The First Case

When you see smoke on the other side of the mountain, you know there is fire, even though you haven't seen it. When you see headlight beams in advance of a curve in the road, you know there's an oncoming car, even though you haven't seen it yet.

We can't "see" the future, but we can see the signs of arising conditions. However, our minds are often confused and stuck to perceptions that are different from reality. If we can clear our minds of these pre-conceptions, we would be able to better perceive these arising conditions for what they are, not what our minds project them to be.

Zazen is the practice to clear our minds. Zazen is the practice to directly see arising dharmas. Zazen is the practice that allows us to get the closest to "seeing" the "future."