|
TOMORROW
Born in this age, we must
establish the will to be new and great people. The engraving of
T'ang says, "If once made new, every day renew: Let there
be daily renewal." The announcement to K'ang says, "Make a new people."
Look into modern science.
It is new every day and different every month. Military weapons are
new every day and different every month. Wars are new every day and
different every month. Although it is called progressive change, it
does not differ from advancing cruelty. It takes human life as a
child's play, an experiment. It uses strength and force to fill its
great desires and aims.
Why not think instead of
washing clean the body and mind, of brushing away the accumulated
dirt, of producing great shame and painfully changing the former
wrongs. To create a new life, be a new and imposing person, full of
grand power. Establish merit for the sake of beings of the Dharma
Realm. Take all countries as brothers and establish virtue.
Establish a model for all under heaven. This is called mercifully
representing heaven in widely transforming. With loyalty and filial
piety, for the sake of the country, teach the people.
Born in this age. "Born in this age one should
be of this age; the practice of good is what is needed," said Mencius, over two thousand years ago. Today is today and its
questions are not those of two hundred years ago. Just as today
grows from the past, so too does tomorrow come from today. Last
autumn's seed is this year's sprout and next winter's flour. One
cannot ignore the present and live in remembrance of things past,
nor can one fritter away a life in idle dreams of the alabaster
cities of a brave new world.
New and great people. That which is new is
startling and fresh. One must be a new man in new times, always
aware and responsive to what is occurring in the world. One must be
imposing and establish a great model for all to see. One must make
an impression, which has a deep, and lasting effect, not the surface
impressions of new styles and fads. This impression must be made not
in ephemeral newsprint, but in the long lasting annals of the
history of mankind. If one must adopt a style, only that of the true
heroes of mankind is worthy of emulation. One must change his own
faults in order that he may rectify government, know himself in
order to be able to dispense justice and establish harmony. One must
pacify himself in order to insure domestic tranquility.
The engraving of T'ang. The Emperor T'ang,
called the Perfector, founded the Hsia Dynasty some 3,700 years ago.
On his ritual bronze bathing tub was engraved, "If once made new, every day renew; let there be daily renewal." Thus, in his daily
bath, the Emperor was reminded of the need to constantly examine and
cleanse his conduct. On this principle he founded a Dynasty which
ruled for over four centuries.
The announcement to K'ang...This passage is
selected from the Book of History.
Look into modern science.
It is new every day and different every month. The progress of modern science has been
incredibly rapid. Two hundred years ago, industry, transportation
and communications, although a bit more efficient than they had been
two hundred years earlier, still remained essentially as they had
been since the dawn of man. Energy was obtained through muscle power
or by harnessing wind and water. People seldom traveled more than a
few miles from their birthplaces. The Industrial Revolution had not
yet broken out, and houses twelve miles from Philadelphia were
considered to be in the wilderness.
When steam was harnessed the need for coal
arose. Within a generation, little smudges began to appear on the
landscape as whole populations shifted from the country to the new
industrial centers. Cities rapidly turned sour. Technology
progressed and soon electricity and internal combustion were in use.
Night was broken so that factory hands might work in twelve-hour
shifts. Technology had illumined the night and cast a pall over
man's free spirit.
A few moments after the appearance of
electricity and internal combustion came the radio. The invention of
the vacuum tube came an instant later, and the transistor appeared
faster yet. We are progressing into the realm of Z-guns and
micro-miniatures, which, it is said, will replace present day
technologies. In the space of a flash, foot and horse cart travel
has yielded to journey by supersonic jets flown almost entirely by
computer. We have walked off rural lanes and onto the freeway,
progressing from the world within arms reach to the moon. Man has
multiplied from a small species capable of maintaining itself into a
vast mob, a substantial portion of which suffers starvation
resulting from overcrowding.
Extending present trends toward the future, it
is predicted that technology will "progress" at a pace that will far
outstrip the horse and buggy technologies of the past.
Military weapons are new
every day, and different every month. Wars began when one person hit another with
his hand. Although it was not comfortable for either party, the
general agreement was that it was a definitive way to deal with
problems. The first weapons were bodies, which belong to the element earth.
