Mar 31, 2023 - Refuge Body

Namu Butsu, I take refuge in Buddha.

Taking refuge in Buddha means taking refuge in mirror mind right here, right now. What is mirror mind? One side of the mirror is the world, and the other side is me perceiving it. Who am I, who is this perceiving it? Everything I have known or will ever know about the world arises through this “I” and yet the world is definetly not limited to my own limited perception. Still, I can only truly rely on what I know, and from what I can see there can be no world without my awareness of it. Both me and the world rise and fall together an opposite sides of the mirror.

What is this mirror? The mirror is Butsu mind. Taking refuge in Buddha mind means resting in my own perception right here and now, whatever is rising, whatever is falling. Just look into the mirror and see what’s here. Oh look, 10,000 things! And 10,000 things to do. I take refuge in each of these 10,000 dharmas, one at a time as they slowly come forward. Meeting a dharma completely means letting it fill my body and mind, but particularly my body.

This body is the doorway to contact with Buddha, this body is Buddha expressing itself. Losing contact with my body I lose conscious contact with Buddha, but even though I’m no longer aware of it my body is. All kinds of problems arise, but just settling back into the sensation of living is all that’s needed.

I take refuge in my small body right here and now, the doorway to Universe body, and 10,000 things greet me, not by saying hello, just by being exactly what they are. That is saying hello.

This is a useful inquiry: when am I contact with my body, and when am I not?