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The sound of one hand clapping

Positive effects of the financial crisis

The financial crisis, which started from the United States of America and spilled over the whole world, seem to have already become the Great Depression. Financial ministers from various countries have been meeting in Washington, Paris, Geneva, Beijing and Sao Paulo etc. and have made a concerted effort to overcome the crisis. The financial crisis seem to not only have a negative effect of causing the world economy meltdown, but also a positive effect of accelerating the borderless worldwide cooperation. If this is so, a time is coming earlier than our expectation when the nations will become one world transcending the Senkaku(Diaoyu)-islands, Takeshima(Dokdo)-island and Palestine issues etc.

Which voice to listen to, the flesh or the spirit?

Jesus, who had withdrawed to the Mount of Olives after visiting the temple in Jerusalem at the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, appeared again in the temple courts at early the next morning, and said to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees following;

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

"You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

"I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!"

I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.(John 8)

Original Sin and the Power of the Primal Vow

Jesus might have taught us; "You cannot hear what God says or understand what I teach as far as you are of this world. You have to go back to your intrinsic nature before Abraham was born, so that you can see the truth. You are unable to hear his voice unless you die once and be born again to discard your stank pride and arrogance as Abraham's descendants."

These words, which Jesus spoke in the temple, are all based on the Old Testament and have shown us that the entire world is guilty before God under the Mosaic Law and that the purpose for Jesus to appear in this world is to use the power of the prayers of those whom have the same faith as him to let grass, trees and the domains of all living things, all attain buddhahood. Paul explained these things in his letter to the believers in Rome.

Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say," No one is righteous— not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one." "Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies." "Snake venom drips from their lips." "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "They rush to commit murder. Destruction and misery always follow them. They don't know where to find peace." "They have no fear of God at all." Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.(Romans 3: 9-22)

The unity of spirit and flesh

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (Romans 8:14-24)

Dharmas (phenomena) are born of causes and conditions

Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1769 or 1685-1768), who is known as the ancestor who rejuvenated the Rinzai school in Japanese Zen Buddhism, taught us "Two hands clap and there is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?"

When you clap with both your hands, a sound comes out. However the sound vanishes in the twinkling of an eye and so does everything in this world. If you are seized by a phenomenon, which is a result of different factors and terms, which changes constantly or die out immediately, you are unable to see the truth. Only the one who can hear a sound before two hands clap, in other words who faces his intrinsic nature before his parents were born, can see the truth.

There was a teashop infront of the temple where Hakuin lived. The old landlady of the shop named Osan insinuated itinerant priests, who concentrated on the koan (subject which Zen-masters give each religious to learn and practice the doctrine of Buddhism) of "the sound of one hand clapping" during meditation in the temple, and said "Sell the goods by clapping both your hands rather than trying to hear the sound of one hand". When Hakuin learned of this, he said "If your business goes through by clapping your hands, you need not hear the sound of one hand."

The discernment of the landlady, who proclaimed that doing one's business to get along in this world is the way for a single leap's entry to the kingdom of god, is incisive. Naagaarjuna (150?-250?) described this theory in his book called "The Treatise on the Middle Way" and stated: "Dharmas (phenomena) are born of causes and conditions. I say they are thus empty. They are also called false and fictitious, and that is also the truth of the Middle Way." We can also find this in the Heart Sutra as saying "Form (phenomenon) is emptiness, emptiness is also form. Emptiness is no other than form, form is no other than emptiness"

All dharmas are emptiness

However without the financial crisis, we have to work sleeplessly every day, becoming nervous, thinking, if my lifestyle is worthy or if God had sent me to do this kind of job. Therefore we meditate in temples or go to church.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."(John 8:31-32) Jesus might have taught us that one who keeps Jesus' teaching to take up his cross and follow Jesus, will know that his suffering in this world is a koan (discipline) given by God and resolving this koan is the divine mandate from Heaven. If you try hard to fulfill this mandate, you are the one who lives in heaven while staying in this world. (Eko-an Hensho-koji：2008/11/16)

Supplement: Jesus’ plan to be crucified

In the Gospel of John, Jesus often appears in the temple courts, and daringly debates on sensitive issues regarding Judaism with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He preached at the risk of his life so that one or two of them would attain enlightenment and succeed his divine mission.

