Long ago a great man came, saved all beings, and left. His coming and his
going continues to teach us to this day.
Long ago, a great man said, “The True Way has no coming, and no
going.” To this day, this teaching is saving us.
We too, have come into this world, and will soon depart. Then, in our coming
and going, how do we attain the great man’s way of coming and going? How do we
attain the great man’s way of not coming and not going?
Our relationship with this world, how we are destroying this world, and how
we human beings can survive.
According to Webster’s, ecology is that branch of biology which deals with
the relationship of living things and the environment.
What is our relationship to our environment? That is a question which the
Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind’s teaching addresses very
clearly. In Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind’s ’s time there
were not the same kind of problems with the pollution of air, water, and
ground. The Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind, for that
reason, did not talk very specifically about those kinds of pollution. He
taught us a slightly different kind of ecology, a more basic and more
comprehensive kind of ecology.
This teaching is so fundamental that not only is biological ecology a
natural consequence of this teaching, but so is ethical ecology, spiritual
ecology, and finally through the teaching of the patriarchs the ecology of moment-to-moment
correct situation, correct relationship, correct function. If we understand
this way correctly, then we can understand all relationships, including our
relationship to our environment, which means not only ground, water, air, sky,
trees, plants, and animals, but also each other.
In view of the Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind’s
teaching, a forum for human survival is a mistake. This goal already separates
human beings from the rest of this world. It is not enough to love this world
so that human beings can survive. That is not true love, because true love is
unconditional.
What is love?
To attain true love is to become ecologically correct in our relationship
with the environment.
There is a branch of science which is relatively new. It is the study of
chaos. While for us the world “chaos” implies a state of utter
confusion, for the scientist the word “chaos” has a very specific
meaning involving an equation with a number of possible solutions at any one
moment. Equations describing turbulence, meteorological phenomena, or even
stock market behavior are examples of “chaotic” equations.
What is very interesting is that scientists have found that in any kind of a
chaotic system there is some order. They have also found that in many systems
that up to now were thought to be very orderly and very predictable, some
chaotic behavior can be found at times. That’s not so much of a surprise for
the followers of the Eastern sages.
The Korean flag is a good example of this. It is basically a yin/yang
symbol. The yang side has a little bit of the yin color. The yin side has a
little bit of the yang color. yin gives birth to yang, yang gives birth to yin.
Chaos gives birth to order, and vice versa. This is because we live in a world
of opposites, and if you take away one opposite, the other would not exist. If
you take away man, then the word woman becomes meaningless. If you take away
dark, then there can not be light. If you take away ignorance, then there can
not be awareness and awakenment.
In this world of opposites, how do we find our correct situation, correct
relationship, correct function? To understand this world of opposites is to
respect all of nature. It becomes foolish to dislike the night, for without it
the day would not exist. To respect nature is to give up the notion of
ownership of nature, of ownership of this world. To not treat this world as
“my” world is to realize that it belongs to all life.
Our job then becomes more clear. Our life is not only from our parents. The
ground, the water, the air, the sun and the moon, all support our life; in fact
they give us our life. They are all our parents. Just as we have an obligation
to our parents, this obligation extends to the whole world. That is the Exalted,
Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind’s
teaching. That is our true nature’s teaching. In other words, the
fundamental thing is not so much polluting the environment, but polluting our
mind.
Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind taught something very
simple. He taught how to deal with anger, desire and ignorance: three major
pollutants. If we are able to take away this pollution, then the other kinds of
pollution will also disappear. Without taking away this pollution, it is not
possible to attain the true harmony with nature. Without harmony with nature it
is not possible to avoid harming the environment.
In science class in elementary school, one learns what happens if we connect
two containers, one full of hot water, and another one full of cold water. When
the containers are joined and the water can freely mix, very soon, even without
stirring, the temperature will be uniform. The hot one becomes cooler, and the
cold one becomes warmer. The hot water has more thermal energy. This energy
seeks a level where it is equalized, seeks a kind of balance.
We observe that everywhere in nature. At the forum some people said that
this world is unbalanced. But, the world is always balanced. All of the
environmental problems result in death, sickness, hunger. This is only correct.
This is part of the balance equation. This is human beings’ bad energy
dispersing throughout our world container. That is also Exalted, Blessed,
Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind’s teaching. Exalted, Blessed, Noble, Awakened
Mighty Great Mind taught us balance - in our life, how to make correct balance;
in our mind, how to make correct balance; in our dealings with our family, with
our friends, with the whole world, with the animals, the trees, the air, how to
make correct balance.
