. There's no one to lean on and nothing to climb on for a free ride. That's just how it really is.
"It is just like fold which, although It is found in metallic compounds, When properly smelted according to the methods, Separates from its impurities and becomes progressively more bright and pure. So too is the Bodhisattva dwelling on the ground of Leaving defilement like this," -- Avatamsaka sutra "Ten grounds chapter" 2nd ground
Sincerely doing our work we should be mirrors, not sponges. When things arise, respond and reflect; when they are gone, be still and quiet. By not absorbing and clutching after things, we don't interfere with others. Standing on our won gives other people room to stand on their own and grow strong in their own light.
Stan, the retired man Boise, Idaho, stopped with an offering and to say goodbye.
"The car and me are both getting too old to drive out much further, so we'll have to say goodbye," he said reaching out to shake hands. "It's been an honor knowing you."
Heng sure
"If one hears the dharma as it is, That all Buddhas are born from it. Although he might pass through Measureless suffering, He will not forsake the Practices of enlightenment." -- Avatamsaka sutra "Verses in praise in the Tushita heaven palace chapter"
The Dharma reveals the myriad wonder of humankind's oldest body of wisdom. It speaks of the nature of the universe and rings with the authority of a body of knowledge encompassing the entire cosmos.
Mt. Sumeru, the heavens, the ten Dharma realms, kalpas, the adornments of the pure land-we first heard these names from the master as he lectured the dharma from the high seat. The Buddhist description if nature sounded quaint, at first, sometimes downright inconceivable. After spending a year in contemplation out in nature, these concepts are no longer unclear notions. All along it was I who was fuzzy and narrow, not the dharma. The Buddhist view of the universe is older than tim
Science gave me my half-baked understanding of the world. Our scientists simply don't know the truth. They apply little measuring devices and guess at the rest. Galileo was put under arrest for calling the sun the center of the galaxy instead of the earth. That was only three hundred years ago. The Avatamsaka sutra was available for the millennium before that. Science is just now discovering " the Tao of physics" as Capra calls it. The best new theories come close to the ancient Buddhist cosmology.
We are uninformed. The dharma has opened a door to the universe in its original substance and nature. Our job is to learn it s lessons about reality and explain it for everyone. The Buddha dharma is an inexhaustible storehouse of wonderful treasures!
This month it's time to make fire by drilling wood. Everywhere I turn I meet this analogy:
"Like drilling wood to make a fire, If one rests before the sparks appear, The fore, like the effort, will disappear. The lazy one is also thus." -- Avatamsaka sutra "The bodhisattvas Ask for clarification chapter"
Effort should be used in every thought through all the day and night. I'll start with one step at a time. Ch'an sitting first. I can sit long, bear pain, and pass through the first barrier in to the clear and painless state beyond. Most often, the alarm clock goes off at this point. The temptation to stop concentrating is strong. But if the wood drilling is going to start the fire, I need to make progress in Ch'an, I'll have to it through the clock and on into the unknown silent spaces.
Maybe extending the sit by five minutes each week and making a time chart would be useful expedient.
"Sit long. If you can sit for three days and enter samadhi, do it"-Master Hua
This will take some courage and patience with pain. Here's how it can work. First set my heart on it. Want to stay in full lotus for at least three hours each night, where there's a will, there's a way.