BOOK OF EQUANIMITY. Case 12

[alan.r]

For whatever reason, this koan reminded me that "it's" not just on the cushion. In the words of Chet I believe, "you're soaking in it!"

Gassho


Shugen

Me too Shugen: often we’re caught up in our self-centered lives, our little beliefs and concerns, our own little worlds, king of our own skulls. And because of this, we fail to truly see others, hear others, truly hear what they are saying, what they might be asking – we fail to really be there for and with others. So really, we blind ourselves a little bit with our own concerns, thoughts, ideas, much like Priest Shuzan has done here. Sometimes we can even do this with Buddhist stuff, Buddhist crap, Zen junk. We don’t hear others maybe because we’re thinking Zen stuff, oneness stuff, absolute and relative stuff, even thinking awareness stuff. But when we’re thinking in this way, we’re not open, not present. We can’t hear, as Shuzan can’t, what the other is really saying. And so, maybe a few days after talking to a friend or lover or partner or whoever, we talk to them again and go, “Wait, that’s what you meant by that. I didn’t get that.” And then they inevitably say, “That’s because you weren’t listening.” But what they’re really saying is we weren’t present, we weren’t truly there, right then. So this koan, to me, has something to do with not bringing the cushion into daily life. This priest in this koan hasn’t brought his sitting into everyday life. As soon as he does that, as soon as we all do, we can hear the question, we can answer or not answer appropriately, we can even play back with Jizo. And then we can go make our dinner and not worry about the three worlds.

[Heisoku]

This koan invites everyone to Plough her/his own field not *somebody elses. Cultivating the empty field.

What is the true world?*
So how do you plough the field of your own practice?
Can you catch yourself at over doing, over thinking?
How to forget one s state and return same ad fish and bird? Does this take a special effort?

I am inspired by Nanyue " It is not that there is no practice-enlightenment, but only that it cannot be defiled" and by the response by the 6th ancestor " This non-defilement is exactly what all the Buddhas and ancestors protect and care for."
It is zazen, and the place in which there is nothing to be defiled or to do defiling.
Carrying this in everyday practice is the challenge and the place of cultivation. Thank you Taigu.
Gassho.

[Taigu]

Heisoku, You are here as close as anyone can be to the very marrow.

[galen]

There is only the true world.. only these bones. However, there is also this habit, with no discernible beginning, of trying to step aside from these bones. It is an impossible thing to do, of course, but in the reaching ......heaven and earth seem to separate, and “I” seem born into the world, stranded, as a thing among things. It is a bewilderment, a confusion, a melodrama. It doesn't matter if this confusion is a baseless illusion, and that heaven and earth, and every movement made, are nothing but the life of these bones.... because the suffering experienced all around is real enough to matter. Working with bewilderment in this world, this is the matter at hand. .... there is need to be met.

Maybe it endlessly returns, but the habit of rejecting these bones burns off like mist in just sitting.
Through practicing just sitting, needs are met freely, with no hook, and no melodrama. That is a life well lived, and an aspiration.

Gassho, kojip

Hi Kojip,

I read your post a few days back, did not think that much about it... or wasn’t present enough to appreciated it. Just going over the opening and some of the posts here this morning (Mt time, Utah) and it seems, from my bones here in this recliner (so maybe in this present moment I was ready for your little delight here, because of my mood at this time), you really paint a scene of what is true and very prevalent in most of our lives.

It seems we are always/continuously trying to escape our bodies for some higher metaphysical place, to get some out of body experience, to make the leap from dealing with the life of this world. Some short cut to escape the pain of This reality. Most of us are not that comfortable in this bony situation, and many attempt to escape It, also through drugs, alcohol and food.

Just thought your set up here was superb and ended in a nice soft place within, where we can learn to deal with ordinary daily life and to realize, with the sitting inside this body in zazen, we learn to deal with what is out There, by bringing the two worlds together in being more comfortable and confident in these bones. Thank you, Kojip.


