MOUNTAIN RECORD MOUNTAIN E DHARMA COMMUNICATIONS P.O. Box 156MR, 831 Plank Road arth Treasure Mt. Tremper, NY 12457 (845) 688-7993 V ol . 34.2 . 34.2 W inter inter 2016 2016 The Zen Practitioner’s Journal Earth Treasure Winter 2016 $9.00 / $10.00 Canadian The Buddha-body is also like this: It cannot be conceived; Its various physical forms Appear in all lands in the cosmos. —The Avatamsaka Sutra Vol. 34 No . 2 Winter 2016 Earth Treasure 4 ONE SINGLE THING, John Daido Loori Roshi We are totally and intricately interconnected. 11 THE JEWEL WE CALL HOME, Danica Shoan Ankele Editorial 12 WITHIN THE VAST WEB, Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Sensei Enlightenment does not exist without morality; they are nondual. 22 MANIFESTATION OF GREAT PRAJNA, Eihei Dogen Taking refuge in all things is taking refuge in Prajna. 26 LOVE WILL SAVE THIS PLACE, Naomi Klein Sustaining the integrity of ‘the lands and the waters.’ 35 THE BLUE JAY WILL COME RIGHT INTO YOUR HEART, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Mind and being are one, and mind reaches everywhere. 40 A MAP TO THE NEXT WORLD, poem, Joy Harjo 42 THE EARTH BREATHES, Lewis Thomas Life-giving cooperation in the deepest and highest places. 46 WELCOME TO THE ANTHROPOCENE, Elizabeth Kolbert Human hands have re-defined our geologic age. 50 ORGANIZING FOR SURVIVAL, Wen Stephenson Where do we find environmental justice, for all? 59 I’M LEARNING NOTHING THIS NIGHT, poem, Reginald Dwayne Betts 60 DEPENDENT ARISING, Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen How do we really see the truth of emptiness? 66 IMAGINING EARTH, Geneen Marie Haugen Giving our wonder and respect to wild, living spaces. 72 THE AVATAMSAKA SUTRA, trans. by Thomas Cleary A dip into the cosmic Mahayana sutra on dependent co-arising 74 MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS ORDER NEWS News and Happenings, Affiliate Directory 97 RESOURCES AND SERVICES One Single Thing by John DaiDo Loori roshi 4 The Tao cannot be conveyed by either words or silence. In that state, which is neither speech nor silence, its transcendental nature may be apprehended. — Chuang Tzu ccording to Chuang Tzu, the tran- scendental nature of reality can- Anot be apprehended and conveyed unless we can attain the state that is neither speech nor silence. Before we realize that state, we’re dealing only with the shadows, derivatives, and echoes of reality. Imagine if you will a universe in which all things have a mutual identity. They all have an interdependent origination. When one thing arises, all things arise simultane- ously, and everything has a mutual causal- ity. What happens to one thing happens to the entire universe. Imagine a universe that is self-creating, self-maintaining, and a self- defining organism, a universe in which all its parts and the totality are a single entity. All of the pieces and the whole thing are at once one single thing. This description of reality is not some kind of holistic hypothesis or some kind of idealistic dream. It’s your life, and it’s my life. The life of a mountain, the life of a river, the life of a blade of grass, a spider web, the Brooklyn Bridge. These things are not “related” to each other, they’re not “part” of the same thing, they’re not “simi- lar.” Rather, they’re identical to each other, in every respect. Consider that experiment that took place in quantum physics and was conducted in Geneva, Switzerland. Researchers took a pair of photons, very small particles, and sent them along optical fibers in opposite directions to sensors in two villages north and south of Geneva. Reaching the ends of John Daido Loori Roshi the fibers the photons were forced to make place to another. The connection and the a random choice between alternatively and correlation between the two particles was equally possible pathways. And since it’s instantaneous; they were behaving as if they expected there’s no way for photons to com- were one reality. The experiment indicated municate with each other, classical physics that long-range connections exist between predicted that one photon’s choice of a path quantum events and that these connections would have no relationship or effect on the do not rely on any physical mediums. The other photon’s choice. But when the results connections are immediate and reach from Practice means commitment and action. We’re no longer observers standing on the sideline; we become participants. were examined, the independent decisions one end of the universe to the other. Spacial by the pairs of photons always matched and distance does not interfere or diminish this complemented each other exactly, even connectedness of events. though there was no physical way for them