BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 24

[Tb]

Hi.

I don't think it is an long ramble away from the koan, rather an pathway to it, thank you.

And in my humble understanding, living and dying are two sides of teh same coin, can't have one without the other in some aspects.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

Can't pretend I would have made much sense of this Koan on my own - too many obscure references.
There are a lot of binary opposites - the poisenous snake is not to be feared, the donkey's bray doesn't herald stupidity, to lose one's life is positive.

I was reading Shoji last night (On Life and Death) - seeking comfort really. Contemplating my own death is not the same as contemplating the death of a loved one. Or perhaps in Zen it is?

Holding on to a Dogenesque view of life and death is very hard when our thinking minds are constantly drawn to the relative. The mind simply kicks against the dissolution of categories like life and death. In the relative world we feel loss - when we feel loss a distinction arises.

I've also been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's 'no death, no fear'. I can feel my mind working against what he writes - I want to believe that the flow of living and dying is a truth beyond the static categorising of life and death. Dogen writes that if we cling to life and hate death then we can not enter the heart of buddha because 'living and dying is what Nivarna is'.

I've come close to actual death on several occasions, but these 'dramatic' situations are not what really touch me. Its the many smaller, more subtle deaths and births in a life's journey that seem to affect me. This in itself feels like a natural flow - closer to what Dogen means - what Hhan brings to life with his simple vignettes of clouds becoming rain and trees paper.

Apologies if this is a long ramble away from the koan - but I think I've been up and down South Mountain several times over these past few weeks.


Gassho


Willow

[Ed]

Hi Willow. I just saw th is post. I t seems I am always late to posting here, no matter. Your words have made me feel good right back, glad to have helped specialliy accross distance.
I was just reading SHAMBALA SUN the magazine, the last issue March '13. Norman Fisher, Zen teacher, disciple of Suzuki-roshi. He speaks of 6 boddhisattva practices which he places as slogans after an old practice which I won't bore you with; but they seem wonderful captions of path to follow when things are gods or not so good, makes no diff.

TURN ALL MISHAPS INTO THE PATH.
DRIVE ALL BLAMES INTO ONE.
BE GRATEFUL TO EVERYONE.
SEE CONFUSION AS BUDDHA AND PRACTICE EMPTINESS.
DO GOOD, AVOID EVIL, APPRECIATE YOU LUNACY, AND PRAY FOR HELP.
and
WHATEVER YOU MEET IS THE PATH.

I'm probably off topic, so please excuse....
I do love the "appreciate your lunacy and pray for help" one. Sooo human.

Anyway, Willow, look it up, can't hurt.

In gassho and metta, I will offer incense (prayer) for you and my lunacy,
in gassho,
Ed B

[dharma7154]

So I am a Zen beginner but aren't we always beginner's . I droping in late to the book club but its better late then never. Also this is the first time ever doing anything with Koans. So here goes.
Questions: Did you ever experience a moment of the spark of life (such as a child's birth) or brink of death, yet taste something in the instant beyond such mental categories?
Yes when I got married and saw my wife come down the walk way and it seemed that everything stoped. I was really able to see and notice everything in a very slowed down movie.
Have you ever tasted something of Dogen's existential way of living and dying: when life comes live, when death comes die, do not cling to one or push away the other?
Working on this on everyday in my zazen practice.