Personal Reflections on the Kakisage
The Kakisage is often spoken of as being the tenth Besseki Lecture. After a period of preparation, recipients of the Kakisage, having just been granted the truth of the Sazuke, are advised to read daily and ponder its intended meaning. My own ponderings change day by day, according to the state and truth of my mind at any given time. Upon reflection I find that my thoughts and ponderings change, not only day to day but moment to moment. In that regard I will attempt to be guided in my ponderings by the two poems from the Ofudesaki appearing below.
From now on I shall speak in the metaphor of water.
Be enlightened by the word clear and muddy.
Ponder this: no matter how clear the water may be,
if you put
mud into it, it will become muddy.
"I shall not tell you anything difficult, I shall not tell you, nor can I tell you, to do this or that. If you should understand the truth that I do not tell and cannot tell, all truths will become clear."
I of course don't know what context this pronouncement is ordinarily understood as functioning within, but in my own case this is viewed as fundamental to my understanding of the original intention in the creation of human beings. I now understand that original intention as being the creation of human beings, as individual self-centered imaginations; each one being able to live joyously in free play among the free and unlimited workings of God's single mind and body.
That God will not, nor cannot tell us what to do, relates to the intention of creating a human self-centered imagination capable of engaging in joyous free play. To intervene in that free play would be contrary to that original intention. Instead of telling us what do, the one truth, the original parental mind instantly supports whatever free use of our self-centered imagination we choose. Like a "mirror" our original parental mind instantly reflects whatever is held up to it.
That it is not difficult flows from the truth that the one truth is always there. It is just taken for granted and hidden under a pile of ideas of self and the world. To know the one truth is to reveal it. It is not an idea but the source of all ideas. It's simple but we like to use our rather marvelous imaginations and create ideas to seriously complicate revealing it.
The creation process continues as the human self-centered imagination, in its infancy, has in many instances unintentionally turned the joyous play in the playground of free and unlimited workings, into a place of fear and suffering. At the root of that fear and suffering, the role of unintended "bottomless greed" is often identified either for what it is, or as incredibly, a virtue. Because of that unintended outcome of our free use of mind, our original parent hastens the return of the human mind so that it can be repaired and made ready for its originally intended use as and instrument of joy for all equally.
Two causes of that fear and suffering come to mind. First is the presence of "playground bullies": they are self-centered imaginations that have been taken over by bottomless greed. Second is the propensity of everyone else in the playground to be easy targets for having their imaginations taken over, because they are unable to distinguish between the original truth and intention of their creation and the kinds of truths of the world that only exist as creations of the human imagination. That case is often spoken of as being unable to distinguish good from evil, both of which our self-centered imaginations are free to engage in as our original Parental mind does not discriminate and makes all of our actions and their consequences thrive.
It is to maintain our free play and independent action then, that we are asked to consent to voluntarily and temporarily totally calm, clear and return our self-imaginations to their original condition; the way we all were when we were born and were still unconditioned by imagined truths of the world that lacked the truth of their origin. In that way repairing and replacing the unintended contaminations of our experience of life by fear and suffering with the intended experience of free play and joyous life.