Case 7 Jõshû's "Wash Your Bowl"                     
 
A monk said to Jõshû, "I have just entered this monastery.
Please teach me."
"Have you eaten your rice porridge?" asked Jõshû.
"Yes, I have," replied the monk.
"Then you had better wash your bowl," said Jõshû.
With this the monk gained insight.
 
Mumon's Comment
When he opens his mouth, Jõshû shows his gallbladder. He displays his heart and liver.
I wonder if this monk really did hear the truth. I hope he did not mistake the bell for a jar.
 
Mumon's Verse
 Endeavoring to interpret clearly,
 You retard your attainment.
 Don't you know that flame is fire?
 Your rice has long been cooked.
 

          "Straight ahead runs the way."  (Hakuin Zenji's, "Song of Zazen")  There are many sayings in Zen that are in the same vain as this koan.  Zen practice is doing what needs to be done in life, "carry water, chop wood."  That is not so difficult.  What is all this talk about meditation and effort and not thinking?  I have met many "Zen students" who have told me that meditation was not so important and that their practice was everyday life, that the practice of everyday life was the real Zen practice.  It is difficult to argue with this reasoning. Certainly this Koan seems to support this view  
          But koans are not usually so straight forward.  And this is case 7 so if you have gotten this far you have practiced lots of meditation and have had some deep experiences.  The emphasis on meditation should not be forgotten.  The word zen means samadhi, the deepest state of meditation.  But the experience of samadhi should not be limited to practice on the cushion.
          Years ago before I was an official teacher of Zen I taught a course on Zen meditation.  After several months I asked the students if their daily practice had changed anything in their lives.  One fellow told us that the other day he was digging a ditch and he just got into it in a way he never expected.  He really enjoyed it.  This is a wonderful example of how meditation can be part of our daily lives.  How do we take meditation off the cushion and make it part of everything we do?  We practice kinhin (walking meditation) between periods of zazen to give our knees a rest but also so that we can learn to practice meditation while in action.  In the Soto School kinhin is practiced very slowly so that the practitioner can remain mindful while walking.  This slowness is often transferred to many activities like sweeping the zendo and cleaning the dishes.  This emphasis on being very careful and mindful in all activities I think of as the Soto spirit.  This is a wonderful way to practice but Rinzai practice often takes a different approach.  Kinhin is done quickly,  sometimes almost at a jog.  Sweeping and cleaning the kitchen is done quickly though thoroughly.  There is no dawdling in a Rinzai Monastery.  it is like real life.  Sezaki Roshi would often give "life activity koans" such as, "How do you experience Buddha while planting a tree?"  He asked me how I experienced Buddha while cooking? 
          How do you answer Mumonkan Case 7?  I think the answer is beautifully expressed by Dogen.
 
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self
To study the self is to forget the self

This is how we should practice on the cushion and this is how we should practice in real life. Going fast or slow forget the self.  Sometimes it is easier forgetting the self when going fast.
          When sitting on the cushion or functioning in real life the practice should be seamless.  Not to be caught in delusions and attachments and to see and function with a clear bright mind.  Everything we do in Zen practice is to break down our habits of constant thinking, discrimination, and attachment.  We don't do this by trying to think these issues through.  We simply don't give the mind the room to fall into our delusive habits.  
                    

 ​
Case 6 The Buddha Holds Out a Flower                        
 
When Shakyamuni Buddha was at Mount Grdhrakuta, he held out a flower to his listeners.
Everyone was silent.
Only Mahakashyapa broke into a broad smile.
The Buddha said, "I have the True Dharma Eye, the Marvelous Mind of Nirvana, the True Form of the Formless, and the Subtle Dharma Gate, independent of words and transmitted beyond doctrine. This I have entrusted to Mahakashyapa."
 
Mumon's Comment
Golden-faced Gautama really disregarded his listeners.
He made the good look bad and sold dog's meat labeled as mutton.
He himself thought it was wonderful.
If, however, everyone in the audience had laughed, how could he have transmitted his True Eye?
And again, if Mahakashyapa had not smiled, how could the Buddha have transmitted it?
If you say the True Dharma Eye can be transmitted, then the golden-faced old man would be a city slicker who cheats the country bumpkin.
If you say it cannot be transmitted, then why did the Buddha approve of Mahakashyapa?
 
Mumon's Verse 
      Holding out a flower,
      The Buddha betrayed his curly tail.
     Heaven and earth were bewildered,
     At Mahakashyapa's smile.
 

