MORNING FROST

Reborn

Master Hui Re
http://dharmainafrica.blogspot.com/
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"In my last life I made an appointment to be born in this Saha world. So here I am fulfilling my vows in this life. Now I'm making an appointment to be born in the Pureland, in the Land of Lotuses, when this life ends."

Rebirth is difficult to believe in and can't be explained rationally.

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The Wheel-of-Life illustrations show beings living, dying, and being reborn as they revolve in one after another of the Six Realms of Existence. To me, the Wheel-of-Life illustrations are wonderful and useful teachings of the Buddhist Dharma, illustrating psychological states in THIS LIFE, and there is no necessity of believing in past lives.

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Even though I don't believe in previous lives, let me relate my own previous life, that is, two lives ago. I feel I was an ordinary lay follower of Saint Honen (1133-1212AD), a reciter of the nembutsu, a student of the writings of the Tendai priest Eshin Sozu (942-1017AD), wishing to be reborn in Amitabha's Pureland, and wishing to return to Earth after dwelling there, to be reborn in this Saha World and continue serving the Buddha by following the bodhisattva path. It's just a feeling.

MUSHROOMS

And This Year The Winner Is . . . . .

The four seasons are the same every year but the weather is different. In one-crop agriculture, not every year is a good year. But in nature, it is always a good year for SOMETHING. Maybe the bay laurel trees are profusely blooming with yellow flowers. Or maybe there is a great crop of manzanita berries. And this year?
THE WINNER IS . . . . .
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mushrooms. Prodigious amounts everywhere on the mountain. More than all the wood rats and feral pigs can possibly uproot and gobble.

CLOUDS

Crossing the Ocean

Two archetypes invoked and visualized in the crossing of the ocean of suffering are the bodhisattvas Tara and Prajnaparamita. Tara helps by ferrying one across on the boat of compassion, present tense. But Prajnaparamita, by giving the understanding of Shunyata, has lifted one beyond suffering, past tense. The mantra translates as:
GONE, GONE, GONE BEYOND, GONE FAR BEYOND, BODHI

A GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT

One of 21 plants in the Geysers field producing electricity from underground steam. They say it is "clean power." The steam seen in this photo is from cooling towers. After the steam turns the turbines, it is cooled into water-form and piped back ~2 miles down into the ground where it can be reboiled by the heat of the magma.

More People Sing More Good

This is from Jaime De Angulo's description of his anthropological field work among the Pit River Indians of Modoc County, CA in 1921. Living among the people, he meets an old Indian named Blind Hall whom he had met years before, and Blind Hall says:

"I remember you, I remember your voice -- I am pretty sick now, dropped my shadow on the road [when the buggy overturned], can't live without my shadow, maybe I die, I dunno...... I doctor myself tonight. You white man, you stay, you help, you sing too. More people sing more good. Sometime my poison very far away, not hear. Lots people sing, he hear better."

Then Jaime relates,

"Blind Hall called his medicine 'my poison.' The Indian word is damaagome. Some Indians translate it in English as 'medicine,' or 'power,' sometimes 'dog' ( in the sense of pet dog or trained dog). That evening, we all gathered at sundown. Jack Steel, an Indian from Hantiyu who usually acted as Blind Hall's 'interpreter,' had arrived. He went out a little way into the sagebrush and called the poisons. 'Raven, you, my poison, COME!....Bullsnake, my poison, come.....Crablouse, my poison, cooome......You all, my poisons, COOOME!!' It was kind of weird, this man out in the sagebrush calling and calling for the poisons, just like a farmer calling his cows home.

"We all gathered around the fire; some were sitting on the ground, some were lying on their side. Blind Hall began singing one of his medicine-songs. Two or three who knew that song well joined him. Others hummed for a while before catching on. Robert Spring said to me, 'Come on, sing. Don't be afraid. Everybody must help.' At that time I had not yet learned to sing Indian fashion. The melody puzzled me. But I joined in, bashfully at first, then when I realized nobody was paying any attention to me, with gusto."

