proclaiming the dharma

In the poem SILENT ILLUMINATION, we have the following lines :

Throughout the universe, all things

Emit light and speak the Dharma.

They testify to each other,

Answering each other’s questions.

Mutually answering and testifying,

Responding in perfect harmony.

The Dharma is the truth, the ultimate realty, no separated self, oneness, interbeing as Thich Nhat Hanh named it. All things in the universe emit the light of being, they follow the law of impermanence, they appear and they vanish, they just are. What are their questions, what are our questions : who I am ? What am I doing here ? Where will I go ? Who can answer my questions ? All the existences answer each others ́s questions, mutually answering and testifying, how do they do this, what do they answer ? Their answer is that there is no separation. They are responding in perfect harmony, they don ́t discriminate you and me, question and answer, life and death, they just are. They emit light and speak the Dharma.

For us, speaking the Dharma is not that easy. Preparing a Dharmatalk I sit down, bring up and collect my thoughts concerning the topic which I want to clarify. Selection and discrimination starts. On top of that, the question may arise: am I speaking from my heart or am I just performing ? am I authentic, truthfull ? do I want to impress ? am I pretending ?

All existences in the universe, of which the poem speaks, are true, genuine, they are not fake, they radiate light, they are not divided into right and wrong. A leaf on a tree, a mountain, a cloud, a bird, they are real. The barking of a dog, the crying of a child, the roar of a lion, the muteness of a fish, what do we know about fishes, all of these radiate light and speak the Dharma.

Is it possible to express the Dharma within our minds through our ability to speak ? Can our mind, so attached to discriminative thinking, be transformed into a space that expresses the Dharma? Can our mind become enlightened and emit light ?

There is a Zen story on this subject.

As every evening, the monks gather in the temple's zendo to listen to their master's sermon. The master appears, bows to the Buddha statue, bows to his monks, who return his greeting. He takes his place, and in the silence, the tension in anticipation of the Dharma talk grows audibly. Suddenly, the song of a bird rings out, an intense song, a recital that ends after a considerable time as abruptly as it began. The master, the monks and the zendo remain motionless. After a while the master rises, greets the monks, who return his greeting, and leaves the zendo.