No.652 Compassion based on the truth of emptiness - 2022/10/20

No.652 Compassion based on the truth of emptiness - 2022/10/20

Compassion based on the truth of emptiness

1)

20 October is the opening of the Shugyo Dojo, which is also the start of the second semester of training.

First, we will concentrate on zazen for a week.

We learned about compassion yesterday.

2)

Compassion for sentient beings is easy for anyone to do.

You feel sorry for them and do something for them.

It is also the basis of compassion.

However, this only can be limited to our families.

3)

It is where compassion becomes essential.

This compassion is performed with the truth of the Dharma as the link.

It is the compassion of doing the truth of the Dharma as a connection.

Emptiness means that everything that exists has no fixed substance.

4)

In his Original Image of Islamic Philosophy, Dr. Toshihiko Izutsu states that.

In the reality that appears on the surface of consciousness, various things are identified in material terms.

It is a world where various static and dynamic relationships are established between them.

It is the world of reality in which we live.

It is the world of phenomena, the world of colors (=Shiki), as described in the Heart Sutra.

5)

It further continues as follows.

So, when the depths of our consciousness are liberated through practice, this framework of reality is gradually removed.

First of all, the distinction between things becomes less clear.

Things that appeared solid when we only looked at the surface of consciousness became fluid.

6)

And from there, he goes on to say

However, the world that was now hard and solid became fluid.

Truly essential things become as fleeting as haze.

The contours of the form of their essence become blurred.

In other words, a flower is a flower, but it is no longer a flower.

A bird ceases to be a bird.

Thus everything becomes transparent, blended, and united.

8)

And the deepening of consciousness goes one step further.

The whole, a mixture of all things, finally becomes a complete one, which is nothing.

There is no trace of what was once a thing there anymore.

In that sense, it is nothing.

There is no longer anything to see or be seen.

There is neither subject nor object, consciousness and the world have entirely disappeared, and there is no awareness of nothingness as nothingness.

9)

These expressions are precisely what you feel when you are doing zazen.

10)

In his book Zen and Education, Hitoshi Kataoka explains that

You see everything as yourself when you become absolute nothing(=mu).

It means that you see everything only as a thing.

11)

It is different from psychological effects such as mere sympathy or empathy.

There may be psychological explanations, such as empathy.

But the matter is more of a root.

12)

When you experience absolute nothingness before you have empathy, there is an essential connection between the thing and yourself.

That connection is the root of what is called love.

13)

To see everything that appears before us is to love everything.

It means we see everything else as ourselves, just as we love ourselves.

14)

When I look at others, I see them as myself.

When I see myself, I see myself as others do.

To see me and others impartially is wisdom.

At the same time, it is also love.

15)

This outline of what we thought was ourselves becomes blurred.

We experience that we are connected to ourselves and things outside.

It is the entrance to the experience of the sky (=Kuu).

16)

When you go out into the garden after zazen and look at it, you may feel that the grass and trees are like things close to you.

You feel as if you want to speak to the grass and trees.

Grass, trees, and insects are all connected, and the boundaries between them disappear.

The sky (=Kuu) is where everything is connected, and there are no boundaries.

17)

In this way, in his book 'The Study of Goodness,' Kitaro Nishida taught as follows.

We love flowers because we identify ourselves with them.

We love the moon because we are in accord with the moon.

The parent becomes the child, and the child becomes the parent.

It is here that the love between parent and child first occurs.

18)

Because the parent becomes the child, the child's every gain and every harm feels like its own gain.

Because the child becomes the parent, the parent's joys and sorrows are felt as if they were their joys and sorrows.

19)

The more we renounce the I of self and become purely objective, that is, 'I am nothing, the greater and deeper our love becomes.

From the love of parents and children and husbands and wives, we progress to the love of friends.

Furthermore, from the love of friends, it progresses to the love of humanity.

The Buddha's love extended even to fowls, animals, plants, and trees.

20)

The Buddha's love extending to fowls, animals, plants, and trees is Muen's compassion.

Compassion becomes apparent when the ruth of emptiness (=Kuu) is clarified.

Otherwise, there is a risk of selfish compassion.