The teaching of karma. Every result in this world comes from a cause. Then
any disease has a primary cause. It is very important to change the primary
cause, then any sickness, any karma can be fixed, can be changed. To do that it
is necessary for all of us to put down our opinions, our understanding, our
“I, my,
keep a clear mind. This means everyone can get dharma energy. Then this dharma
energy disperses throughout the whole world.
This teaching is very simple, and very clear. But practicing people know
that while very simple, this teaching is not always easy to carry out. It is
one of a student’s great sicknesses to judge one’s own practice, and to
question one’s own ability to make the required effort.
Sometimes so many hindrances appear in our life, in our practice, that it is
tempting to indulge in self-doubt and become paralyzed. The ecological problems
confronting us appear to be overwhelming. The mental pollution, for those who
attempt some kind of practice, is often more overwhelming still. How can we
even begin to help this world? One of the most important teachings I received
is that there are two kinds of mind. There’s a mind that says “I
can,” and there’s a mind that says “I cannot.” If one thinks
“I cannot,” then one cannot. If somebody thinks “I can,”
then it’s possible. Best of all, just do it. Every moment of our life the Exalted,
Blessed, Noble, Awakened Mighty Great Mind continues to give us the great
present, his Dharma. The best present we offer in return is to apply this
teaching to our life. Then “do it” correct balance; “do it”
harmony; “do it” true love; “do it” moment-to-moment
correct situation, correct relationship, correct function. Then our life is no
longer ours, but belongs to the whole universe. Then ecologically correct life
is not something special. It is simply the correct function of our true nature.
This is indeed the great person’s way. Can we attain it right now?
If this sound is clear, then the whole universe is clear. Also the
meticulously clear. Then, where is the
This does not mean be cynical and distrusting. This is not reconstituted and
reincarnated Abbie Hoffman. The idea here is think for yourself, be true to
those thoughts, and base those thoughts on your own experience, not someone
else’s. It also suggests that we follow our own wisdom, gained by that
experience, and not follow gurus or ministers or rabbis or, lately, life
coaches merely because they say so. Test their “truth” against your
own experience-tested truth and trust yours. This is good advice anytime but
it’s especially appropriate as we become bombarded with increasingly venomous
and often erroneous, if not entirely false, campaign advertising.
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent
of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.”
If I could whisper this line into the ears of soldiers on the front lines,
and politicians who send those troops onto the front lines, there would be no
need to study war no more. If I could recite it to couples who’ve been
harboring resentment for years, who bicker rather than let it go, I predict the
divorce rate would drop by half. If I could slip it into the cocktails of
alcoholics who drink out of anger, bitterness, frustration and internalized
rage against society in general, there would be a whole lot more healthy livers
around - and a whole lotta happier people around. If I had a nickel for every
time I should have reminded myself of it - but forgot - I would be a very rich
man.
“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are
both true and kind, they can change our world.”
In a world of words, where you, me, my fellow writers and fellow readers
live, the opportunities to experience the effect (positive and negative) of
words are boundless. Same holds true for everyone who speaks words to each
other. Or even anyone who speaks only to himself. In the moral compass the
Buddha devised for living sanely and serenely, called the Eightfold Path, this
quotation would fit into the path called “right speech.” If we
abstain from false speech, slanderous speech, harsh speech and idle chatter, if
we could think about the implications of the things that come trippingly out of
our mouths or that come dashingly off our fingertips in emails and blogs (or
even in comments responding to blogs) before we release them into the universe,
just imagine how lovely communication would be.
“Your work is to discover your work and then with all your
heart to give yourself to it.”
My father used to remind me when I’d get lost in life, and I have gotten
lost often, that when I was about 10 years old I shared a precocious insight
into what motives me, and all people.
“I seem to do best at the stuff I love to do,” I am said to have
said. Mind you, I was 10.
This is reconstituted Joseph Campbell: follow your bliss. Whether
consciously or not, Campbell himself made the bridge to Buddhism in his
conversation with interviewer Bill Moyers, expanding on his famous message to
“follow your bliss.” He said: “If you do follow your bliss you
put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you,
and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you
can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they
open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will
open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
Thank you very much.
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