Blue Cliff Record (Case 18) Chung's Seamless Monument

[Jundo]

Hello Good Eggs,
. Muhoutou.jpg

These are muhoutou (無縫塔), literally "seamless graves," a type of stone marking the gravesite of a Buddhist priest. They were originally used by the Zen sect, brought to Japan from China, but later adopted by other sects. The muhoutou has a characteristic egg-shaped top, often resting directly on a ring of lotus petals. Explanations for the shape are several, such as that the egg-shaped design comes from the Buddhist idea that reality is round and empty, like the open space of the hands in Zazen mudra, yet somehow all encompassing, whole, unbroken, free of seams and division yet holding all.

The Zen Master in the CASE says he wants such a "seamless" grave, but he is not referring only to such a stone. He means the round, whole, unbroken free of seams and division that is all reality itself. He asks the emperor what it would look like (I would say "no 'thing' yet everything and all the separate things.") The emperor says he doesn't understand, but this is not the "I don't know" of Bodhidharma (where there is no separate "I" to know "something apart.") It just means that the emperor really just hasn't a clue.

This is followed by a poem with comments which express in various ways this "seamless no 'thing' yet everything and all the separate things." So, "South of Hsiang, north of Tan" is something like saying "north of the north pole, south of the south pole" or "everyplace, no place and the whole universe." This is the "sound of one hand clapping" which resounds in Zen. When this is realized, the whole world is precious and filled with gold. Even a "rough hewn staff" is also precious and holds the whole world. Beneath a shadowless tree (another symbol of seamless wholeness) the whole world is like a ferry boat in which you and me and everyone and all separate things are riding, sailing across clear and calm waters (another symbol of wholeness.)

The VERSE continues these seamless themes. The true "seamless monument" is hard to see in this divided world, yet it is right before our eyes (and is our eyes too) in everything we see. The line about the dragons in still and clear waters is debated by commentators, but likely means something like "the wholeness and clarity is hard to see when our mind, like a thrashing dragon, makes all kinds of ripples and waves." However, all those ripples and waves, all the tangled layers and shadows of the world, are still the seamless whole right before our eyes.

On a personal note, I faced a little question like this when I moved to Japan, leaving my mother's and father's graves back in America. I would rarely if ever get to visit that cemetery again. So, I had to ask myself in my heart where they are truly buried. Where can I see them?

QUESTION: Where do you think my parents are buried? Where can I see them? What kind of monument or stone would best honor them? (try not to look at others' responses before responding.) ...

This song has become popular in recent years in Japan, and has become very common to hear at Buddhist funerals. I like the English version, but the Japanese language version below is so very very beautiful.

English version ...
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Japanese version ...
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Don't stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am the sunlight on the ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain

I am a thousand winds
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint on snow
I am a thousand winds that blow

Don't stand at my grave and cry
I am not there, I did not die
I am the swift rush of birds in flight
Soft stars that shine at night

I am a thousand winds
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint on snow
I am a thousand winds that blow

Don't stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am the sunlight on the ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain

I am a thousand winds
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint on snow
I am a thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glint on snow
I am a thousand winds that blow

The original poem, by Clare Harner in 1934:

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there; I did not die.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Tairin]

Where do you think my parents are buried? Where can I see them? What kind of monument or stone would best honour them?

You see your parents when you look in the mirror. You hear your parents when you listen to yourself speak. You watch your parents when you witness your actions. Buried or unburied, our parents are always present and alive with us. You are their monument.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Houzan]

buried but not
look at you hand
already honored

Gassho, Hōzan
satlah

[Chikyou]

I’m unable to find an image matching what I’m imagining, but I’m seeing a great mirrored or translucent egg such that it blends almost seamlessly into the sky - there and yet not there, ending and yet not ending, reflecting all that is around it.

Such a monument probably doesn’t exist because planes would crash into it.

But I feel like telling this story, too: some of you probably recall that my grandmother passed away unexpectedly this spring. I inherited some of her jewelry, and I put the jewelry in a closet along with some paperwork to deal with later. (It’s in various states of disrepair and all badly needed cleaning). Yesterday, Christmas morning, I was cleaning my own jewelry to wear for the day and thought, while I had the cleaner out, I’d do hers too. So I did, and found a couple of new favorites including a gorgeous silver and sapphire ring (that is far more my style than hers, and I don’t recall ever seeing her wear it). I felt as though she was there to give me a Christmas present after all. When I told my aunt (her sister) about it she said “the love she had for you…death could not even stop.”

There are monuments we place in the ground and there are those we carry with us. Seamlessly, they’re one in the same, and all of life too.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō

[Meishin]

Transmission

Miles and Mimi .jpg


Gassho
Meishin
stlah

[Ramine]

Your parents are a monument in your mind,
They are your skin, bones and flesh
They are a gesture of the hand, the expression on your face
As you are their monument, where can you not see them?

Ramine
Sat and Lah

[Jundo]

Thank you all, I felt so much truth.

Gassho, J
stlah

[ZenJay]

apologies for my late answer

Your parents are buried in your heart, you can see them there whenever you’d like. You can also see them when you look in the mirror…
The obvious answer would be that you are their monument, butI also think your children would be too… passing on the lessons your parents taught you…

Gassho,
Jay

sat/lah today