_/\_

galen

[Taigu]

Indeed, Kojip's words describe a very common situation. Getting out of the bag of skin and flesh, stepping out if the bones is an activity human beings are very good at.

Gassho


Taigu

[andyZ]

Thank you Taigu and everyone posting here for your take on this case.
After reading all the posts I realize that what I wanted to say has been pretty much already said. However, those are not my words and not my understanding so here goes my version

What is the true world?*

Can't be described, can only be experienced again and again and again.

So how do you plough the field of your own practice?

Not being separate from whatever I'm doing/is happening (not two) at the moment.

Can you catch yourself at over doing, over thinking?

Over thinkg – yes, however zazen is an always present cure for that.

How to forget one s state and return same as fish and bird?
Does this take a special effort?

When you're the plough itself, there's no place for fish and birds to return to.
It does take an effort. Just like shikantaza – catching yourself drift, returning to the moment over and over.

[galen]

My initial (and remaining) reaction to this koan was this lesson: Drop all the talk; DO the work; BE your practice! Whether it be rice balls or scrambled eggs or zazen, or whatever, make it your practice. Too often we get trapped and distracted by words, and in the meantime the true-world passes us by. What is the true world? This world in front of me right now, only seen more clearly and with greater awareness. I surf my practice, going from wave to wave of life, sitting out occasionally, stumbling regularly, balance slowly improving as I challenge myself with bigger and bigger life-waves. A typical stumbling is over thinking, and it is often caught here by Jundo or someone else, for which and whomever I am always grateful. My effort is not special, for if it was then I think I would be overdoing it. if anything, I under do it.

I must confess that I thought of Treeleaf when I read this koan. One of the criticisms of here, I believe, is all talk and no action. You could perhaps rewrite Xiushan's part as a former Treeleafer, someone disillusioned with all the chatter in an online forum as zendo. But that's not fair. Just because someone can't see the work, the practice, does not mean it's not happening. And the chatter can be its own form of work as practice. When we look at a tree we tend to focus on all the leaves, but what we so often miss is the whole ecosystem that is the actual tree: branches, trunk, photosynthesis, bugs, birds, etc. all working together to sustain that tree-life/Treeleaf. Such is us,,, but we get distracted by words and debate, too.

Hi Alan,

I was just starting to read Zen Mind, Beginners Mind for the second time and got to page 18 on Control, and it reminded me of having some parallel to your second paragraph. As McCartney says, Let It Be. We all need to be reminded of that from time to time. Its seems if we just let things process themselves out, without jumping in and correcting all the time, and leave attempts to control and manipulate alone, things process out and karma is there with the lesson. Control seems to be the egos way to manipulate instead of releasing, and is fear based. Suzuki's simple explanations of `things are very powerful and simple. In this section he also uses Dogens view as an example. I have had a tremendous teacher on this subject, my small self. And its an on going process, but awareness does wonders.



_/\_

galen

[galen]

My initial (and remaining) reaction to this koan was this lesson: Drop all the talk; DO the work; BE your practice! Whether it be rice balls or scrambled eggs or zazen, or whatever, make it your practice. Too often we get trapped and distracted by words, and in the meantime the true-world passes us by. What is the true world? This world in front of me right now, only seen more clearly and with greater awareness. I surf my practice, going from wave to wave of life, sitting out occasionally, stumbling regularly, balance slowly improving as I challenge myself with bigger and bigger life-waves. A typical stumbling is over thinking, and it is often caught here by Jundo or someone else, for which and whomever I am always grateful. My effort is not special, for if it was then I think I would be overdoing it. if anything, I under do it.