WATERFALL ASCETICISM

Sakajiri-san praying under the waterfall

The Suffering of the Heaven Realm

In Buddhist psychology, unlike in Western religions, heaven is part of samsara, part of the cycle of birth and death. Though the highest point on the Wheel of Life, heaven is not for eternity but just another inevitably changing state of existence. The suffering of heaven is insidious and a trap, very difficult to recognize as suffering because it seems so happy, so wonderful. It is so enjoyable that there is no striving and no 'good karma' created, one lives on the results of his past striving and meritorious actions. Nobody is helped, no higher states of mind are realized.
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Isn't Heaven the trap that America has fallen into? Food and shelter are abundant, our average hours of work are only 40 a week, and after the work day is finished, it is entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. When one entertainment is over, we reflexively search for another to fill the time. Restaurants & bars, movies, television, great music, Internet links, scandals and stories of celebrities' lives, games to play, and entertainment by professional game players.
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You think you are enjoying these entertainments, but in reality, the ENTERTAINMENTS ARE ENJOYING YOU, robbing your time, stealing life of its potential. It takes time to realize the Buddha's teachings, to examine one's own nature, cultivate good qualities, help neighbors, and practice calming and insight. Life is soon over, wasted in pleasures of heavenly entertainments, and we die without ending our suffering or showing others how to end theirs. Buddhism was just another entertainment.
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The irony is, that while we waste our lives, obvious to everybody is the coming of mass planetary disasters, the great suffering quickly and increasingly closing in on all life on Earth.

AMITABHA - BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIGHT

Tendai Includes Pure Land Teachings

People inquiring about Tendai sometimes say they like Tendai teachings, but are not interested in the Pure Land. I tell them there is no need for Pure Land teachings for those who don't plan on dying. These teachings are only for those who think they might die some day.

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In many Tendai temples, the Amitabha Sutra is recited daily, which includes the following passage:

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"All those who have set their minds on being born in the land of Amitabha Buddha, or who are now setting their minds, or who will in the future set their minds, will reach the level where they do not regress from Highest Perfect Enlightenment. They are already born, or are now being born, or will be born in that land.

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One way to gain faith, confidence, and assurance of Amitabha's welcome into the Pure Land is by repetition of the 6-syllable nembutsu a million times. The great saint Honen, Tendai priest and founder of the Jodo Sect, had the habit late in life of reciting the nembutsu 60,000 times a day, while at the same time carrying out all his worldly and religious obligations. Tendai beads can count 20,000 repetitions in a cycle, and so are convenient to use if you want to set your mind on birth in the Pure Land. With 33,000 repetitions a day, in one month a million will be accumulated.

FROZEN GROUND

The computer has colored this photo of morning ice in the volcanic ash

Triads in Buddhism

Depictions of a Buddha and his two chief assistants has historical precedence in Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, who were spiritual friends before meeting Shakyamuni, realizing arhatship, and being declared "Shakyamuni's Two Generals." Shariputra was distinguished by 'excellence in wisdom,' while Maudgalyayana was 'chief in spiritual powers.'

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In the Mahayana, Shakyamuni takes his universal form as Mahavairocana Buddha, and his two chief assistants become the bodhisattvas Manjushri (Prince of the Dharma) and Samantabhadra (Universal Virtue, or The All-Good Bodhisattva). And parallel to the historical chief disciples, Manjushri, shown riding on a lion, proclaims the Dharma with a lion's roar, while Samantabhadra, riding on an elephant, leads people in the strong and steadfast practice of the various forms of concentration.

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In this evolution of Buddhism, Shariputra began to represent the WORDS of the teaching only as the religion aged and became somewhat ossified, and so, the expanded (vaipulya) teachings were revealed by Manjushri, being inspired by his direct inner knowledge. Likewise Samantabhadra shows the inspired practices which meet the needs of the world's various cultures in present time, even though they are different from 400BC India.

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Other triads are Amitabha Buddha flanked by the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara (compassion) and Mahastamapraptha (power), and Fudo Myo-o assisted by two boys, one emphasizing the sword aspect and the other emphasizing the rope aspect.

NEWTS

Here is a list of creatures, exclusive of birds and insects, that share the Cobb Mtn area with humans. Each of the following has been spotted by me at least once in the last twenty years.

