{"id":400,"date":"2009-02-04T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-04T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom\/"},"modified":"2009-02-04T17:40:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-04T17:40:00","slug":"karma-and-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html","title":{"rendered":"Karma and Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Raymond asked in his comment for a recent post, \u201cHow 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?\u201d<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cKarma\u201d 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\u2019s easy to receive.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
It sticks in the craw and yet here it is. This incredible practice is to open to it all again and again.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u2019re all in together, energetically creating a wondrous and horrific mess.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
It\u2019s all empty, of course, but that doesn\u2019t remove an iota from the truth of karma or suffering. And using the thought that \u201cit\u2019s all empty\u201d to stay stuck in the moon palace just delays the full pain from breaking through.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cEmpty\u201d means that it is us.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Here\u2019s the traditional verse for Formless Atonement. It is the call of radical responsibility and the work of moving toward radical responsibility.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

All the karma ever created by me since of old<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

through beginningless greed, hate, and delusion<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
born of my body, speech and mind<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I now fully and openly atone with it all.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
To fully embody the verse, try doing a full bow during the last line.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Warm regards,<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dosho<\/span><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raymond asked in his comment for a recent post, \u201cHow 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?\u201d \u201cKarma\u201d is the fruit of volitional action from the past arriving now. As such, it is the whole universe coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nKarma and Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Karma and Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild Fox Zen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dosho.port\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-04T17:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_0uPSljNE9f4\/SYouvtHnf7I\/AAAAAAAAAQ8\/h7UYFg2sAiE\/s320\/101_0416.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dosho Port\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html\",\"name\":\"Karma and Freedom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-04T17:40:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-02-04T17:40:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2009\/02\/karma-and-freedom.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Karma and Freedom\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/\",\"name\":\"Wild Fox Zen\",\"description\":\"Living the Dream\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/45224391b7690e99673782337bd0eabd\",\"name\":\"Dosho Port\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b9712e98924dea6c08d55890403352f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dosho Port\"},\"description\":\"Dosho Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teachers with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach, with the Vine of Obstacles Zen. 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