          I once saw a life size ancient statue of MahaKashyapa.  He was a small wiry guy.  A bit like my teacher Harada Roshi.  All the statues point to Shakimuni as a larger more solid person though this far from the time they lived we can never know what they actually looked like.  Though small Mahakashyapa was quite a remarkable guy.  He was a religious leader with a large following before he met Shakimuni.  Mahakashyapa immediately recognized upon meeting Shakimuni that there was something special about Shakimuni and his teachings.  He became a devoted follower of the Buddha Way and with his own students more then doubled the Buddha's following.  After Shakimuni died, Mahakashyapa became the leader of the Buddhist Community.  In case 6 we read the story in which Shakimuni publicly recognises Mahakashyapa's enlightenment and formally starts the lineage of enlightened teachers that has resulted in Zen.  Every teacher of Zen can trace his/her lineage back to this original event. Each teacher has to be acknowledged by their teacher to be a vessel of the Dharma. My lineage goes back 83 generations to this event.
          Unlike other schools of Buddhism the Zen school is a lineage independent of words and docterine and should be based solely on the experience of Enlightenment, each teacher having had in their own personal way that same experience that the Buddha had 2500 years ago.  Unfortunately not every Zen teacher is deeply experienced and may just teach the form of Zen practice, with some concepts gleaned from Buddhism and Zen.  This is still a wonderful thing not to be knocked.  The form, the practice, and the concepts of Buddhism have great power enlightened or not.   And there is no reason most of your effort should not take place in a sanga without an enlightened teacher.  But as a student if you truly wish to have the experience and wisdom of the Buddha then you should work also with an enlightened teacher.  
          This is a touchy subject.  Many of the Soto teachers in this country esque teaching "enlightenment".  They may think there is good reason for this.  The desire for enlightenment can be a barrier as all desires are barriers including the desire to be compassionate.  And also this practice takes tremendous endurance.  It is typical, even in a monastic situation, to take 6-8 years before having some sort of enlightenment experience.  So maybe it is better that a teacher emphasize just sitting as do many Soto teachers.  On the other hand with deep desire comes deep effort.  And it is only through deep effort, for most of us, that deep experience emerges.  Yes, I know, Hui Neng the 6th Patriarch had an enlightenment experience after simply hearing the Diamond Sutra but this type of grace is very very unusual.  And true Enlightenment is not usually the result of one experience but takes many years and many experiences to deeply cultivate. Hui Neng diligently continued practicing meditation for 10 years before he emerged as a teacher..
          Enlightenment cannot be separated from meditation.  We in the West (maybe this is true of all cultures) try to contain everything with ideas.  After my first deep experience I made the mistake thinking that all this great new understanding I had was my Enlightenment.  As the trained intellectual that I was I spent a lot of time working this new understanding.  This was not a bad thing because how else is one to get one's teaching chops together.  But then with my mind working on over time and the arrogance of one who thinks he already knows, I was unable to repeate the deep meditative experience for quite some time.  When Hui Neng finally did start teaching he made it quite clear that meditation and wisdom were not to be seperated.  "Where there is wisdom there is meditation and where there is meditation there is wisdom."  This is no different then the Soto teaching of practice enlightenment.
          Shakimuni tells Mahakashyapa, you have "the True Dharma Eye, the Marvelous Mind of Nirvana.  What is this True Dharma Eye, what is the Mind of Nirvana?  Only through the mind of deep meditation will you understand these phrases.
           We must not forget Shakimuni raising the flower.  This was to be the teaching of the day.  We know that Mahakashyapa understood it but do you?  If we read the original Sutra's preserved in the Theravada tradition there is nothing like this discourse.  That is not to say that it didn't happen.  Why would anyone remember and preserve a discourse that was not really a discourse at all?  But when you read the Theravada Sutras Shakimuni usually taught using doctrines and words.  All this discourse and all the doctrine have little value if you cannot clearly see a flower for what it is.  That is the deepest discourse that the can be given on the Buddha Way.  I am sure many of the people at this "discourse" were wondering what the Buddha was trying to say in this act of raising the flower but Mahakashapa was simply present with the Buddha raising the flower not caught in any thoughts and but also clearly understanding the Buddha's intention.
          The True Dharma Eye is the clear seeing eye not caught on words and ideas but also clearly understanding.  This is the mind of nirvana, This is the mind of prajna. it is also the mind of deep meditation.  This is what we practice when we meditate, not to be caught on words and ideas. It sounds simple but it is not.  Can you drop all your words and ideas and clearly see the world for what it is?