Later, a combatant picked up a stick and found
that by wielding it skillfully, he could remain out of reach of his
opponent, yet still inflict harm on him. With the invention of the
club, the age of earth came to an end and the age of wood began.
This is simply in line with the sequence of the elemental action.
Each of the five elemental actors produces another, which in its
turn is overcome by yet a different element. Wood is victorious over
earth. The successive action of the elements may be arranged like this:
Each element produces the one following it in a
clock-wise order, and is victorious over the next but one in
sequence. Thus earth produces metal and overcomes water, metal
produces water and overcomes wood, water produces wood and overcomes
fire, and so forth. This production and vanquishing of the five
elemental actors is correlated to the changes of seasons, to colors,
compass points, and many other phenomena. From its profound study,
we can understand many otherwise insoluble problems of nature and history.
So it was that metal was found to be malleable
and an excellent substance for blades which could be fixed to wooden
lances and thrown from afar. Warfare continued to evolve under the
influence of metal. The limits of that element were reached when men
totally encased themselves in armor so as to be immune from arrows and spears.
Fire overcomes metal. Gunpowder, which had
existed as a plaything for years, was harnessed, and made to send
pellets of metal at great speed through the air to penetrate the
suits of protective armor. Warfare raged under the influence of fire.
It seemed as though the end of military
progress had been reached until the element water began its ascent.
Fire is overcome by water, and thus the influence of water has grown
ever heavier, and under it new weapons have emerged. The science of
chemistry is under the dominion of water, and atomic energy, which
utilizes water, is an outgrowth of chemical transformation. The
influence of fire in warfare is still paramount, but that of water
grows. As this happens what can be done?
If we add load after load of earth to a pool of
water, we will make mud. Add more earth and we shall finally arrive
at level and dry ground, soil in which we may plant and harvest, on
which we may build. How do we accomplish this? We use what belongs
to earth, use our bodies. With the body we can cultivate the ground,
and step by step overcome the age of water and create dry land.
The Buddhadharma is of the earth. It is here,
among living creatures in the world, that Dharma is taught and
practiced, not elsewhere in some starry abstract heaven. Dharma is
taught according to the needs of beings. Since we are here, Dharma
appears here as it does. To the inhabitants of heavens, it appears
in an appropriate form.
Now we are on the earth. Buddhism is of the
earth, which is why it is represented by a tawny color, the color of
earth. The Sixth Patriarch said,
"The Buddhadharma is in the world,
Not apart from the world is Enlightenment.
To leave the world and seek for Bodhi
Is like seeking for a horned hare."
The earth can be used for fighting, and can be
used to cultivate.
The above paragraphs dealt with the defeat of
the elements by one another; the order of their production also has
great meaning for society. Yellow earth produces metal, whose color
is white. On the surface of a metal mirror one may condense water,
which in depth is black. Water nourishes and produces green wood,
which when dry, puts forth crimson flames. Fire bakes blocks of clay
into a new, durable, and useful kind of earth.
In the earth of Buddhadharma is forged a Vajra
body, like metal but stronger. With the perfection of the Vajra
body, the great depths of the waters of compassion may be fathomed.
These waters nourish the tree of Bodhi, which grows and flourishes
to bear its fruit and flowers. Its wood is able to support the heat
of samadhi which fires the molded earth, burning out all impurity,
and producing a pure and durable building material.
Although it is called
progressive change, it does not differ from advancing cruelty.
"Progressive change" continues and more species are daily threatened
with extinction. Progress rolls on and leaves in its exhaust, a
host of bizarre new diseases. Progress poisons with insensate cruelty
and brings along with its questionable benefits more untold sufferings,
many of which are so new and subtle that it is only years or even
centuries later that they will become fully manifest.
It takes human life as a child's play,
an experiment. Although the material values and quality of human life
may be said to improve with technological progress, the value placed
on life itself declines. Industrial civilization deals in terms of
masses and relegates the individual to a secondary status.
Populations may starve and waste, and countries be razed for the
goals of such a civilization. Human life has little meaning and is
treated as a toy. Whole peoples and cultures, not to mention
individual persons, are directed like so many actors in a play.
