From Chapter 31 of Each Moment is the Universe by Dainin Katagiri
“A being is an event in time and
space. All beings interconnect with each
other in emptiness. Then, according to
causes and conditions, something happens and many elements come together to
form a being. In terms of origination, samskara becomes bhava. That is
interdependent co-origination, or pratitya-samutpada. In Sanskrit, pratitya means “dependently”, sam
means “together”, and utpada is “to
originate or occur”. So it means
“originating dependent on conditions”.
In terms of destruction, bhava
becomes samskara. All sentient beings return to emptiness and
are interconnected in peace and harmony.
Then all sentient beings become the next moment of existence and there
is change.
“From moment to moment your individual life
is constantly created anew. So don’t
accept the idea that there is a certain unchangeable life pattern controlled by
something or someone. Buddhism teaches
how your life is going through the past, present, and future. Watch your life carefully. In daily living your past life comes up like
a jack-in-the-box. Pop! You don’t feel good,
but this is okay. You still have the
freedom to make a choice of how to manifest your life now. Then your actions in the present create
causes and conditions for your life in the future.
“Strictly speaking, karma is at the basis
of human life. But it is not inside
life; it is not outside life. No matter
how long your try to peel the skin, take out the bones, and peek into the
marrow, you cannot find something called karma.
You cannot find anything at all.
“So how can you know karma? We don’t know how to know karma, but karma is
closely related to the human world through your body and mind. That is the whole body and mind, connected
with consciousness, name and form, six sense consciousnesses, contact, feeling,
craving, grasping, and being. Through
your human body and mind you can know what karma is, what the basis of human
existence is. That means stand up in
your life, calm your body and mind, and just be present right now, right
here. Do zazen, and then you can
understand. There is really no other
better way, because karma is not something you can fully understand
intellectually.
“Karma is nothing but energy, the
mainspring of creating vitality. If you
see this original nature of karma, if you really understand this, that is
called freedom. Freedom means that in the
next moment you can manifest your life in a new way.”