His efforts bore fruit. We can perceive through the "Acts of the Apostles" that many of the Pharisees including Paul joined his church after he had been crucified.

The belief, that Jesus was crucified as the ram of God in order to compensate people's life of sin and raising from the dead, was given form by these Pharisees, especially reformists influenced by John the Baptist. As the genesis of this belief is that John predicted Jesus would be crucified as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. It is not clear whether John actually named Jesus or just predicted the Messiah's arrival. However Jesus was sure that he was the Messiah and taught his disciples to follow him as Messiah or to have the same level of vocation as he had.(For example "the Sermon on the Mount")

The twelve Apostles, except Judas and John, oppose Jesus’ plan

Many people were involved with various persuasions or expectations in Jesus’ plan to be crucified as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. However it seems that the twelve Apostles were less involved in this plan. Jesus revealed his plan openly to his disciples only at the Last Supper, except for Judas Iscariot who is said to betray him, and the youngest of the twelve, John, whom Jesus loved. These two seemed to be informed of the plan earlier. One of the twelve, likely John himself, was acquainted with Caiaphas the high priest. He crept into the high priest's courtyard with Simon Peter when Jesus was arrested according to The Gospel of John.

The high priest and some of the Pharisees support the plan

Caiaphas said "You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish," when the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and discussed how to deal with Jesus.(John 11:49-50) From this we can see that the head of the Jewish religion supported Jesuas's plan. Furthermore both Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who asked the Roman governor Pilate for the body of Jesus, were members of the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees too.

On the Thursday, two days before Passover feast, Jesus went to an olive grove outside of Jerusalem city with his disciples after the Last Supper. At once Temple guards guided by Judas came to the grove, and seized him. It seems that Jesus indicated Judas where he would be arrested. After this, Jesus was sent to the former high priest Annas first, then to the present high priest Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, and finally to Pilate's palace and was crucified at about noon of the Friday.

Roman Governor Pilate supports too?

When Jesus gasped his life away, Joseph immediately asked Pilate for his body and Pilate allowed right away. Joseph and Nicodemus had to bury the body before sunset of the Friday before the Sabbath under the Jewish law. The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals who had been crucified with Jesus, because they were still alive. However they did not do so for Jesus.

Taken up into the sky forty days after the crucifixion

Early on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the body of Jesus. However Jesus showed himself to his disciples later and stayed with them over a period of forty days before he was taken up into the sky again according to Acts of the Apostles. Then what John the Baptist prophesied was fulfilled: Jesus would be crucified as a sacrifice for Passover.

Strife and settlement between the group involved in Jesus' plan, and his personal pupil

However fierce strife arose, between the group of Pharisees who were involved in Jesus' plan to be crucified, and Jesus' personal pupil leaded by the twelve disciples. "Paul's conversion" can be explained as an episode symbolizing the reconciliation of the two parties. After the reconciliation, Paul not only led the unified religion to evangelize but also guided them to construct their creed. He transformed christianity from a religion to relieve Israel into the one to save the world.

He said in the chapter one of "Paul's Epistle to the Romans": "Through Christ, God has given us the authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him."(NLT Roma1:5)

Practice sect and atonement sect

However after the reconciliation, the two parties might have occasionally showed hostility to each other. Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, once went to evangelise with Paul. But he decided to choose a different way from Paul's, after conflicting each other. And the two were said not to associate any more in their missionary activities. In contrast, Paul's teaching seems to have commonalities with the Gospel of John, which carries Jesus' atonement and restoration as core creeds and differs from the other three Gospels-Matthew, Mark and Luke-.(2008/12/15)