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Mumonkan Case 32

11/14/2017

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Case 32 A Non-Buddhist Philosopher Questions the Buddha                      
 
A non-Buddhist philosopher said to the Buddha, "I do not ask for words; I don not ask for non-words."。
The Buddha just sat there.
The philosopher said admiringly, "The World-honored One, with his great mercy, has blown away the clouds of my illusion and enabled me to enter the Way."
And after making bows, he took his leave.
Then Ananda asked the Buddha, "What did he realize, to admire you so much?"
The World-honored One replied, "A fine horse runs even at the shadow of the whip."
 
Mumon's Comment
Ananda was the Buddha's disciple, but his understanding was not equal to that of the non-Buddhist. I want to ask you, what difference is there between the Buddha's disciple and the non-Buddhist?
 
Mumon's Verse 
     On the edge of a sword,
     Over the ridge of an iceberg,
    With no steps, no ladders,
    Climbing the cliffs without hands.
  
          I was once in sanzen (formal interview) with Harada and he asked me a question.  I couldn't think of anything to say so I just sat there silently doing zazen.  I could tell that the translator was waiting for an answer and was even a little surprised when Harada didn't press me for an answer.  I had a little glimmer of embarrassment but I also had a little glimmer that silence was a good answer to the question.  They were just glimmers of thought because the meditation was pretty silent.  Another time during sesshin the bell rang for lunch, from zazen, we all grabbed our food bowls jumped up and marched to the eating hall.  Then in the eating hall everybody puts their food bowls on the table and I put down a tea cup.  I couldn't help it, I just broke into laughter.  Just the other day timing zazen here at the Moonwater Dojo I looked down at the clock but nothing happened in my head so the 30 minute period turned into a 45 minute period.  Many zen teachers are notoriously spacey.  I have heard that Suzuki Roshi, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, was often late to events.  He would get on a bus or a subway do zazen and miss his stop. If one sits really well, deep in samadhi, then the discriminating mind shuts down, that part of our mind which is always judging and calculating stops functioning.  This is not just spacing out from being lost in thought, this is spacing out from there being no thought.  This is something special because when this happens you will not be unconscious but instead will feel totally awake, filled with a special energy, and deeply concentrated, and clear eyed, but most importantly there will be  awareness of this One Life of which is our True Self.  But also when we step out of a deep meditative state we find our discriminating faculties renewed and clear and we find ourselves better able to deal with the responsibilities of normal life.  At first it might be a bit difficult to transition between these two states of mind but in time with practice the transition between becomes almost seamless.  The Buddha was silent to the philosopher but easily and perceptively responded to Ananda. 
         Also the Philosopher was very perceptive and seemed to very quickly understand the depth of the Buddha's teachings.  It is very rare but sometimes a person experiences kensho at their first sesshin.  I have heard this happening once to a Catholic Priest.  We might say that this is the result of exceptionally good karma.  Yes some people seem to have better karma then others but usually there is a background of some sort of practice.  Years in training as a Catholic Priest may not be so different from training in a Zen Monastery.  The questioning and  concentration of the philosophers quest might also provide a good background for insight into the Buddha's teachings.  Even Hui Neng the 6th Patriarch who experienced kensho upon first hearing the Diamond Sutra probably developed clarity of mind and a sort of meditative focus in his profession as a wood cutter.  Anything we do as long as we do it fully with body and mind can become a meditative practice.  Remember what the Buddha said upon his own enlightenment,  "All beings regardless have this same clear bright mind that I have just awakened to."
          That being said some individuals just seem to be born with greater clarity of mind then others and  personality that lends itself to the spiritual quest more then others.  There is a traditional metaphor of the three horses that is referenced in this koan.  There is the horse that you have to give a good whipping to get it to do what you want.  There is the horse that responds to the first touch of the whip and there is the horse that responds to just the shadow of the whip.  The different horses represent the differences in our natural abilities.  Suzuki Roshi who goes on at length about this metaphor in his book Zen Mind Beginners Mind seems to think that the best Zen student is the one with the least natural talents because the extra effort put into training will ultimately make him/her the greater Zen Master.  I think this metaphor is not very instructive.  It might  promote a discriminating mind set that is not helpful.  Success in our practice results from a wide variety of factors some of which we are born with and some that come from our experience.  It is impossible to put our finger on all these factors.  The range of these factors is as wide as the Universe.  When enlightenment happens it is the grace of the Universe that the individual experiences.  It is not a miracle but we  also we cannot pin down all the causes.
          So what can an individual do to promote this experience?  We go right back to Buddha's Eightfold Path and lots of hard work and faith that the hard work will lead you along the path.  What more can you do?  O yes find a good teacher.


















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Mumonkan case 31

11/7/2017

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Case 31 Jõshû Investigates an Old Woman                   
 
A monk asked an old woman, "What is the way to Taisan?"
The old woman said, "Go straight on."
When the monk had proceeded a few steps, she said, "A good, respectable monk, but he too goes that way."
Afterward someone told Jõshû about this.
Jõshû said, "Wait a bit, I will go and investigate the old woman for you."
The next day he went and asked the same question, and the old woman gave the same answer.
On returning, Jõshû said to his disciples, "I have investigated the old woman of Taisan for you."
 
Mumon's Comment
The old woman only knew how to sit still in her tent and plan the campaign; she did not know when she was shadowed by a spy.
Though old Jõshû showed himself clever enough to take a camp and overwhelm a fortress, he displayed no trace of being a great commander.
If we look at them, they both have their faults.
But tell me, what did Jõshû see in the old woman?
 
