March 2017, Issue 67

“ Without expressing a vision, there are no Buddhas, and without being within a vision, the Buddhas do not emerge into the world to turn the wondrous Wheel of the Dharma... When you explore through your training what not vilifying the Buddha’s Dharma means, the present words of the Tathagata will come forth.”

—Dogen Zenji, Muchu Setsumu: Within a Dream Expressing the Dream

This issue introduces the theme Dreams and Visions, with a focus on purity, or practice. In it, we celebrate the expression of Ekai Osho’s dream: the creation of a new Zendo for the practice and teaching of Zen Buddhism in Melbourne.

It is interesting to me that the land on which we are practising as a community has been home for tens of thousands of years to a people whose spirituality revolves around ‘The Dreaming’. Such Arrernte – Central Australian Aboriginal – words as Altjiranga Ngambakala,

Altji Rarma, or Altjira, have been respectively translated as ‘having originated out of one’s own eternity’, ‘to see or dream eternal things’ and ‘to see the law’.

In the Dharma Talk presented here, Ekai Osho speaks of the Buddha’s great awakening under the Bodhi tree as a waking up to the great Dream of reality, and of the necessity to cultivate a vision for our life that transcends our ordinary perception of time. To live with value in the phenomenal world, we must find our dream, and within Ekai Osho’s and the Buddha’s Vision, we can begin to express it, giving it life through practice.

This issue, we say farewell to Darren Chaitman. He is taking a backwards step away from his role in production, and over the past several weeks has been passing on his knowledge, training Ren Jin, whose participation we welcome. It has been a pleasure working with Darren, who has played a pivotal role in creating the current look of Myoju, and has taught me more than I can say.

Dan Carter

On behalf of Ekai Korematsu Osho—Editor

and the Jikishoan Publications Committee

Read this Myoju (file on Google Drive)