Moon Water Dojo
  • Home
  • Essays By Ed Shozen Haber
    • Birth and Death
    • Emptiness
    • Practice
    • Port Townsend Sutra
    • Response to a Conversation
    • A Life of Practice I
    • A Life of Practice II
    • A Life of Practice III
    • A Life of Practice IV
    • A Life of Practice V
  • Schedule
  • contact
  • Blog

Mumonkan Case 40

3/25/2018

0 Comments

 

Case 40 Tipping Over a Water Bottle                 
 
When Isan Oshõ was with Hyakujõ, he was tenzo [典座 head cook] of the monastery.
Hyakujõ wanted to choose a master for Mount Tai-i, so he called together all the monks and told them that anyone who could answer his question in an outstanding manner would be chosen.
Then he took a water bottle and stood it on the floor, and said, "You may not call this a water bottle. What do you call it?"
The head monk said, "It cannot be called a stump."
Hyakujõ asked Isan his opinion.
Isan tipped over the water bottle with his feet and went out.
Hyakujõ laughed and said, "The head monk loses."
And Isan was named as the founder of the new monastery.
 
Mumon's Comment
Isan displayed great spirit in his action, but he could not cut himself free from Hyakujõ's apron strings. He preferred the heavier task to lighter one.
Why was he like that, eh?
He took off his headband to bear the iron yoke.

Mumon's Verse
     Tossing bamboo baskets and ladles away
     He made a glorious dash and swept all before him.

     Hyakujõ's barrier cannot stop his advance;
    Thousands of Buddhas come forth from the tips of his feet.
 
          True Story:  Here in the USA a Zen Master is paired with a Tibetan Buddhist teacher for a public talk/debate.  The Zen Master holds up an orange and says "What is it?"  The Tibetan fellow looks at he Zen Master incredulously and says, "Don't they have Oranges where you are from?"  The Zen Master breaks out laughing.

          Straight ahead runs the Way.  Don't be thrown by ridiculous questions.  Recognize that they are ridiculous and act appropriately.  The head monk is caught.  He thinks he should say something profound but then nothing profound comes to his head.  His answer is truly lame. He could of said "I don't see a thing," referencing his understanding of Emptiness.  He could of said "All the Universe is contained in that bottle," showing his understanding of interdependence and non-duality.  They would have been better answers but still Isan's answer would of won.  He wasn't interested in profound thoughts he had better things to do. 


          I am not saying there is no profundity in Zen.  Deep meditation opens the door to profundity but in the practice of non- attachment we have to learn to let go even of those deep thoughts, if we are to continue to deepen meditation and then bring that quiet mind into our daily lives.

          All koans are context driven and the most obvious interpretation may be misleading.  We might think from this koan that Zen is simply anti-intellectual as we might think several koans are anti-intellectual.  But here we are in the late stages of this Koan collection.  Like Isan who was an advance monk  if you have gotten this far then it is time to drop even the profundity and come back to simply functioning but now with a difference.  All that profundity just sits in the background.  It is not that it has gone away but it is no longer something that needs to be thought about but has simply become part of who you are.  
          Years of meditation and deep meditative experience gives one a clear mind.  This clear mind sees the world exactly as it is without overlaying  layers of thought.  Some would say this is the essence and final outcome of meditation practice.  But who is to say what a clear mind is?  Most people already think they know what a clear mind is.  The other day I loaned a friend a sutra titled by the translator Journey to Reality.  My friend looked at the title and said, "Isn't this all reality as it is."  Though my response was, "Just read the book," I didn't contradict him but our normal view of reality like that of clarity is not the same for one who who has deep experience in meditation.  And the deep clarity of one who is well practiced in meditation is different from what we normally think of as clarity.  It includes both the mundane and the profound,  the mind is quiet and deeply knowing at the same time. 






























Mumon's Verse 頌曰
颺下笊籬并木杓            Tossing bamboo baskets and ladles away,
當陽一突絶周遮    He made a glorious dash and swept all before him.
百丈重關欄不住    Hyakujõ's barrier cannot stop his advance;
脚尖□出佛如麻    Thousands of Buddhas come forth from the tips of his feet.
 



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    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.

    Categories

    All
    Bodhisattva
    Bodhisattva Vows
    Buddhism
    Dogen Zenji
    Genjo-koan
    Heart-sutra
    Heart Sutra Commentary
    Hinayana
    Hsin Hisn Ming Commentary
    Hsin Hsin Ming
    Koans
    Mahayana
    Meditation
    Sesshin
    Song Of Zazen
    Song Of Zazen Commentary
    Tanden
    Zazen
    Zen

    Archives

    February 2024
    December 2023
    December 2019
    November 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos from Mot the barber, BurnAway