& OTHER LOCAL CREATURES

MAMMALS..................REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS
moutain lion........................rattlesnake
black bear...........................gopher snake
blacktail deer.......................california king snake
bobcat................................water snake
grey fox...............................garter snake
ferel pig...............................racer
opposum..............................rubber boa
skunk..................................ring neck snake
racoon.................................salamander
jack rabbit...........................slender salamander
cotton tail rabbit....................newt
grey squirrel.........................tree frog & others
mole...................................spade-foot toad & others
gopher.................................pond turtle
wood rat...............................alligator lizard
field mouse & others................blue bellied lizard
bat......................................fence lizard
river otter.............................skinky
ring-tail cat..........................
coyote.................................

Pronouncing "Svaha" and "Sowaka"

These two are the same word, the first in Sanskrit (as a native word) and the second in Japanese (as transliterated). But when Americans read these two spellings, they have a unique take on it.

"Look at how the Japanese mangled Sanskrit! 'Sowaka' is not even close to 'svaha.' " I've listened to this opinion expressed many times over the years, and now wish to point out that the opinion is ignorant and ethnocentric.

We in the US pronounce both spellings as if they were English words, and that's why the sound is so different. But do this if you can: listen to a speaker fluent in Sanskrit pronounce "svaha." (There are about 10,000 such people, including Dr Sharma, now retired from teaching the language at UC Berkeley, of whom I have a tape of his pronunciation.) Next, listen to a native speaker of Japanese say "sowaka." It is nearly identical to the Sanskrit.

It is amazing that even though there was an absence of cultural exchange for a thousand years (850-1850), the pronunciation has been passed down intact in Japan.

KAIHOGYO

On New Year's Day at the top of the mountain, I met three hikers who had stopped to check the maps in Gary Suttle's book California County Summits. They asked me for directions because the book was vague and the top of the mountain itself is confusing, so it was understandable that they couldn't quite tell where they were and how to get to the Sonoma County high point. They took the photo shown here, and then I indicated the direction to the Highpoint, saying, "You fellas just follow the bear tracks in the snow, that way. I'm going this way. See ya later!"

All of their photos are shown here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kellerdb/SonomaCountyHighpoint/

from Jaime D'Angelo's "Indian Tales"

Here is an excerpt, much abbreviated from a story 16 pages long in the book, about how Weasel burned the world. He was in a rage because someone stole his beads, and he started a fire.

"Then, they say, the whole world caught fire. It was burning, burning everywhere, up the canyons and down the slopes and over the flats. For days and nights it burned. At last Coyote Old Man thought, 'I ought to stop that fire. where's my rain sack?' "

So Coyote Old Man caused a deluge which put out the fire, but also caused flooding and mud and darkness everywhere. In the aftermath he meets up with another survivor, his grandson Hawk Chief.

"In those days the world was dark, there was no fire, and Hawk Chief didn't like it. He grumbled, 'Why is there no fire and no sun? Grandfather, why don't we have fire?' 'Well, everything is destroyed, nothing left. You are just a boy, you don't understand the destruction of the world.' 'Oh, you could get them for us if you wanted to.' 'How can I?' 'Oh, you could if you wanted to.' 'All right, I'll go look for the fire.' "

Then, after some adventures:

"The fire blazed up and Hawk Chief was glad. Coyote and his grandson the Hawk now had fire but it was dark all over the land. Hawk Chief began to grumble again. 'Grandfather, why haven't we a sun? I want sunlight, I want sunlight!' 'Yes, yes, I hear you, nut how can I get it?!!' 'Oh, you know -- you know everything, Grandfather, and how it used to be before the destruction of the world. You can get the sun if you want to.' 'All right, all right, I'll go and see your cousins, the Doves. Maybe they can help us.' "

After more adventures, the sun jumped up into the sky.

"Now they had fire, and the sun shone over the world, but still Hawk Chief was not satisfied. He wandered around, grumbling. 'WHAT'S the matter now?' asked his grandfather, the Coyote.
'Grandfather, WHY AREN'T THERE people? I want the world to have people.' This time Coyote Old Man got mad. 'All right,' he said, 'and then WE will have to go away.' "

After much difficulty in making people:

"Hawk Chief wanted to stay, but the old man said, 'Well, you wanted PEOPLE, didn't you? Now we have to go away. COME ALONG.' That's the way they went. They went away. They went west, beyond the ocean." (to the land of the dead)

OLD GROWTH FOREST

97% of California's forests have been logged since the gold rush, and though most were replaced with new growth, the character of new growth forests is markedly different from the huge trees 200 years and more in age. And many animals lose their homes and food sources when forests are cut.

