Wild Fox Zen
Raymond asked in his comment for a recent post, “How can we be something other than our past karma without stepping too far back from the world and losing our own spontaneous expression of self?”
“Karma” is the fruit of volitional action from the past arriving now. As such, it is the whole universe coming together as my dog Bodhi nuzzling my shoulder as I type. That’s easy to receive.
But the consequences of the beginningless swirl of greed, hate, and delusion presenting now as a painful psychological pattern or an awareness of how our karmic predispositions have warped our life sticks in the craw. The same holds for the patterns and the life of our society, manifesting in the life of a homeless child, for example, abandoned by his mother, chemically dependent and suicidal at 15.
It sticks in the craw and yet here it is. This incredible practice is to open to it all again and again.
Sometimes it seems most clear in the dark of the night in my little zendo, candle burning, seemingly square in the middle of the whole suffering, swirling world that we’re all in together, energetically creating a wondrous and horrific mess.
It’s all empty, of course, but that doesn’t remove an iota from the truth of karma or suffering. And using the thought that “it’s all empty” to stay stuck in the moon palace just delays the full pain from breaking through.
“Empty” means that it is us.
Here’s the traditional verse for Formless Atonement. It is the call of radical responsibility and the work of moving toward radical responsibility.
All the karma ever created by me since of old
through beginningless greed, hate, and delusion
born of my body, speech and mind
I now fully and openly atone with it all.
To fully embody the verse, try doing a full bow during the last line.
Warm regards,
Dosho
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