I hope this finds you well.
Our Koan this time is "Master Ma is Unwell."
(By the way, I will be keeping only two Koans open at the same time, closing the others, so we all stay on the same page. However, anyone, feel free to drop in and join in at any time.)
From the preamble in the POINTER to the COMMENTARIES, we are told 20 different ways how hard this Koan is.
But this is not a hard Koan really.
Sometimes when someone tells you 20 times how hard something is, that's because it really is not so hard, BUT ALSO they want to caution you that it might be taken in too shallow a way because of that seeming simplicity.
Better said, what is hard is not understanding the point of the Koan, but to really get the subtle import of what is being said, and to have this Wisdom truly gotten in one's bones, not just a light, intellectual notion. The teaching here is REALLY important and at the heart of our Zen way.
The POINTER is saying something like that teachers try all kinds of means ... with props, acts and words ... to get students to realize (Rev. Ma was famous for that), but it is like doing surgery on a healthy body. The patient just thinks he is sick, and if it goes wrong, one will just end up with a big gaping infection! But still, teachers must keep on trying ... for there is something to get (which cannot really be "gotten" ... with no "getter" apart from something to "be gotten") and this sweeps in the universe. It is beyond "searcher" and "something to search for" (which would be too divided thinking, too "cut off") so you can't look for it this way or that way. Yet it is here, there, everywhere. This is the disease to cure which cannot be cured and needs no cure.
It is a big, fancy overture for a pretty simple Koan:
Master Ma is sick (it is said that he died the next day.) When asked how his health is recently, he says "Sun Face Buddha" (said to live in the world for 1800 years)" and "Moon Face Buddha" (who dies after a single day and night.)
In between, I suppose, we all have this life of ups and downs, sickness and health, longing and loss, birth and death.
The COMMENTARY is filled with lots of images about not taking the lesson lightly. If you really understand you will walk freely in the wide open sky (if not, you will get lost and fall off the cliff.) Be willing to wrestle an ox, or a hungry man for his dinner, to really get this (don't take it lightly.) Yes, this "non-disease" cannot be cured with normal medicine (the disease which leaps thought "birth and death" even as Master Ma kicks the bucket!) Even sages can't convey this in words, so don't be like a monkey grasping mirages ... REALLY get this "can't be gotten" wonderful teaching.
The VERSE speaks of "Ancient Emperors." Commentators disagree on the reference, but it probably means something like "Don't think of these as actual Buddhas or Kings to worship, but get the real import of what they represent." Maybe it means, "Oh, these great old teachers like Ma, who were they really, what were they really trying to get us to realize?"
It took him twenty (many) years to go through the "school of hard knocks" to really get the import of the Wisdom here. The teacher goes down to the Dragon's cave, risking life and limb, to snatch the "Pearl of Wisdom" which the dragon clutches, to help his students. Monks, do not rest on your laurels, do not take it lightly.
QUESTIONS:
- How long will you live?
- If Master Ma (or us, for that matter) was never really sick, why did he (we) die? Did he/we die like Bodhidharma died in the previous Koan?
Our musical selection this week is Master Frank, singing of the sun and moon, and (if you listen closely) in between a tale of longing that never ceases, sorrow, sexual yearning and torment, thoughts that do not end night or day ...
.
Gassho, J
stlah
Our Koan this time is "Master Ma is Unwell."
(By the way, I will be keeping only two Koans open at the same time, closing the others, so we all stay on the same page. However, anyone, feel free to drop in and join in at any time.)
From the preamble in the POINTER to the COMMENTARIES, we are told 20 different ways how hard this Koan is.
But this is not a hard Koan really.
Sometimes when someone tells you 20 times how hard something is, that's because it really is not so hard, BUT ALSO they want to caution you that it might be taken in too shallow a way because of that seeming simplicity.
Better said, what is hard is not understanding the point of the Koan, but to really get the subtle import of what is being said, and to have this Wisdom truly gotten in one's bones, not just a light, intellectual notion. The teaching here is REALLY important and at the heart of our Zen way.
The POINTER is saying something like that teachers try all kinds of means ... with props, acts and words ... to get students to realize (Rev. Ma was famous for that), but it is like doing surgery on a healthy body. The patient just thinks he is sick, and if it goes wrong, one will just end up with a big gaping infection! But still, teachers must keep on trying ... for there is something to get (which cannot really be "gotten" ... with no "getter" apart from something to "be gotten") and this sweeps in the universe. It is beyond "searcher" and "something to search for" (which would be too divided thinking, too "cut off") so you can't look for it this way or that way. Yet it is here, there, everywhere. This is the disease to cure which cannot be cured and needs no cure.
It is a big, fancy overture for a pretty simple Koan:
Master Ma is sick (it is said that he died the next day.) When asked how his health is recently, he says "Sun Face Buddha" (said to live in the world for 1800 years)" and "Moon Face Buddha" (who dies after a single day and night.)
In between, I suppose, we all have this life of ups and downs, sickness and health, longing and loss, birth and death.
The COMMENTARY is filled with lots of images about not taking the lesson lightly. If you really understand you will walk freely in the wide open sky (if not, you will get lost and fall off the cliff.) Be willing to wrestle an ox, or a hungry man for his dinner, to really get this (don't take it lightly.) Yes, this "non-disease" cannot be cured with normal medicine (the disease which leaps thought "birth and death" even as Master Ma kicks the bucket!) Even sages can't convey this in words, so don't be like a monkey grasping mirages ... REALLY get this "can't be gotten" wonderful teaching.
The VERSE speaks of "Ancient Emperors." Commentators disagree on the reference, but it probably means something like "Don't think of these as actual Buddhas or Kings to worship, but get the real import of what they represent." Maybe it means, "Oh, these great old teachers like Ma, who were they really, what were they really trying to get us to realize?"
It took him twenty (many) years to go through the "school of hard knocks" to really get the import of the Wisdom here. The teacher goes down to the Dragon's cave, risking life and limb, to snatch the "Pearl of Wisdom" which the dragon clutches, to help his students. Monks, do not rest on your laurels, do not take it lightly.
QUESTIONS:
- How long will you live?
- If Master Ma (or us, for that matter) was never really sick, why did he (we) die? Did he/we die like Bodhidharma died in the previous Koan?
Our musical selection this week is Master Frank, singing of the sun and moon, and (if you listen closely) in between a tale of longing that never ceases, sorrow, sexual yearning and torment, thoughts that do not end night or day ...
.
Gassho, J
stlah
I swear to you they are genuinely me, zero attemtp to make them "chinesey". Thank you
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