In the 3% of old growth forests, as shown in this photo of a stand of ponderosa, sugar pine, and douglas fir on Cobb, the undergrowth is thinned by periodic natural fires, while the big trees remain and spread their canopy, giving an open feeling with a pine needle carpet. Cobb has 400 acres of old growth forest, semi-protected as State property, and several hundred acres more which have fortuitously avoided the chain saw. But also on the mountain are some large tracts owned by loggers.

Vaisravana, Protector of Buddhism

The icon for Vaisravana shows a heavenly king in Genghis Khan-type armor. He holds the banner of authority in one hand and a stupa, a reliquary tower, in the other. But where are the weapons which can forcibly subdue the non-believers and protect the Dharma? Can a stupa protect Buddhism?

Yes, it can. This is the iron tower into which Nagarjuna entered to receive the Vajrayana. The stupa represents samadhi, and Vaisravana ("extensive hearing," Bishamon-ten, Tamon-ten) offers the protection which comes from entering samadhi and receiving the Dharma. The icon shows a brilliantly shining sun inside the stupa. This is the Buddha's relics; this is the Dharma he left for us.

Weapons which harm people will not protect the Dharma. The warrior skills of martial artists will not protect the Dharma. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, Sudhana nears the end of his journey to enlightenment and comes to a great tower containing the adornments of Vairocana. He prostrates himself in front of the door, and then circles the tower respectfully hundreds of thousands of times. From a distance, Maitreya ("The Loving One") comes and opens the door for Sudhana to enter, and "Sudhana, in greatest wonder, goes into the tower. As soon as he entered, the door shut." The following 10 pages describe that samadhi.

Right from the very beginning of Shakyamuni's preaching, that is, the Eight-fold Noble Path, samadhi was the culmination of that Path. The only protection for the Dharma is for people to enter into samadhi and realize it for themselves.

MT SAINT HELENA

Named by the Russians who were in this area before the Americans, Mt St Helena has the appearance of a volcano but is actually part of a sedimentary range called the Mayacamas Mountains. View from Cobb Mtn.

The Other World

It is hard to believe that there are other realities beyond what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled or tasted. Yet when one turns the mind's eye away from what is outside and looks inside, another world becomes known. This can be verified by oneself, provided the effort is made to quiet and concentrate the mind. Yet we humans are filling the planet with more and more devices to delight and entertain the senses, so that the last several generations have been losing interest in inner worlds, losing the ability to go there, and even failing to recognize that they exist or have value. People conversant with both worlds will tell them that this is where problems are solved, that inside is the realm of true happiness, where you can experience that all forms of life are one form of life, and that harming others in any way leads to your own suffering.

The trend away from otherworldly knowledge was noted by Carmen Blacker when she chronicled Japanese shamanism in the 1960s for her book The Catalpa Bow:

"The world view uncovered by the shaman's faculties, with its vision of another and miraculous plane which could interact causally with our own was the basis for the more advanced mystical intuitions of esoteric Buddhism. Today, however, this world view is fast disappearing. The vision of another plane utterly different from our own ... has faded. Instead the world has become one-dimensional; there are no barriers to be crossed."

To repeat Shakyamuni Buddha's words, "This Dharma is for one who delights and rejoices in the Unworldly, not for one who delights and rejoices in worldliness."

MT KONOCTI AND SNOW MTN

7000ft Snow Mtn in the distant right is the highest point in Lake County. A ridge of Cobb Mtn is the highest in Sonoma County. In the center are Mt Konocti and Mt Hannah, which along with Cobb, Sieglers, Boggs and some smaller knobs make up "the Clear Lake Volcanics" actively erupting 10-17,000 years ago according to geologists. In geological time, 10-17,000 years is like yesterday. There were natives living here at that time. Clear Lake (which is barely visible to the left and right of Konocti) is said to be the oldest lake in North America. But its configuration was changed when a massive landslide during the time of the volcanics blocked the outlet creek which emptied into the Russian River to the west. Clear Lake then filled up until it found a new outlet in Cache Creek which runs east into the Sacramento River. From an airplane flying over, the most prominent mountain is Konocti, jutting out into Clear Lake and rising 3000ft above. Cobb, though 500ft higher than Konocti, is less prominent since it rises only 1000ft out of the Mayacamas Range. However, this 1000ft of grey volcanic ash serves like a sand filter for the snow and rainwater, creating pure and delicious drinking water which various companies bottle and sell.

