Kusen given during the 2013 summer camp - Wednesday, August 7, 11 h

So, the karma to practise the Way increases each time you practice, and at the same time the bad karma of previous lives decreases every time you practice, obviously, if you practice in a pure spirit. Now that you know the karma of the three times, you don't know, however, the root of karma yet. The karma has good and bad consequences. There are different categories, like a regular karma or the karma of a saint. There are karmic results such as the three kingdoms, the six destinations, the four types of birth, and the nine existences.

The karma is born from the illusion, and the illusion, in particular, is to hate or desire what shouldn't be hated or desired; to affirm or deny what shouldn't be affirmed or denied. The illusion is to believe yang that which is not yang, or to believe yin that which is not yin. The illusion is to constantly stand out from the others. Non-illumination means not knowing your true origin, not knowing the place of birth of the myriad of things. The lack of wisdom in any situation is also called the non-enlightenment.

The spirit of zazen, of the true zazen with no object, in the correct posture, without thoughts, originally pure, free from the influences of the social world, not spoiled by other conditions. On the contrary, it purifies the consciousness and the karma. So the thought during zazen transforms the spirit, even if this is not aware of it.

The transformation of this spirit, when it descends from the samadhi to the ordinary human consciousness, is called the consciousness of non-illumination. When one becomes aware of this non-illumination, the spirit of the observer watches this ordinary world, but it knows that this ordinary world is originally pure, it knows that the very nature of this ordinary world is bright and spiritual.

If you practice this way, with no category of good, of bad, then the non-illumination is destroyed.

It is also helping others, it is jumping into samsara to help others and oneself, it is destroying the twelve conditions of interdependence, in that moment they are seen as empty and illusory. The four kinds of birth, the six destinations, are forgotten in one fell swoop, because compassion appears, because we know that everybody's original spirit is like this. There are no distinctions, there are no generations and, finally, there is no extintion -ever- of this original spirit.

As a result there are no acts, there is no hatred or envy or growth or decay, there is nothing but a great silence, a great intelligence.

I advise you, said the master, to experience the original spirit. You'll get rid of thousands of issues, and the serenity of many conditions, without judging the good, the bad, free from yourself and from others. Just lower your sight at 45 degrees towards the ground and watch the original spirit. You'll become calm, you'll see the unique spirit; all the characteristics of things will be exhausted, the root of ignorance will be destroyed, the branches, the leaves of karma will be destroyed and its results will no longer exist. 

Later, the nineteenth Patriarch told his disciple:

«Even if you have faith in the karma of the three times as I have taught you, you have not yet quite understood that karma is produced from illusion, illusion exists as a result of consciousness, and consciousness comes from ignorance, ignorance results from the spirit, and the spirit is originally pure, without beginning or end. No action or effort, no merit, no karmic retribution, no superiority or inferiority, just clam, very aware and very clear.

If you accept this teaching, I will give you the shiho and you will be similar to the Buddhas, you will understand that all good and evil is like a dream, a fantasy, a ghost.»

On hearing this, the disciple understood the deep meaning of these words and awoke the wisdom that he had always owned.

The spirit is originally pure, without begining or end, simply calm, very conscious and very clear.

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The monk without homeDiscover the inalienable life Which is without going and coming, That is the practice of the Way. Then you will reach the true vision And your ego will not be a transitory self But an eternal self. As long as we do not wake up to that, It is useless to be born in this world.

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