Dharma Day

Today marks the first full moon since the summer solstice (I like to notice these things). The full moon of July is marked in some places as Dharma Day, the day to celebrate the buddha-dharma.

As I've noted here before, buddha-dharma has four meanings:

1. The teachings which show us the reality,
2. The existence or things, as in “the myriad dharmas,” “the 10,000 things,”
3. The law or morals which form the way of life in accordance with that reality or teaching, and
4. The truth or reality to which the Buddha awakens.

These four meanings reflect the Four Phases of Buddhist philosophy:

The Relative - The Buddhist Truth as embodied in the Buddhist philosophical system (The specific teachings which show us the reality).

The Absolute - The Buddhist Truth as the external world, or nature (the existence or things, the myriad dharma).

The Practical - The Buddhist Truth as ethical or moral conduct as practiced in everyday life (The law or morals which form the way of life in accordance with that reality or teaching).

The Transcendent or Ultimate - The Buddhist Truth as the ineffable, the complicated, the balanced state of zazen, or reality itself (The truth or reality to which the Buddha awakens).

These are not four separate meanings, but closer to four separate properties, just like a physical object can simultaneously have separate properties of color, mass, shape, and location in space.

In discussing the precepts recently, Taiun Michael Elliston gave five separate lectures on five consecutive evenings on the Precepts as Perscription (The Relative), Precepts as Description (The Absolute), Precepts as Reality (The Concrete), Precepts as Action (The Communal), and Precepts as Freedom (The Spiritual). Similar concept, and I like the inclusion of The Concrete, but I would have called Precepts as Action "The Practical" and Precepts as Freedom "The Transcendent." But tomato, tomato (that actually doesn't work as well in writing as it does verbally).

But no matter. Right here, right now, today is Dharma Day, and you can choose to do with it what you will - practice zazen, read a sutra, provide commentary on the sutra, work on your koan. I chose to live the life my karma has lead me to: work during the day, participate in a neighborhood planning meeting in the evening, and blog about the wondrous and profound buddha-dharma between these two events.

Enjoy your day.