A Verse of the Shakujo

Below is the 6th of the "Nine Verses of the Shakujo." The shakujo is the Buddhist priest's staff with metal rings at the top, usually but not always six rings in number. The six can represent either the six types of existence in the Samsaric world, the world which we see, hear and feel; or the rings may stand for the six paramitas (perfections) of the bodhisattva. For the priest travelling by foot, he sometimes announces his presence by the sound of the shaking of the sakujo. And also while he is walking through the forest, especially at night, the rattling sound will warn small animals to avoid getting stepped upon.

The Nine Verses of the Shakujo is in the daily chant book of Tendai priests, and its content is quite interesting, covering the whole wide range of living beings. It addresses the Dharmakaya of the Buddhas; heavenly and earthly dieties which Shakyamuni Buddha controlled; the beings in the realms of absolute truth, relative truth, and the middle way; the bodhisattvas practicing the six paramitas, the sangha members striving to overcome their faults; those beings causing others to suffer; and the suffering beings themselves, who dwell in the three lower realms of existence.

The sixth verse concerns us sangha members, and as I recite it I reflect on my own faults, and how those faults should be replaced with beneficial actions, thereby aiding sentient beings and eliminating obstacles to enlightenment.

I PRAY THAT ALL BEINGS EVERYWHERE HEAR THE SOUND OF THE SHAKUJO

THAT THE LAZY BECOME ENERGETIC

THAT THE PRECEPT BREAKERS BECOME VIRTUOUS

THAT THE UNTRUSTWORTHY BECOME RELIABLE

THAT THE STINGY BECOME GENEROUS

THAT THE ANGRY BECOME MERCIFUL

THAT THE FOOLISH BECOME WISE

THAT THE ARROGANT BECOME HUMBLE

THAT THE INDULGENT BECOME PRACTITIONERS

AND BY COMPLETELY CULTIVATING SKILLFUL MEANS

THEY CAN BECOME FREE FROM ALL OBSTACLES

THEY CAN TAKE HEART

AND QUICKLY ATTAIN ENLIGHTENMNET

MT LASSEN

Mt Lassen, the last active volcano in California in 1917, can be seen from Cobb Mtn 135 miles away. Mt Shasta is our equivalent of Japan's Mt Fuji, and although 3700ft higher than Lassen, it is hidden from Cobb by intervening mountains.

As for Fuji and Shasta, try this if you have an opportunity. Given the season and weather, it is an exhilerating experience to take the non-stop flight from Osaka to San Francisco (left window seat) and pass by Mt Fuji in the late afternoon light, the last sight of Japan, then the next morning see Mt Shasta as the first sight of America.

by the Dalai Lama

THE PARADOX OF OUR AGE

We have bigger houses but smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense;
more knowledge, but less judgement;
more experts, but more problems;
more medicines, but less healthiness;
We've been all the way to the moon and back
but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We built more computers to hold more information to produce
more copies than ever, but have less communication;
We have become long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are times of fast foods but slow digestion;
tall man but short character;
steep profits but shallow relationships.
It's a time when there is much in the window,
but little in the room.

FIRE

This is a goma by the sennichi kaihogyo ajari Gyosho-sama, burning the goma-gi (prayer sticks) of believers, asking for such things as health, safety, and "heart's wish be realized."

Porfiry Ivanov (1898-1983)

Go to: http://www.geocities.com/parshek/engl.htm

to see how Ivanov, chiefly by the practice of enduring the cold, gained healing powers and entirely by himself created a system of religion in the midst of the religion-prohibiting Soviet Union. Ivanov's example dispels the notion that religion is a long-outdated accretion of no relation to the modern world, and that the opposite is true, that the religious life can be created anew at any time by a single individual, with immediate benefits to the society.