This interconnectedness of things evi- to relay information back and forth. If there denced in the Geneva experiment has been was communication, it would have had to part of the Zen teachings for 2,500 years. exceed the speed of light, which according It’s spoken of as the Diamond Net of Indra to Einstein is impossible. in which all things are interconnected, co- Time and space are a single reality, exist- arising, sharing mutual causality. Every con- ing right here now. Remember Dogen’s nection in the net is a diamond with many teaching in Dotoku. “Expression of the facets, and each diamond reflects every truth now and insight of former times are other diamond in the net and in effect con- a single track, and they are ten thousand tains every other diamond. You can’t move miles apart.” So a present expression of one diamond without affecting all the oth- the truth is furnished with the insights of ers. And the whole net extends throughout former times, and the insights of former all space and time. times are furnished with the present expres- sion of the truth. And it’s for this reason THIS DIAMOND NET is not a metaphor. For that expression of the truth exists now and Zen Buddhists it’s an accurate description of insights exist now. Effort now continues to reality. It’s a description of what is realized be directed by the expression of the truth in the practice of Zen, that we are totally, itself and by insight itself. completely, and intricately interconnect- Each photon knew what was happening ed—interconnected throughout time and to its distant twin and mirrored the twin’s space. So it’s not just the three dimensions response. This took place in less than a of space but the fourth dimension of time thousandth of the time a light beam would as well. have needed to carry the news from one On Mount Gridhrakuta, the Buddha 6 addressed an assembly of thousands. He pores, our breathing, our being. This is a didn’t say a word. He picked up a flower realm that’s beyond understanding, and it and held it up for everybody to see. Out has nothing to do with believing. It’s a truth of the entire assembly only Mahakasyapa, that has no teacher; it can only be realized. one of his disciples, smiled. Noticing Mahakasyapa’s smile, the Buddha said, “I All evil karma ever committed by me since have the all-pervading truth, the exquisite of old, on account of my beginningless teachings of formless form that has no reli- greed, anger, and ignorance, born of my ance on words and letters, and I now hand body, mouth, and thought, now I atone it over to Mahakasyapa.” The Buddha gave for it all. an intimite discourse; Mahakasyapa didn’t conceal it. Flowers open in the night of Many of the rites of passage that take falling rain, the valley stream at dawn fills place in our practice are preceded by this with fragrance. Gatha of Atonement. Atonement creates Mount Gridhrakuta is right here, right a pure and unconditioned state of con- now. This gesture of the Buddha and the sciousness. It initiates an attitude of mind answering, the calling and the answering, conducive to entering the rite of passage, a is not the same as the regular calling and mind receptive and open to transformation. answering of our normal conversations. Out of that pure and unconditioned state of That’s not intimate talk, what we do nor- consciousness emerges practice. mally. The calling and answering are ripples Practice is doing, practice means commit- on the surface; they’re not intimate talk ment and action. We’re no longer observers itself. In intimate talk no communication standing on the sideline; we become partici- whatsoever can take place. That’s what pants. The transformation associated with Dogen was talking about. the rite of passage that atonement precedes Communication requires two points, does not take place just because you go something goes from A to B. In intimacy through the ritual. There needs to be that there are not two distinct entities, and state of consciousness. Raising of conscious- nothing goes from A to B. In the transmis- ness needs to have taken place, otherwise sion of wisdom, nothing is transmitted, the new way of seeing, hearing, feeling, and nothing goes from teacher to student. The realizing doesn’t happen. student already has what the teacher has. With practice—the doing, the commit- The student already is the teacher. You ment, which is the action—there comes already have what the Enlightened One discovery and realization. As a result, the has; it just needs to be awakened, brought precepts, or the significance of the rite of to life. Intimate talk brings it to life. passage, or the receiving of the teachings, The best we can do is to be always open comes alive in our life.