Partial Transitions

So, after nigh on a week of driving, hiking, and camping--with a brief hotel stay in Santa Fe--my brother and I made it to Flagstaff. On the way, we camped in a public park in Tribune, Kansas; Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado (followed by Santa Fe); and then two nights in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. We planned on staying at Comanche State Prairie Reserve (or something like that) in Southeast Colorado the first night, but didn't make it there in time. As I told my brother Friday night, had I told myself how much I would enjoy the trip, I would not have believed myself. Though it is true, it may be in part due to how I hedge my bets. Either way, it was pretty spectacular. Now I have some adequate camping gear to use in the beautiful areas around Flagstaff.

This whole trip I have been distracted or contemplating the primal elements of earth, fire, wind, and water. Lines from the Mountains and Waters Sutra have haunted me. Here is an excerpt and a link:

Some beings see water as a jeweled ornament, but they do not regard jeweled ornaments as water. What in the human realm corresponds to their water? We only see their jeweled ornaments as water. Some beings see water as wondrous blossoms, but they do not use blossoms as water. Hungry ghosts see water as raging fire or pus and blood. Dragons see water as a palace or a pavilion. Some beings see water as the seven treasures or a wish-granting jewel. Some beings see water as a forest or a wall. Some see it as the Dharma nature of pure liberation, the true human body, or as the form of body and essence of mind. Human beings see water as water. Water is seen as dead or alive depending on causes and conditions. Thus the views of all beings are not the same. You should question this matter now.

I have witnessed so many instances of wood being water, earth being fire or water, water being fire, and so on. At first, it felt like a pleasant meditation, but the more it occurred the more I felt drawn to the challenge of "Dragons [that] see water as a palace or a pavilion." In a way, though, challenge is completely inappropriate a term; what it felt more accurately was simply seeing that these were not distinct things.

Over the next few days, I plan on writing brief essays about my stay in each place, the recollections of those places, and reflections on my journal entries I made. The exploration, confusion, excitement, joy, distress, doubt, and accomplishment I felt were often with me. I will post photographs with those posts when the time comes. At the moment, I have more housekeeping to accomplish and wish to leave you with this:


Sunset, Petrified Forest, 12 August 2010

Now when dragons and fish see water as a palace, it is just like human beings seeing a palace. They do not think it flows. If an outsider tells them, "What you see as a palace is running water," the dragons and fish will be astonished, just as we are when we hear the words, "Mountains flow." Nevertheless, there maybe some dragons and fish who understand that the columns and pillars of palaces and pavilions are flowing water. You should reflect and consider the meaning of this. If you do not learn to be free from your superficial views, you will not be free from the body and mind of an ordinary person. Then you will not understand the land of Buddha ancestors, or even the land or the palace of ordinary people. Now human beings well know as water what is in the ocean and what is in the river, but they do not know what dragons and fish see as water and use as water. Do not foolishly suppose that what we see as water is used as water by all other beings. Do not foolishly suppose that what we see as water is used as water by all other beings. You who study with Buddhas should not be limited to human views when you are studying water. You should study how you view the water used by Buddha ancestors. You should study whether there is water or no water in the house of Buddha ancestors.

~Mountains and Waters Sutra, Eihei Dogen, part 16