The Platform Sutra: Sections 51-53, p261-269 (266-275 on Kindle)

[Kokuu]

Dear all

This is our penultimate week on the sutra, although I may do a final post asking for overall opinions of how you have found the text and this weekly read-along.

Moving to section 51, Huineng tells his students that it is time for him to leave them. Fa-hai asks him how many generations have passed down the dharma of this direct teaching and he replies by listing the lineage of blood ancestors, including the seven Buddhas (of which Shakyamuni is the seventh), leading him to be the fortieth generation of ancestors (if we take Shakyamuni Buddha as the first generation, as is done in Keizan’s Denkoroku, Huineng is the thirty-fourth generation).

Huineng tells his students that it is now up to them to continue the transmission of the dharma.

In section 52, Fa-hai asks what dharma Huineng is leaving to subsequent generations. Huineng replies that as long as people can understand what a sentient being is, they will be able to see a buddha. He then offers a verse called ‘The Liberation of Seeing the True Buddha’ which begins:
Deluded a buddha is a being
Enlightened a being is a buddha
A foolish buddha is a being
A wise being is a buddha.

This very much brings to mind Dōgen’s words in Genjōkōan:
Those who totally realize delusion are buddhas. Those who are totally deluded about realization are ordinary people.

In section 53, Huineng leaves his disciples with another verse, this one called ‘The Liberation of Seeing the Real Buddha of Your Nature’. This verse begins:
The pure nature of suchness is the real buddha
The Three Poisons of falseness are the real mara.
People who see falsely have a mara in their house
People who see truly have a buddha as their guest.

After this, Huineng gives final instructions to his students and then passes away peacefully at the age of seventy-six.


Questions

1. How do you explain the part of the verse which says ‘As long as your mind is biased, the buddha dwells in a being. The moment you wake up unbiased, a being becomes a buddha’? Does it remind you of another well-known Zen text?
2. Huineng’s final words to his students were: “Sit together in meditation, but remain free of movement and stillness, birth and death, coming and going, right and wrong, present and past. Be at ease and at peace’. How do we achieve this? What is beyond birth and death, coming and going?

Wishing you all a beautiful week.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah

[Chikyou]

• How do you explain the part of the verse which says ‘As long as your mind is biased, the buddha dwells in a being. The moment you wake up unbiased, a being becomes a buddha’? Does it remind you of another well-known Zen text?

Every being is a Buddha; the difference between Buddha and not-Buddha is in the mind. Are you awake or not?

• Huineng’s final words to his students were: “Sit together in meditation, but remain free of movement and stillness, birth and death, coming and going, right and wrong, present and past. Be at ease and at peace’. How do we achieve this? What is beyond birth and death, coming and going?

This is the state of equanimity, where all things are just as they are, without attachment of any kind. As for how we achieve it, practice, practice, practice and practice some more.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Hosui]

1. As the Prajnaparamita says, the deepest wisdom is beyond discriminative thought. As the Sandokai reiterates, don’t set up your own standards. And as The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi reminds us, the night encloses brightness, and at dawn no light shines…don’t waste time. Or as Huineng says, see your nature and become a buddha.

2. As above.

Gassho
Hosui
sat/lah today

[Hoseki]

Hi folks,

1. How do you explain the part of the verse which says ‘As long as your mind is biased, the buddha dwells in a being. The moment you wake up unbiased, a being becomes a buddha’? Does it remind you of another well-known Zen text?


I think of bias as being uneven. Not necessarily bad like the weight distribution on a boat but uneven like odd numbers. It's being uneven that allows us to make decisions.
To be perfectly even would be like a closed loop. For example, imagine I put two bales of hay in front of a hungry donkey with each bale is the same distance from the donkey. How does the donkey chose? They won't starve because they will pick but how did they decide? How would we decide? I don't think there is a clear answer other than we would just pick. To be unbiased isn't to be even so much as understand that we are biased. Once we understand our biases we can introduce thoughts, actions and behavior to balance out that unevenness. To recognize a bias and to be able to work with it or around it is a kind of being biased and unbiased at the same time. For example, say I don't like big glasses. If I see someone with them and they ask me do I like their new glasses, if I spoke off the cuff I might say I don't care for them. I'm just going with the flow of my bias. But if I'm aware of this bias I might say they look nice. This person is stuck with them now and they must like them if they purchased them. So I did lie but it served two purposes. One, it balanced out my bias with an opposite view and two, this comment could have sowed conflict unnecessarily or just hurt their feelings needlessly.

I can't say it reminds me of any text in particular. Thought, I expect someone to name something and have an "oh yeah" moment.

2. Huineng’s final words to his students were: “Sit together in meditation, but remain free of movement and stillness, birth and death, coming and going, right and wrong, present and past. Be at ease and at peace’. How do we achieve this? What is beyond birth and death, coming and going?

I think he's just saying continue living and thinking like a Buddha. Just sit with what is, continue your monastic practices and when conceptual stuff arises, try to address it as a Buddha would. Often, it's just letting it go like zazen. But other times one has to take it seriously and try to make the best of the situation (ideally, under the guidance of the precepts.)

Gassho,

Hoseki
sattoday/lah

[Onsho]

How do you explain the part of the verse which says ‘As long as your mind is biased, the buddha dwells in a being. The moment you wake up unbiased, a being becomes a buddha’? Does it remind you of another well-known Zen text?

When you have a mind filled with the relative, your buddha nature sleeps. When your body/mind knows wisdom and see the relative and absolute of all things, your buddha nature awakens. I feel like this could be part of the conversation in the Diamond Sutra.

Huineng’s final words to his students were: “Sit together in meditation, but remain free of movement and stillness, birth and death, coming and going, right and wrong, present and past. Be at ease and at peace’. How do we achieve this?

We achieve this with an upright mind and deliberate practice.

What is beyond birth and death, coming and going?
Births endless birthing
deaths timeless dying
everything already came
whats to come has already gone

Gassho
Onsho
satlah

[Hokuu]

How do you explain the part of the verse which says ‘As long as your mind is biased, the buddha dwells in a being. The moment you wake up unbiased, a being becomes a buddha’? Does it remind you of another well-known Zen text?

When my mind is lost in delusion, greed, and anger, I still have a potential to become a buddha. It might be deep down, but it's always there whether I make it happen or not. The moment I get rid of delusion, greed, and anger, I become a buddha.

Huineng’s final words to his students were: “Sit together in meditation, but remain free of movement and stillness, birth and death, coming and going, right and wrong, present and past. Be at ease and at peace’. How do we achieve this? What is beyond birth and death, coming and going?

I believe the correct answer is zazen but I'm not talking from my experience. There is Big Nothingness, there is nothing but Big Nothingness.

Gassho
Hokuu
satlah