Mumon's Verse 
    The question was like the others,
    The answer was the same.
    Sand in the rice,
    Thorns in the mud.

          Ancient Chinese, Japanese societies were sexist by today's standards, and yes our society is still sexist.  The Buddha was purported to have said upon his Enlightenment,  "How wonderful all people have this same clear bright mind that I have just awoken to."  I have been told that here in the USA the majority of teachers of Buddhism are woman.  Maybe to underscore the equality of men and woman in deep Buddhist understanding the wise old woman appears in this story.
          In his Song of Zazen Hakuin tells us "Not two, not three, straight ahead runs the Way."  It mirrors the statement by the woman in this story.  If you want to get to the place of practice which in this case is symbolized by Taisan which is the name of Joshu's Monastery but is in fact not a physical place but something inner. That inner attitude is to be straight ahead.  It is not to let yourself get diverted by competing interests and teachings, have faith in the Buddha Way.  It is to be straight ahead in your inner world, do not be self deceptive nor deceive others.  Most importantly,  not to let your mind fall into duality.  When practicing zazen practice zazen and try not to let your mind wander.  When chopping wood just chop wood.  Whatever you do fully engage mind and body in the task.  This is the practice, this is the road to Taisan.
          Some might object to judging one's zazen or having a goal in practice.  They might say that judging ones practice or having of a goal is a hinderance.  In the Soto School they say, "Practice is enlightenment."  There is a pitfall either way we look at this issue.  On the one hand if you don't acknowledge a goal then there is no reason and motivation to practice. If you think you are enlightened just because you are sitting in a zazen pose then your inner practice will be lazy.  On the other hand if you think about any goal during practice then you are falling into dualism and also not really practicing.  This is something we each have to work out but I have to say that for myself I know what real and good zazen is and when I am not really practicing.  I have no problem making this judgement and doing what I need to do to turn not so good zazen into good zazen(quiet and concentrated zazen).
         The goal of practice is to really practice.  To really practice is not so easy. To really practice can take many years of practice.  To really practice is to be straight ahead, it is not to fall into duality, it is to be fully engaged mind and body.  To really practice that is enlightenment.  As Hakuin says in the Song of Zazen,'  "Those who practice true zazen even once will see all karma erased."



























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Mumonkan Case 30

11/1/2017

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Case 30 Baso's "This Very Mind Is the Buddha"                     
 
Daibai asked Baso, "What is the Buddha?"
Baso answered, "This very mind is the Buddha."
 
Mumon's Comment

If you directly grasp Baso's meaning, you wear the Buddha's clothes, eat the Buddha's food, speak the Buddha's words, do the Buddha's deeds—that is, you are a Buddha himself.

However, alas! Daibai misled not a few people into taking the mark on the balance for the weight itself.

How could he realize that even mentioning the word "Buddha" should make us rinse out our mouths for three days?

If a man of understanding hears anyone say, "This very mind is the Buddha," he will cover his ears and rush away.
 
Mumon's Verse 
     The blue sky and bright day,
     No more searching around!
     "What is the Buddha?" you ask:
     With loot in your pocket, you declare yourself innocent.
 

          Years ago (early 1980's) I did a series of sesshins with Joshu Sasaki Roshi.  He was a Rinzai master who taught with koans that he often made up.  He would often take traditional koans and put them in a language that was easier to grasp, and usually involved the word Buddha such as, "How do you experience Buddha through sound?"  He also would often ask a new student what his or her profession was and then if the student answered for example carpenter he would then give the student the koan, "How do you experience Buddha through Carpentry?" One might think these koans are easier then the traditional koans like those in this collection and yes maybe that is somewhat true because there is less obscurity in the language but I would argue that in essence they are just as difficult.  They are still asking the student to have the same experiences and understanding.  You can not pass one of Sasaki's koans without understanding the word Buddha and here we are at koan 30 in the Mumonkan and it is also asking you to understand that same word, Buddha.
           Twenty Five years after practicing with Sasaki Roshi I was doing sesshins with Shodo Harada Roshi.  Even though he is also a Rinzai teacher we did not do koans.  We were working on ways to deepen samadhi.  For quite a while I worked on a simple breathing technique called Sokusan which once mastered allows one to quickly enter deep samadhi.  Once I mastered that skill then he would just ask me at the beginning of each sesshin to do something like die with every breath or to become the Universe with every breath.  This went on for a number of sesshins. Then one Sesshin he asks me the question, "How big is your mind?"  Without hesitation I respond, "It fills the whole Universe."  The next interview I had with Harada he told me that I was done with my training.
          Some people think that you gain magical powers through years of intense meditation and that experience we call Enlightenment.  Some people are attracted to a magical view of life where some how they can control reality through their thinking.  And some people have misread the Mind Only philosophy of Buddhism or this koan as telling them that some how they can control the larger world with their mind.  This is just more confusion.
          Again if one really wants to understand this statement, "This very Mind is Buddha" then you must understand it from the perspective of deep meditative experience where the world is not seen through the lens of our normal conceptual thinking.  Words can take on whole different meanings through the perspective of this experience.  But be aware the public expression of such understanding can easily become  weeds.  Maybe I shouldn't but I will give a hint: Non-Duality.

























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    Hi I am Ed Shozen Haber an authorized teacher of Zen in the lineage of Shodo Harada Roshi of the One Drop Sangha.  By the way I look a bit older now.

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