I must confess that I thought of Treeleaf when I read this koan. One of the criticisms of here, I believe, is all talk and no action. You could perhaps rewrite Xiushan's part as a former Treeleafer, someone disillusioned with all the chatter in an online forum as zendo. But that's not fair. Just because someone can't see the work, the practice, does not mean it's not happening. And the chatter can be its own form of work as practice. When we look at a tree we tend to focus on all the leaves, but what we so often miss is the whole ecosystem that is the actual tree: branches, trunk, photosynthesis, bugs, birds, etc. all working together to sustain that tree-life/Treeleaf. Such is us,,, but we get distracted by words and debate, too.

Alan...... not to beat a DEAD HORSE, but my ego of course, wants to give it one more WACK !! Been having a few of those Freudian pops lately (Chopra case 30), and for the most part they carry some wack`age.... awakening. In case 34 Wick states this (page 107): “One of the 10 grave precepts in Zen is not to elevate oneself and put down others, and another precept is not too speak of others errors and faults”. Later he goes on to say: “When we identify with others, how can we elevate ourselves and put others down? Its only when we create that GAP, that separation which comes from fear (which I referenced in my last post), that we can do it.” And I thank you Alan, for your courageous insight here, as it was no small minded insight.

It seems he is talking about projection here, and in psychology, what we project onto `things/other, it reflects back as more of a lesson for the projector and highlights his or her OWN problem, not the one projected on. Look both ways from the gap, the cut (case 9), one foot in the historical dimension (world of ego, space and time), and one foot in the ultimate dimension (boundless expanse, just touching the earth). In Zen it seems to point to both, as we cannot escape `the world (these bones), but closing the gap to view the historical dimension from the ultimate dimension, from the perspective of no FEAR. {the ultimate dimension being the Way to enlightenment} Thanks to my close friend , Thich Nhat Hanh, for the dimension perceptions.

As I post this, and send it out electronically into the universe, it serves a great lesson to my small minded ego, as a projection (as for all), its time for me to grab a mirror and reflect on this lesson for myself.


_/\_

galen

[Kaishin]

What is the true world?*

Just fingers typing this.

Can you catch yourself at over doing, over thinking?

Sometimes... which is an improvement over Never.

[AlanLa]

Galen wrote: Its seems if we just let things process themselves out, without jumping in and correcting all the time, and leave attempts to control and manipulate alone, things process out and karma is there with the lesson.

I (non)try to do this by letting that gap happen, by not responding right away, by not letting my small self run off with that first thought or impulse when reading on here (and Facebook also). One of the best lessons I have ever learned here is to pause and contemplate, to be mindful of that reaction, to watch it, and more often than not it just goes away. Things settle on their own, both in my head and on here (and on Facebook). The challenge is to also be emotionally honest, so I am still pretty sick when emotional reactions kick in, because it is a whole lot easier to pause on here (and Facebook) than it is in the rest of my day-to-day life. I am a whole lot zennier here than I am in the rest of my life, because the computer allows that gap more so than that irritation in front of me that I can't turn off like a piece of electronics. But I am getting better at that, too, just more slowly.

And of course it's all zenny everywhere in its own way.

[BrianW]

I must confess that I thought of Treeleaf when I read this koan. One of the criticisms of here, I believe, is all talk and no action. You could perhaps rewrite Xiushan's part as a former Treeleafer, someone disillusioned with all the chatter in an online forum as zendo. But that's not fair. Just because someone can't see the work, the practice, does not mean it's not happening. And the chatter can be its own form of work as practice. When we look at a tree we tend to focus on all the leaves, but what we so often miss is the whole ecosystem that is the actual tree: branches, trunk, photosynthesis, bugs, birds, etc. all working together to sustain that tree-life/Treeleaf. Such is us,,, but we get distracted by words and debate, too.

For me this was fresh.... a perspective I've not thought about and not what first came to mind when reading this koan. Nice!

Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

[galen]

I (non)try to do this by letting that gap happen, by not responding right away, by not letting my small self run off with that first thought or impulse when reading on here (and Facebook also). One of the best lessons I have ever learned here is to pause and contemplate, to be mindful of that reaction, to watch it, and more often than not it just goes away. Things settle on their own, both in my head and on here (and on Facebook). The challenge is to also be emotionally honest, so I am still pretty sick when emotional reactions kick in, because it is a whole lot easier to pause on here (and Facebook) than it is in the rest of my day-to-day life. I am a whole lot zennier here than I am in the rest of my life, because the computer allows that gap more so than that irritation in front of me that I can't turn off like a piece of electronics. But I am getting better at that, too, just more slowly.

And of course it's all zenny everywhere in its own way.

Thank you,.... well done with the attempt to not react but act, or no action needed after some contemplation. It seems the other side of the coin can play a larger role in that endeavor once it comes from a deep source from within. And that would be the spontaneity of the intuition, or our enlarged Mind of our true nature/Buddha nature. Very deep zazen is the fruit from which to pick. So contemplation in `time (phenomena), and intuition in no-time, are both part of the same coin (gap), each being on the other side of itself. From my childhood I took a great deal of anger `out into the world and have spent a good share of my life softening that. So a lot of that period, which has mostly passed, I reacted out of anger, I was reactionary, and of course many teachings come from that. So as you say, I also try to come from a more subtle thoughtful response, but also to get where that is not so necessary. It seems taking a day or time, in considering a response/no response, also leaves room for so much mental chatter of the ego (monkey mind). But you clear a lot of that up by referencing a non-emotional out burst of such, as you point to. So sometimes it is better to take that `gut shoot (intuition hopefully), and as we get better at going deep within, it pretty much washes out and its not so reactionary, and can and should, be even more enlightening and not so much intellectualizing.

As for what you call the rest of your life, as apposed to online zennierism, as you know that is also a coin, they are different, but they are also the same, or should be. I get your take here and that is true for me also, but in that awareness, the goaless goal is to be fully embracing our true nature no matter where we go or come. 24/7 Zazen, 24/7 awareness of breath from the abdomen. Our good friend Thich Nhat Hanh has been a good teacher for me in this endeavor in his beautiful little heavy weight book NO DEATH, NO FEAR, where he teaches being in touch with our breath (present) in every physical and mental movement throughout our day. Awake meditation, if you will, walking with good posture and breathing in rhythm with our steps (feeling the ground under our feet). When the phone rings, take our time and approach the pickup through breath, that better prepares us for this other awaiting our voice (attempting to breath through our conversation being totally present to better to be one with the caller to soften the dualism that awaits {ego}). I am getting pretty decent at this and that percentage of being more present is growing. So as I sit here, with all my thoughts flying through the air I am doing my best to stay with my abdomen, it brings you back to earth. Also the koan ‘who am I’ an extension of Mu is pretty constant for me in bringing me back inside my body. I picked this up, with many other deep insights, from the beautiful book The Three Pillars of Zen. In that same realm, we could also ask our self, who is this going to the bathroom, who is this sitting down and so on. I am probably not telling you or many others in this assembly, what that does is put us back in the present moment, breath, with the intent for our being in touch once again with our Buddha nature
and this questing the ‘I’ or ‘who’ wakes us up to big Mind and not our little I (ego). This is how I spend my days, I just got up to make a cup of coffee to finish this long winding piece, and as I got out of this chair I went to breath and felt the carpet under my foot and breathed my way to the kitchen. Of course it goes on and on and we get better at it with Practice, isn’t practice what its all about, not only representing sitting practice (which I feel is the most important practice, to make the outer practice much easier, it like steroids if we can get deep enough). So with practicing our days being as present as we can be, becomes who we are, with practice, that is why it is called Practice. Zazen 24/7 (breath), practicing 24/7 until the gap becomes nothing more then a hair and that only closes in the very last level of Enlightenment, once we have crawled off the Ox and grounded, totally immersed in being........ a Master of our own mind.

Wow, that was short and sweet, not so sweet.

