KŪKA — The Sky Remembers
KŪ: Sky — KA: Currency
All poetry by Milarepa, 11th century Buddhist yogi and spiritual guide of Ryoshi, founder of Shiba Inu.
From the great ocean vapors rise,
Reaching the vast sky.
They form great clouds;
A causal law governs
the transformations of the elements.
Mahavairocana and Kūkai
Vajrayana Buddhism teaches that Gautama Buddha was simply a physical manifestation in this world of the Mahavairocana, the primordial Buddha.
This fascinated a young man, Mao, in 8th century Japan and he became obsessed with learning the scriptures — the Mahavairocana Tantra. But the Japanese translations were incomplete and so he travelled to China to study under a master, eventually becoming a yogi and founding Shingon Buddhism, thus continuing a lineage of masters that would include, Milarepa, a few hundred years later.
The fundamental aim of Shingon is to understand that the mind at its core is nothing but the Mahavairocana. To be enlightened, is to become one with the Mahavairocana; to wipe away the perception of reality that clouds the mind and to be the limitless Sky.
Versatile are the flying clouds,
Yet from the sky they are not apart.
Mighty are the ocean’s waves,
Yet they are not separate from the sea.
Heavy and thick are banks of fog,
Yet from the air they’re not apart.
Frantic runs the mind in voidness,
Yet from the Void it never separates.
Vairocana is often described as the state of Sunyata — emptiness. An emptiness that runs counter to our daily understanding of nothingness. A void that has neither beginning nor end; that which can neither be filled nor emptied; that which has Nothing, yet Everything.
It is this emptiness that Mao sought, as he meditated in the mountains of Shikoku, Japan. Above him expanded the endless sky; below him lay the boundless Pacific.
And so he came to be called Kūkai.
Mao = ‘True Fish’.
Kūkai = ‘Sky and Sea’ or ‘Empty Sea’.
The Fish had evolved.
Teachings of Kūkai
The idea that the mind in its pure state embraces the non-duality of things means all separation between the observer and the observed disappear.
“When you come to the appointed place at the appointed time and meet some person, introduce yourself as Ryoshi. If they do the same, then you have met a special person.”
— Extract from Ryoshi’s final medium
I am Ryoshi. You too are Ryoshi.
I am KŪKA. You too are KŪKA.
Kūkai rejected the idea that one must compulsorily go through cycles of rebirth to purify the self. Instead, he taught that as the mind in its pure state is nothing but the Limitless, anyone, even the dregs of society, could within their own lifetime become the Sky. Just like Jesus embraced thieves and prostitutes, centuries earlier.
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Milarepa — The Sinner turned Saint
Ryoshi — The Dogecoin Killer turned Milarepa student
Kintsugi
Out of the Shib ecosystem emerged a number of tokens. Some larps, some failures, some destroyed by greed, some by a loss of belief. Of all those who’ve been on the arduous journey, some quit, some fell by the wayside, some turned cynical.
But sometimes, even the broken and rejected can be put back together to become something even more beautiful.
Study Kintsugi. Study KŪKA.
Kuka is freedom.
But when freedom’s soft whisper knocks,
The deaf shall turn their minds away.
Bound by memories of deception,
Stubborn, they refuse to leave,
Fantom shadows in a cellar,
Forever there to stay.
— A Hobo
The Decline of the Dharma
In traditional views, the teachings of the Buddha are diluted or lost over time, as the message gets corrupted and people wander astray. It’s believed that the cycle needs to pass, with rebirth in a purified world being the only way out.
Kūkai however rejected this too and insisted that one need not wait for a cycle to complete. You just needed to reach for the source and accept your unison with it and everything.
Cloudviction and Memory
Human memories, often based on individual realities are bereft of context, unlike the Sky that watches over all and gets the whole picture.
Gathering memories, forming clouds.
KŪKA is one such cloud formed from an ecosystem of cult believers who’ve been on a journey of highs, but also disappointments, for far too long.
The mound of golden flowers in the center
Indicates that with Realization, Samadhi,
And immaculate observation of the discipline,
You will attract around you many monks,
Like clouds that gather in the sky.
Without clouds, you would not notice the Sky. Clouds form, so you can remember the Sky.
Disciple:
It was fine, when I contemplated on the sky!
But I felt uneasy when I thought of clouds.
How should I meditate on them?
Milarepa:
If you felt fine meditating on the sky,
So be it with the clouds.
Clouds are but manifestations of the sky;
Therefore, rest right in the sphere of the sky!
KŪKA
When you are gone, when all life is gone, when the world you know is gone, the sky will still be there. With clouds of nostalgia and none to rain the memories upon.
So hurl yourself down into the sky,
Keeping your head in the clouds,
But your feet on the earth,
For when all forget,
The Sky remembers.
KŪKA on ETH: 0xe9942930A2e3a8a096A8a9637d62219f3159CF4d
KŪKA on BASE: 0x3e91D196E36A31F9174709031a91a7d9831201Bd
