What is Dharma? And, Dharma from the Oak Tree

from Being Peace, speeches from Tich Nhat Hanh

One day a monk came to Tue Trung, the most illustrious teacher of Buddhism in Vietnam in the 13th century, a time when Buddhism was flourishing in Vietnam. The monk asked him, "What is the pure, immaculate Dharmakaya?", and Tue Trung pointed to the excrement of a horse. This was an irreverent approach to Dharmakaya, because people were using the word immaculate, pure, that does not mean it is separate from things that are impure. Reality, ultimate reality, is free from all adjectives, either pure or impure. So his response was to shake up the mind of the monk, for him to cleanse himself of all these adjectives in order to see into the nature of the Dharmakaya.

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Dharmakaya is not just expressed in words, in sounds. It can express itself in just being. Sometimes if we don't do anything, we help more than if we do a lot. We call that non-action. It is like the calm person on a small boat in a storm. That person does not have to do much, just to be himself and the situation can change. That is also an aspect of Dharmakaya: not talking, not teaching, just being.
This is true not only of humans, but other species as well. Look at the trees in our yard. An oak tree is an oak tree. That is all it has to do. If an oak tree is less than an oak tree, then we are all in trouble.
Therefore, the oak tree is preaching Dharma. Without doing anything, not serving in the School of Youth for Social Service, not preaching, not even sitting in meditation, the oak tree is very helpful to all of us just by being there. Every time we look at the oak tree we have confidence. During the summer we sit under it and we feel cool, relaxed. We know that if the oak tree is not there, and all the other trees are not there, we will not have good air to breathe.
We also know that in our former lives we were trees. Maybe we have been an oak tree ourselves. This is not just Buddhist; this is scientific. The human species is a very young species- we appeared on the earth only recently. Before that, we were rock, we were gas, we were minerals, and then we were single-celled beings. We were plants, we were trees, and now we have become humans. We have to recall our past existences. This is not difficult. You just sit down and breathe and look, and you can see your past existences. When we shout at the oak tree, the oak tree is not offended. When we praise the oak tree, it doesn't raise its nose. We can learn the Dharma form the oak tree; therefore, the oak tree is part of our Dharmakaya. We can learn from everything that is around, that is in us. Even if we are not at a meditation center, we can still practice at home, because around us the Dharma is present. Everything is preaching the Dharma. Each pebble, each leaf, each flower is preaching the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra.

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Thanks, I like those examples.

I really like the example with the calm person on a boat. This is very true. Especially advanced souls can make an impact on others and their behaviour just by what they radiate from within. But all of us can do that to some degree, when we are at peace with the world and with ourselves.

We often think that we need to take action in order to help and to have an influence on the world and on others. But in many everyday situations (while we can't do anything else actively) it's enough to just be there and to find our inner balance. This will have a positive effect on those around us as well and may improve the whole situation. Oftentimes we won't even notice. In our everyday life here on earth and in our modern competitive society most people underestimate such effects and quickly think that non-action is pointless and that they are not doing enough in life. But on the soul level this counts just as much as "doing something".

cloud potato said:

from Being Peace, speeches from Tich Nhat Hanh

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cloud,

Well I will give this a shot because the meaning of Dharma depends upon the circumstances and whom it relates to. Plus it may have changed over the years.

However as I understand it... In most eastern religions dharma signifies behaviors that are considered to be in accords with the universal laws of the cosmos. This may include right duties, actions, right thoughts, emotions or emotional intent, laws, ones conduct, virtues and "right way of living. In Buddhism dharma means " cosmic law and order", as applied to the teachings of Buddha. To sum it all up its the accumulation of ones good karma over many, many lifetimes which will eventually bring the soul to a spiritual teacher or master when it has reach a point where it is ready to start the path towards enlighten. Which is why many say that it is ones dharma that has brought to ones spiritual teacher.

For you see each lifetime we live we accumulated and burn off both good and bad karma as well as create new karma during the process. As the bad karma is worked out, it is usually replaced with good karma. The soul can then use this good karma in many different ways much like a bank account. How you use it is up to you. Most souls of a average soul evolution will use this good karma by having money, power, security, ect... in the next life. Others will use part or all of it in their heaven life in between incarnations. However there are a small few that will use their good karma to help speed up their spiritual evolution by taken on situations which most would not want to while incarnated in the physical world. So instead of comfort and wealth the soul will chose experiences that will help it evolve, mature and grow. This may be in the form of service to others, or working out karma on a mental or emotional level with individuals or groups.. It can also take on physical, emotional or mental handicaps which will effect not only themselves but those around them. What happens over time is the soul will accumulate far more good karma then bad in which case it will be ready to use that good karma to make a connection to a spiritual teacher or master when it is ready to start to cycle off the wheel of birth and death within the lower worlds of duality.

In time the seeker will become the knower and later will become the master. Which will in turn aid and helps others along the way if that soul chooses to come back into the physical world.

I hope this will help some. At least this is what I have come to know about the subject.

Peace and love always.

P.

Polaris, thank you for this lovely introspection. You are a kind friend.
From the words of my teacher,

There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all Souls, Who constantly leads His followers towards the light.

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A teacher manifest makes a great sacrifice, he/she is a form of devotion. Yet it is true that every form has something to offer, whether a person be considered wise or foolish. This world of duality is confusing and a perfect example of how easy it is to be seduced and then drowned by structures that are all temporary. I believe then I have taken a very specific path in order to assimilate and mature. What I'm proposing, is there is no good or bad. What one has originally defined as bad may later become good, or vice versa. Instead it is better to contemplate on that which compels you to live beautifully. This might be considered Dharma. Even so, the original post with the Sage's advice shows us, to use any adjective is considered an illusion. If horse sh*t is Dharma then, our existence- whether we act out what is good karma or what is bad karma, is all Dharma.