The Seventy-eighth of 108 Gates Of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

The Seventy-eighth Gate: Right action

Right action is a gate of Dharma illumination; for [with it] there is no karma and no retribution. (Nishijima/Cross)
Right action is a gate of realizing Dharma; it leads you to the other shore. (Tanahashi)

Gate Gatha:

May we, together with all buddhas;
Practice Right Action,
That we may cross to the other shore

Reflection Prompts:
1. What do you imagine A place with no karma or retribution to be?
2. Is that what we experience as enlightenment?
3. Write a new Capping Verse.

Capping Verse:

Walking on firm ground
We sink not
And leave no footprints

stlah
合掌,生開
gassho, Shokai
stlah
仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

[Choujou]

Reflection Prompts:
1. What do you imagine A place with no karma or retribution to be?
2. Is that what we experience as enlightenment?
3. Write a new Capping Verse.

1. Nirvana, the other shore. When one realizes that all is empty… no actions, no karma, no retribution…

2. Yes, beyond any and all division, cause and effect…and yet “one” with all of it…

3. When a Buddha,
one does
as a Buddha does

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Furyu]

Hello folks! I was away most of the week. I'll jump back in...

I understand a lot of this in light of our perception of things. Of course our actions and thoughts have consequences. One thing flows into another. But the construct of 'karma' and the idea of 'retribution' are things that are created between our ears. Karma and retribution only exist when there is a self to pin it to, or a self that projects its own concepts onto reality. When we act from right intention into what we see as right action in the moment, even if those actions flow into unintended consequences and return to haunt us, there is no need to see it as punishment, which is another construct. One thing flows into another. When everything just flows, there is no karma or retribution. That is, those concepts need not be projected onto the situation. Is that the view from the 'other shore' ? Maybe, sure, I don't know.

PS- If karma is seen as the flow of cause and effect, then in a sense, preceiving that effortless flowing is the same as neutralizing it. No need for us to add distinctions of good or bad.

walking, the mud clings to my shoes
sitting, the mud drops off my mind
no footprints between the ears

Gassho
Furyu
sat/lah