Through experimenting with ascetic practices he developed the will power to control his own body in relation to the forces of nature, and to attain a higher consciousness with thoughts of the infinite universe and the sufferings of all creatures. He learned that the power of healing would not work without a code of conduct, formulated in one instance as "do not drink alcohol, smoke, or use other drugs (narcotics); abstain from sexual excesses, swearing, violence, lies, gambling, bragging." He taught people to heal self and others, to love people and to love work, to aid the poor with their needs, and to live without fears, doubts, aversion or irritation.

SNOW

Saicho and the Medicine Buddha

20 years old and after receiving the full precepts in Nara, Saicho left that center of established Buddhism and built a meditation hut on Mt Hiei. There, praying in seclusion, he vowed to realize a better and more sincere way to benefit the people, to carry out his bodhisattva intentions. For an object of offering and concentration, he carved a statue of the Medicine Buddha, and performed his prayers and meditations facing it.

His efforts were successful. The Emperor followed Saicho's example when several years later he moved his capitol from Nara to Kyoto at the foot of Mt Hiei. The two became friends, and subsequently Saicho was able to travel to China, absorb the Dharma in Mt Tien-tai and other places, and upon returning to establish the Tendai sect which flourishes to this day.

Due the intensity and sincerity of Saicho's original prayers in front of the Medicine Buddha, Tendai priests still today make the curing of peoples' sufferings their number one responsibility.

LAPIS LAZULI

Lapis lazuli is found in a variety of colors -- blues, whites, purples, greens, as well as clear -- but the most common is a dark blue, shading toward purple. This is the color associated with the Medicine Buddha. He lives in a world of lapis lazuli and emits a healing light of that color.

Gozen-sama as Shaman

My teacher Gozen-sama appears three times in Carmen Blacker's classic "The Catalpa Bow -- A Study of Shamanistic Practices in Japan," first published in 1975. Though at Sekizan everyone knows him as Gozen-sama, in the book he is called either "The Ajari Enami Kakusho" or "The abbot of Mudo-ji on Mt Hiei."

Ishibashi Hiroko, to whom the book is dedicated, facilitated the contact with Gozen-sama in 1961, and he then gave Blacker permission to experience the kaihogyo, or mountain-walking meditation, for herself.

Kaihogyo and many other ascetic practices are described in detail in The Catalpa Bow, but notwithstanding the variety of practices, the resulting spiritual power of shamanism is almost exclusively used in HEALING people, of both their spiritual and their physical sufferings. This is true not only in Japan but throughout the world.

Nowadays, shamanism is most often associated with ethnogens (psycho-active plants), ritual drumming, and endurance of cold, but in Japan of these three only the last is employed. In addition, the Japanese shamans emphasize chanting, fasting, fire, and marathons. Here is Professor Blacker's report on Gozen-sama:

"[Though most of the shamans in Japan are Shinto or Shugendo adherents, occasionally] a fully ordained priest of the Tendai, Shingon or Nichiren sect may fulfill exactly the requirements of the ascetic life. After a long and severe regime of austerites performed directly under the aegis of this sect, he dedicates himself to the task of healing spiritual maladies. The Ajari of the Tendai temple Mudo-ji, on the slopes of Mt Hiei, is a noteable example of an ascetic in full Buddhist orders....The Ajari Enami Kakusho, the incumbent of the Mudo-ji at the time of writing, described to me in 1961 the nine-day fast he had undergone in the course of the ascetic exercise known as kaihogyo. For nine days he had performed without a break, in an enclosed and sealed hall, a continuous series of goma fire ceremonies. Not once had he descended from the goma platform and not once had food or drink passed his lips. He showed me the photographs of his ceremonial emergence from the hall at the end of the nine days. Emaciated, pale, so physically weak that he had to be supported on either side by stalwart assistants, he was yet so imbued with sacred power that the crowds which lined the path prostrated themselves in reverence on the ground as he walked by."

(note: Blacker's telling has mixed two separate nine-day practices, one of fasting and two years later, one of fire.)

It is a remarkable sidelight that 46 years later Gozen-sama still leads the Tendai ascetics, which parallels Shakyamuni Buddha's 45 years of teaching following his enlightenment.

COLLAYOMI VALLEY

From the top of Cobb Mtn through sugar pines and ponderosa pines.

The Buddha and Ananda in the Lotus Sutra

The balance between study and practice is an important topic in Buddhism. Both are necessary, however Shakyamuni puts the emphasis on practice in this teaching from Chapter 9 of the Lotus Sutra, describing a past lifetime when they were fellow disciples.