[galen]

My initial (and remaining) reaction to this koan was this lesson: Drop all the talk; DO the work; BE your practice! Whether it be rice balls or scrambled eggs or zazen, or whatever, make it your practice. Too often we get trapped and distracted by words, and in the meantime the true-world passes us by. What is the true world? This world in front of me right now, only seen more clearly and with greater awareness. I surf my practice, going from wave to wave of life, sitting out occasionally, stumbling regularly, balance slowly improving as I challenge myself with bigger and bigger life-waves. A typical stumbling is over thinking, and it is often caught here by Jundo or someone else, for which and whomever I am always grateful. My effort is not special, for if it was then I think I would be overdoing it. if anything, I under do it.

I must confess that I thought of Treeleaf when I read this koan. One of the criticisms of here, I believe, is all talk and no action. You could perhaps rewrite Xiushan's part as a former Treeleafer, someone disillusioned with all the chatter in an online forum as zendo. But that's not fair. Just because someone can't see the work, the practice, does not mean it's not happening. And the chatter can be its own form of work as practice. When we look at a tree we tend to focus on all the leaves, but what we so often miss is the whole ecosystem that is the actual tree: branches, trunk, photosynthesis, bugs, birds, etc. all working together to sustain that tree-life/Treeleaf. Such is us,,, but we get distracted by words and debate, too.

I just couldn't resist ! Your delightfully little diddy of... "When we look at a tree we tend to focus on all the leaves, but what we so often miss is the whole ecosystem that is the actual tree: branches, trunk, photosynthesis, bugs, birds, etc. all working together to sustain that tree-life/Treeleaf. Such is us,,, but we get distracted by words and debate, too." This insight touches the core of Thick Nhat Hahn's awake meditation. Your big mind view of seeing much more the what sits right in our face (and the emptiness on the other side of the coin) is what Hahn instills, like when we are eating and being fully present (tv/radio off), while seeing/feeling the labor it took to bring the food from the farm, the transportation to our table, the fertilizer, the rain, the clouds that are all apart of this activity, and keeping us present and grateful.

[galen]

Actually not that clever. On my Droid virtual keypad, couldn't find the other hand -) and never fixed it from my laptop because as you said you can see the other hand that is not there.

And actually what i did mean with the cleverness, i took it as the one hand clapping koan, as you/your Droid, was symbolizing. Maybe it came accidentally/not accidentally, from the Droid/your unconscious, as a Freudian Slip. Any way can't help myself today, this is where my mind is taking me today, but for some reason it just struck me as being really cool . Obviously you have left it, well done!

[Taigu]

Hi Galen,

I am going to sound old fashioned and pretty stuck. Pausing before action is a great practice.This practice of breath awareness is a great one, it is calming, harmonizing, grounding, in short: a great practice. And not mine anymore. Why is that? Because I am a stuborn son of a b.... And I stick to what Dogen teaches. Breath should be left to breath, Buddha to Buddha, things to things.
Planting fields, making rice is not Planting Breath, making breath. Not even Breath planting fields, breath making rice. The ordinary is not a special focus on breath, dishes, moment, present...It is best described by the words of a very wise lady on this forum: because I know my parents, partner, children, world are already dead, I enjoy their company so much ( something like that, I cannot access the link at the moment)...and when I do so, breath is not in the picture. When cooking or washing the dishes, We are not aware of doing something special, focusing in a particular way, We are simply doing what we are doing. When playing with our child, we just play.

And again if that works for you, great! If you feel you are getting this and that and better, great! But again, the whole point of Dogen Zen is not to get or be better. This attitude and expectation belongs precisely to the realm of extensive discussion described in the koan. You see, this is what makes this Dogen thing absolutely incredible. Far beyond any spiritual agenda could fathom. As expressed by a Shingon priest who happens to be my friend: shikantaza is the ultimate practice.

If you want to get better, fine. Get better. Be in control.

In my clouded eyes, control and intention just get in the way.



Gassho

Taigu