2000-10-13 - 10:28 a.m.

This is a page from Zen Word, Zen Calligraphy by Eido Tai Shimano and Kogetsu Tani. The page is titled "Though the moon sets, it never leaves the universe."

"Sunrise, sunset. Moonrise, moonset. Every day we think that the moon literally disappears, but we know that it will come back again. When someone dies, it is thought that that person disappears, but it is impossible to disappear from endless dimension, universal world.

Obaku said: 'Mind is like a vast space in which there is no good or evil, as when the sun shines upon the four corners of the world. For when the sun rises and illuminates the whole earth, the vast space does not get brighter; and when the sun sets, the universe does not get dark. The phenomena of light and dark alternate with each other, but the nature of the universe is unchanged. The same is true with the Mind of the Buddha and of sentient beings.'"

Posted in remembrance of Helen Elizabeth Smith, 4 March 1942 - 8 October 2000.