"The thought of the highest complete enlightenment once awoke simultaneously in Ananda and myself in the presence of the Buddha Dharmagaganabhyudgataraja. Ananda always wanted to hear a great deal about the Dharma, while I always made diligent efforts. For this reason I have succeeded in attaining the highest complete enlightenment, whereas Ananda is the preserver of my teaching."

HOT SPRINGS CREEK

Fumeroles on west side of Cobb Mtn.

Difficulties on the Bodhisattva Path

In the Gandavyuha Sutra ("Entry into the Realm of Reality," Thomas Cleary, tr.) the young Seeker named Sudhana consults with 52 bodhisattvas before mastering the Path. The 14th bodhisattva, Vidvan, tells him the following:

"It is good that you have aroused the aspiration for supreme perfect enlightenment. Rare are those who aspire to supreme perfect enlightenment, and rare are those who, having aspired to enlightenment, are tireless in seeking the practices of bodhisattvas by meeting spiritual benefactors, who do not weary of going to spiritual benefactors, who are not pained by attendance on spiritual benefactors, who are not depressed by the difficulty of approaching spiritual benefactors, who do not give up seeking spiritual benefactors, who do not turn away from the sight of the countenance of spiritual benefactors, who do not get discouraged in the path taught by spiritual benefactors, who do not tire in the service of spiritual benefactors."

CAVE SHRINE

Shrine placed in a cave on Cobb Mtn, circa 1985. Shrines were placed around the mountain in five spots, with the wish that the mountain be opened up for spritiual practice, in particular for the practices of kaihogyo (meditation while circumambulating the peak) and goma (ritual fire offering). These wishes were realized in 2005, and amplified by the practices of takigyo (meditation under waterfalls) and shikan meditation (calming and insight).

Wm Blake's Task

Friends forgive my wanderings. I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.

CINTAMANI

This is the ornament atop the goma-do, during the construction stage. In Japanese it is called HOSHU, treasure gem, and symbolizes the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) in One.

The Lotus Sutra and Mt Hiei

The Tendai sect on Mt Hiei has been venerating the Lotus Sutra for 1200 years. I look at Mt Hiei today, and find a passage describing it quite closely in the Sutra (Ch 17). It seems that the monks, by continuously upholding the sutra, by venerating it only and without considering the resulting environment, have actually created the condition for that result to manifest. Here is that passage, from the Kosei translation:

[FOR THOSE WHO] KEEP THIS SUTRA,
IT WILL BE AS IF THE BUDDHA WERE PRESENT
AND THEY, WITH OX-HEAD SANDLEWOOD,
BUILT MONASTERIES TO SERVE HIM,
CONSISTING OF THIRTY-TWO HALLS,
EIGHT TALA TREES IN HEIGHT,
WITH SUPERIOR FOOD, FINE GARMENTS
AND BEDDING ALL COMPLETE,
WITH ABODES FOR HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS,
WITH GARDENS, GROVES, AND BATHING POOLS,
WITH WALKS AND MEDITATION CELLS,
ALL BEAUTIFULLY ADORNED.

(This is how it is experienced by the monks living on Mt Hiei, not the tourists)

LILY

Near a spring at the source of Anderson Creek on Cobb Mtn

The Lotus Sutra and Esotericism

There is nothing secret or esoteric in the following. It is the completely OPEN TEACHING of the Lotus Sutra: you can become the "Buddha in this lifetime." Here are two quotes.

"I (Shakyamuni Buddha) am always thinking: how shall I cause all the living to enter the highest path and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha"

The above is at the end of the 16th chapter, and below is the end of the 21st chapter.

"This man (i.e., follower of this sutra), while working in the world, can disperse the gloom of the living, and cause innumerable bodhisattvas to ultimately abide in the Buddha Vehicle. He who accepts and upholds this sutra assuredly will attain the Buddha Way. Of this have no doubt."

This accounts for Dengyo Daishi's assertion that the Lotus Sutra and the Mikkyo are equivalent in their result.

GOMA-DO AND TOYON

The Lotus Sutra and Hakuin Zenji (1685-1768)

The following quotes and paraphrases are from Yampolsky's translation of a letter by Hakuin Zenji.

