The Sixty-second of 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

The Sixty-second Gate: The Faculty of Wisdom

The faculty of wisdom* is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] we really see all dharmas. (Nishijima/Cross)
The root of wisdom is a gate of realizing dharma; it sees all things as they are. (Tanahashi)

*[Wisdom: mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment]

Gate Gatha:

May we, together with all buddhas;
Develop wisdom in our practice.
That we may really see all dharmas 'as they are.'

Reflection Prompts:
1. How do the faculty or Root of Wisdom lead us to see all things as they are?
2. Write a new Gate Gatha.
3. Comment on the Capping Verse?

Capping Verse:

With eyes free of dust
All things true
Come into focus

gassho, Shokai
stlah

[Tairin]

With eyes free of dust
All things true
Come into focus

How often is it the case that we don’t truly see things as they are? It seems that our vision of “true” is often clouded by our perspectives and our positionality.

The mind is the bodhi tree
the body is the mirror's stand
the mirror itself is so clean
dust has no place to land.

Tairin
sat today and lah.

[Choujou]

Reflection Prompts:
1. How do the faculty or Root of Wisdom lead us to see all things as they are?
2. Write a new Gate Gatha.
3. Comment on the Capping Verse?

1. Prajna, or wisdom, is cultivated through practice. Through practice and the developing prajna do we see things as they truly are, “far beyond all delusion, nirvana is already here…”. Wisdom comes when we drop all notions of this or that, all distinctions, and this is when we see things as they truly are.

2. May we, together with all buddhas;
Practice wholeheartedly with equanimity
And wisely see all as it truly is

3. what dust is there to gather on the eyes?

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today