Science not only experiments on lower animals and inflicts great
suffering on them in the name of humanity, but uses the primates and
makes supposedly harmless tests with human volunteers. Experiments
on whole people, in fact, a well planned and executed "scientific
solution" to the "human dilemma", is but a very short step away.
What, in the final analysis, is the actual outcome of these tests?
It uses strength and force to fill its
great desires and aims. The technology of science is employed by most
societies. Nations desire each other’s lands, men desire each others
homes, the poor desire the goods of the rich, the rich desire more,
and all use violent means to obtain them. The goal we seek in every
case the same: our own benefit and happiness.
Why not think instead of
washing clean the body and mind, of brushing away the accumulated
dirt, of producing great shame and painfully changing the former
wrongs. We should note that
the Emperor T'ang's engraving was on a great washbasin. We must
clean our bodies of all accumulated habitual activity, and wash
habitual thought and bad karma from our minds. We must right the
errors in ourselves so that we may be able to see the errors in
society. This requires an act of great courage, for though it is
easy to admit that the system is composed of individuals, it is not
so simple to admit that we, with all individuals, are the ones
guilty of offenses. Mountains are made of great accumulations of
dust motes. The wrongs of the system are composed of the accumulated
wrongs of you and me. When we are able to see this, we should
produce a feeling of great shame, for it is from painful realization
of truths that change and reform come.
To create a new life, be a new and imposing
person, full of grand power. There is no use in retreating to the
comfortable shell of isolation, or of withdrawing to idyllic or
artificial social structures. There are problems, and they must be
faced. One must awake from lethargy and become an outstanding figure
full of great power. Mencius said of such power, "...it is extremely
great and extremely strong and yet does not harm; thus it fills the
space between heaven and earth. This energy is the companion of
Righteousness and the Way. Without it there is starvation. It is
born from constant Righteousness, not grabbed by surprise attacks of
Righteousness." Such vast power is only produced through constant
proper conduct in our daily activities, not through hypocritical
fits of goodness. Without it, comes starvation in man's nature.
Establish merit for the sake of beings of the
Dharma Realm. Because we are alive now and undergoing similar events
together, we can be said to share collective karma, the result of
all our past activities. In addition to the interaction of our
collective karmas, we each have individual karma and thus, though
all sharing the common traits of humanity, we each have special
abilities. As we change and rid ourselves of the acquired trash in
our minds, and begin to see our basic potentials, each person should
find what he can do well and use that ability to teach living beings
to awaken, to cease doing evil, and to turn toward good. The more we
practice, the more we are able to understand what must be done to
turn back the disasters, which we and our "progress" have made for
ourselves. Each must apply effort in his own way, to rid himself of
faults and channel his energies to showing others how to do the same.
In general we must all realize that our past
doings have often been motivated by other than pure principle. We
must all, young and old, statesman and citizen, renounce what is
unprincipled and apply the true principles of human life to society.
Take all countries as brothers and establish
virtue. Establish a model for all under heaven. Our reforms cannot
be one-sided political changes. We cannot represent parties and
factions, and sects and divisions can no longer exist. All countries
are our brothers, all men and beasts are in the end born of the same
womb. Now it becomes ever more clear that, "No man is an island unto
himself." Once we have done the basic work, we may begin to remodel
our own lives as models of principle and reason for all to emulate.
This is called mercifully representing heaven in
widely transforming. Heaven is impartial, yet favors life. We
must act on the behalf of heaven and spread the principles of
kindness and compassion in the world.
With loyalty and filial piety, for the sake
of the country, teach the people. Loyalty and filial piety are basic
and fundamental virtues of mankind. We must use these teachings of
heaven and earth to establish society on a firm foundation.
The task, one no smaller than totally
transforming the entire world, seems hopeless to most. It is only in
this way, however, that we can turn back and avert the calamities,
which await us, calamities which, like flowers in a mirror, like the
moon in water, have no real substance but are only appearances. We
must avert the inevitable disasters even though we know them to be
unreal, simply because everyone takes appearances as reality.
Knowing the difficulty and the seeming contradiction, we nonetheless
must go forward, and the illusory "I" must stop the illusory
"disaster".
This is the theme of this book and the heart of
the Great Vehicle. |
