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The
Four Great Vows
by
Ven. Shikai Zuiko
osho
a
Series of Four Dharma Talks
Part
3 of 4
The
First Great Vow, All Beings Without Number I Vow To Liberate, states our
intention. The second, Endless Obsessions I Vow To Release, reminds us
of what we are going to do. The third, Dharma Gates Beyond Measure I Vow
To Penetrate, again teaches us, instructs us, as to what we will do.
Dharma gates beyond measure I vow to penetrate.
When we are obsessed, when we are dominated by our thoughts and feelings
in a cycle that is seemingly endless, we can feel as if we are sat upon,
as if we are squashed by the weight of our obsessions. All we need to
do is to sit up. To sit up straight in zazen. Sitting up straight, Dharma
gates open everywhere, reality presents itself everywhere. Being sat down
upon by obsession is like having a monkey on our back, but by just sitting
up straight, whatever tries to sit upon us just slides off. When we sit
up straight in the posture of zazen, in balance point, everything slides
off.
Following this thought, that thought, the body bows and sways with the
disposition of attention. Coming back to where we are; right now, right
here, we just sit up straight without trying to shrug anything off or
put anything on. When we sit up straight richness presents itself; infinite
opportunities of the moment present themselves; Dharma gates. We recognize
that how we understand and how we misunderstand are all opportunities
to be entered into.
In "The Four Gates of Zen Practice",
Zen Master Anzan Hoshin defines Dharma in Sanskrit, Dhamma
in Pali, and Ho in Japanese, as having many levels of meaning.
When the "d" is in small case, "dharma", "dhamma",
means phenomena, mental events, things, experience. When the "D"
is capitalized, or the word Dharma is used in conjunction with the word
Buddha, it means the Way, or the Teachings. The Sensei says, in "Before
Thinking", in the teisho entitled "Shamata and Vipashana",
that in Zen we are concerned with the essence of Buddhadharma. Buddadharma
means The Way of Waking Up. The way of experiencing directly what our
life is, and the way of penetrating into what it is that is experiencing
it. And so we sit up straight in zazen.
There are so many dharmas arising and falling, moment after moment, that
there is no need to measure them, or count them. That would be impossible.
So, dharma gates beyond measure I vow to penetrate.
The tradition says that there are one thousand and eight gates to reality.
One thousand and eight Dharma gates. Why one thousand and eight? Picture
one thing. Now picture two things. Four things. Eight things. Sixteen
things. Thirty-two things. You can't. One thousand and eight simply means
numberless, infinite. And so as we sit in the posture of zazen, these
numberless, infinite Dharma gates present themselves; colours, forms,
sounds, thoughts, feelings, memories, sadness, anger, hope, fear, a pain
in the knee.
This third of The Four Great Vows calls us to penetrate each dharma,
each moment, and we penetrate, we pierce each dharma with this posture
of zazen, with kinhin, with teisho. We practice penetrating this moment
with the needle of attention, penetrating this moment completely. The
breath, sensations in the fingers and the toes, this moment, are all the
tip of the needle. Penetrate, pierce so completely that there is no separation
between body, mind and moment.
In the teisho "Needle in a Bag", Anzan Sensei says: "If
we pierce this moment of hope and fear with the needle of zazen, with
the needle of mindfulness, we are also pierced to the heart". He
goes on to say: " As we stitch together these moments of our lives
with the needle of wakefulness, we will find more and more that everything
is unbound".
The Dharma, the Teachings of Reality, show us over and over again that
reality is so rich. We are provided with endless opportunities to take
responsibility for the treasury of who we are, to allow us to express
this richness.
Dharma Gates Beyond Measure I Vow to Penetrate.
Next week, the fourth of the Great Vows, Limitless Awakening I Vow To
Unfold.
Thank you for listening.
©
2004 White Wind Zen Community. All rights reserved.
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