Pine
Cone Dharma
by Hong Guoshun
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Tonight we have
started listening to Venerable Master's commentary on the fifth chapter
of the Dharma Flower Sutra, "Medicinal Herbs." This has always
been my favorite chapter in that Sutra, a beautiful and profoundly moving
analogy. Today was also the last day of our DRBU (Dharma Realm Buddhist
University) biology class on the trees and shrubs of Mendocino county.
Interesting coincidence, but then the Dharma often works in this way.
So tonight I'll try to speak some Dharma concerning pine cones. This here
is a pine cone from right here in the CTTB (City of Ten Thousand Buddhas):
it is rather large, halfway opened, and very pretty. In the Sutra text
the Buddha mentions the three-thousand great-thousand world system. This
is a huge concept, and I don't know if our minds can really grapple with
the whole idea. But as the Venerable Master always said, the myriad dharmas
can just as well be considered in terms of a single dharma. So we don't
necessarily need to investigate the whole universe. We can focus just
on Mendocino County, or Ukiah Valley, or our environment here at CTTB. We are all aware
that here in the City we have a complex mix of people, languages, and
cultural backgrounds. But in addition to people we also have an impressive
variety of other life forms: trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers--all kinds
of plants from all over the world, coming from places as far apart as
the Far East and the Mediterranean, Norway and North Africa. The variety
of these plants is just as amazing as the variety of living beings, and
the variety of Dharma doors the Buddha has provided for them. The sun
and rain benefit every sort of plant according to its kind: from the dry,
low-growing chaparral high on the eastern hills to the humid evergreen
forests of the coast in the west, every species gets just its right share,
just what it needs to grow. Similarly the Buddha provides 84,000 Dharma
doors to bring living beings to maturity. The rain of Dharma nourishes
living beings according to their roots and capacity, ignoring none, neglecting
none. What does this pine
cone contain? Seeds. These seeds can be likened to the seeds of the Buddha
nature inside of us, inside all living beings. These seeds need to come
out, to be planted in the soil, to be nurtured so that they can grow strong
and healthy. Plants have very ingenious and complex ways to transport
and plant their seeds. Some seeds have tiny wings to propel them, others
have hairy tails, still others have spiny burrs or tough nut cases to
protect them while the seed waits for the right time, for the conditions
to ripen. Often it is not a simple or easy matter for the seed to come
out and be planted--it may take a great deal of time. The cones of some
trees, especially cypress cones, take several years to open. Nuts of other
trees may wait in the ground for years before the seed starts to grow.
This is a real lesson in patience for us humans. In our cultivation
we, too, may experience times of waiting, great tests of patience, when
nothing much seems to be happening. One may feel like one was stranded
on a high desert plateau, engulfed by monotony. With nothing behind us
and nothing to look forward to, one wanders as if lost in a wasteland,
where all conditions seem inimical to life. One's mind may feel totally
parched and arid, totally unable to grow in any direction. The only thing
one is able to do is to wait it out, endure the adverse states, and patiently
wait for the Dharma rain to rejuvenate the stunted desert vegetation,
to moisten one's mind. Some seeds even seem
to resist opening. Some nuts, like those of the black walnut, are incredibly
hard. You need to hammer them in order to break the nut case, to get to
the part that is sweet and delicious. Similarly, as Buddhist disciples
we may be tough nuts to crack: stubborn, opinionated, clinging to our
narrow views and bad habits. These kinds of disciples may need hammering,
seemingly tough treatment, before their own best qualities emerge from
under the tough casing of ingrained habits and faults. But inside it all
is the seed that contains all the wonderful potential of growth towards
Buddhahood. Other seeds need
a forest fire in order to be planted. The knobcone pine grows in the chaparral,
and its cones need to be consumed in a brush fire to open up and release
their seeds. A widespread brush fire like the one we had on the hills
earlier this month is an impressive, even frightening, sight, and it may
be hard to believe that new life and growth can result from this vast
destruction. As Buddhist disciples we, too, may sometimes have to pass
through ordeals by fire. We may have to suffer intensely, even die to
our old selves. There doesn't seem to be any reason why anyone should
suffer so much, yet, if we can pass the test, the resulting fruit will
be rare and wonderful. Still, in nature
many seeds or seedlings don't make it. Unlike the Buddha nature which
is indestructible, plant seeds are perishable. But in nature nothing gets
wasted purposelessly. These seeds don't benefit themselves or their species;
instead they give up their life to nourish other living beings, other
species. The seeds and plants consumed by other species become "gifts
to the food chain"--such is the dana paramita [Perfection of Giving]
of the plant world. All human and animal life on this planet is sustained
by plants, by the vegetation covering this globe. Thus our human life
and our possibility to cultivate is supported by the plant world and its
Perfection of Giving. |
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