"[When I was 16 years old I noticed the great veneration people had for the Lotus Sutra.] There must indeed be profound and mysterious doctrines in this sutra. . . . . But in my study of it I found that . . . the text was [mostly] concerned with parables relating to cause and effect. . . .Why should this particular sutra be so highly esteemed? My hopes were completely dashed."

"[When I was 40 years old] I took up the Lotus Sutra [again]. Suddenly I penetrated the perfect, true, ultimate meaning of the Lotus. The doubts I held initially were destroyed and I became aware that the understanding I had attained up to then was greatly in error. Unconsciously I uttered a great cry and burst into tears."

Lizard and baby rattlesnake on rockpile next to goma-do

Saying #4 (Dengyo Daishi)

"By holding grudges and repaying with hatred, hatred never ends; but by repaying with virtue, hatred is completely exhausted. Rather than bearing grudges about things happening in this long-night's dream called the world, cross the boundary into the dharma realm of the true Buddha."

The confluence of Anderson Creek and Homestead Creek after a winter storm.

Saying #3 (Dengyo Daishi)

"A devout believer in the Buddha's Dharma, if he also has wisdom, is obliged to point out to his students any false doctrines, even though they be principles of his own sect. He must not lead the students astray. If, on the other hand, he finds a correct doctrine, even though it is the principle of another sect, he should adopt and transmit it."

THE SEKIZAN ORIGINAL SHRINE

Dengyo Daishi was unable in his lifetime to bring the full Mantrayana teachings to his disciples, so he entrusted this task to the young Ennin (posthumous name Jikaku Daishi). Years later, Ennin made an historic 10 year pilgrimmage in China, including Mt Wu-tai and the capitol city Chang-an where he acquired the Mantrayana under several Indian and Chinese masters. But this pilgrimage could not possibly have succeeded in overcoming almost insurmountable Chinese bureaucratic roadblocks were it not for the intercession of a Korean Lotus Sutra temple. In gratitude to the Koreans on Sekizan ("red mt") in China, Ennin had the Sekizan diety enshrined at the foot of Mt Hiei, Japan.

Saying #2 (Dengyo Daishi)

"My life will not last long. After my death, do not grieve in mourning attire. My colleagues on this mountain (Mt Hiei), following the precepts, cannot drink sake. If you violate this rule, you are neither my colleagues nor my disciples. Recite the Lotus Sutra daily, study the correct teachings, strive in meditation, and cause the Dharma to last forever. . . . .Put forth your utmost efforts, do not be lethargic in the practice of the four kinds of meditation.

"Maintain these admonitions in your heart and there will be great happiness, great happiness!"

Yamada Etai (1900-1999)

Great Teacher, Transmitter of the Buddha's Teaching

In Japanese, Dengyo Daishi. This is how theTendai founder Saicho (d. 822AD) has been known following his exemplary life. Urging those who could to renounce the world for the welfare of the many, encouraging all to pattern their lives on the Dharma, he had a succinct way of expressing this in writing. Today his sayings remain just as timely and eloquent. Here is one.

FOR ONE FOLLOWING THE DHARMA
THERE WILL BE FOOD AND CLOTHES,
BUT IN THE MIDST OF FOOD AND CLOTHES
THERE IS NO DHARMA


Some say this is difficult to believe, or is just a lofty ideal, but in my 40 years of renunciation, I've found it absolutely reliable.

GOMA-DO AND EAST

ANIRUDDHA'S VISION

One of Shakyamuni Buddha's disciples, Aniruddha, when new to the Dharma was meditating in seclusion, and he received the following vision:

The Dharma is for one of few wants, not for one of many wants;
for the energetic, not for the lazy;
for those who enjoy seclusion, not for those who like crowds;
for the contented, not for the discontented;
for those with concentrated minds, not for those with scattered minds;
for the wise, not for the foolish;
for those who can recollect, not for the forgetful.

Then in the vision, Shakyamuni suddenly appeared before him and praised him:

Good, good, Aniruddha! But you can add an eighth thought:
The Dharma is for those who delight in the unworldly,
not those who delight in the worldly.

Waterfall Practice at CTM

This is Jake, on retreat from from the Tendai Buddhist Institute of NY

Bodhisattva Path

Consider renunciation of a worldly life and work for the benefit of ALL beings.