BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 51

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  • Marco
    Member
    • May 2016
    • 12

    #31
    ouch!

    My first koan - ouch!

    Initially, I found myself frustrated. I value plainness in writing and speech, and this seemed anything but plain/direct. After reading the commentary, I calmed down a bit. I'm going to let it sit in my head, re-read, sit in my head, re-read...

    Marco

    Pre-sit koan

    Comment

    • Jakuden
      Member
      • Jun 2015
      • 6141

      #32
      LOL Ben I love the Far Side!

      I agree Marco, I was vigorously trained to be concise and direct in writing and thinking... abstract thought and expression was NOT encouraged in my Science education... so I will just continue to sit with this Koan for awhile and try to stretch my right-brain a little more

      Gassho,
      Jakuden
      SatToday

      Comment

      • Kokuu
        Dharma Transmitted Priest
        • Nov 2012
        • 6942

        #33
        Hi Marco

        Koans are definitely a shock to the system at first and almost certainly designed to be that way.

        However, after spending some time with koan practice, one thing I really value about many of them is their plainness and directness in terms of illustrating practice. It is definitely a different kind of plainness to what we are used to but one that points straight to the heart of Zen and life.

        A good example of this is 'Joshu Washes the Bowl':

        'A monk told Joshu, "I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me."
        Joshu asked, "Have you eaten your rice porridge?
        The monk replied, "I have eaten."
        Joshu said, "Then you had better wash your bowl."



        I imagine that Jundo would offer better recommendations but I have found two books really helpful to me in terms of getting to grips with koans:

        The Zen Koan by Isshu Miura and Ruth Sasaki Fuller
        Bring Me The Rhinoceros by John Tarrant

        I am still a total beginner, though.

        Gassho
        Kokuu
        #sattoday

        Comment

        • Jundo
          Treeleaf Founder and Priest
          • Apr 2006
          • 41065

          #34
          Originally posted by Kokuu

          I imagine that Jundo would offer better recommendations but I have found two books really helpful to me in terms of getting to grips with koans:

          The Zen Koan by Isshu Miura and Ruth Sasaki Fuller
          Bring Me The Rhinoceros by John Tarrant

          I am still a total beginner, though.

          Gassho
          Kokuu
          #sattoday
          I would say that both those books are great (especially the Miura-Sasaki book which is a real encyclopedia of Koan references), but they present from a definite Rinzai or Sambyokyodan/Koan Introspection Zazen perspective. Soto folks tend not to use the Koans as objects of contemplation during Zazen, nor as simply conundrums meant to toss a monkey-wrench into the gears of the mind to induce some kind of non-dual experience. Rather, as with this Koan, they a expressions of basic Mahayana and Zen teachings, perspectives and Zenlogic (to be distinquished for ordinary logic) through often playful or creative language meant to bend ordinary expression to such purposes. They are creative ways to express something, like poems or popular songs which try to say something through the powerful use of words and images to touch the heart suggestively, in ways where our ordinary "common sense" use of ideas and words would fail or mislead. In Soto tradition, their meaning can be discussed and are understandable, so long as we remember that they cannot be easily understood in our usual ways and with ordinary logic.

          The Miura-Sasaki book does an amazing job (it took decades to write) pointing out the references and bits of doctrine that the Zen masters were referencing. Their jokes and slang and obscure references to Sutras and poems usually were trying to make a point.

          This Koan, and our way of discussing what it expressing, is such an example.

          Gassho, Jundo

          SatToday
          Last edited by Jundo; 05-17-2016, 02:55 AM.
          ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

          Comment

          • Marco
            Member
            • May 2016
            • 12

            #35
            Thank you for the encouragement and book recommendations

            Gassho
            Marco

            Comment

            • Hoseki
              Member
              • Jun 2015
              • 698

              #36
              Originally posted by Takoda
              Hmm...read it a few more times.

              One phrase that caught my attention is found in the preface to the assembly when it states that;
              "Worldly dharmas enlighten many people. Buddhadharma deludes many people."

              What exactly is worldly dharma vs buddhadharma? What are the differences and how can they become one?

              Gassho
              Mike

              Sat-Today
              Hi Takoda,

              I'm not sure about the others but I thought about worldly dharma in two ways. The first is just everyday working knowledge (conceptual understanding) of what a thing is and how to use it e.g. how one might steer a boat or swim in water. In a sense this knowledge allows you to function in the world. You are able to express your humanity though your actions and these qualities work together to allow you to act in certain ways. The second way of looking at "worldly dharma" is that all things are dharma gates and provide opportunities for awakenings of a sort. All things are part of the net of indra and when one sees one jewel they see the reflection of all the others. But this is pretty much an intellectual thing for me. It's not something that permeated my life.

              I took the Buddhadharma to mean two things one is to open the hand of thought (thoughts come and go and we arn't so attached.) I think Uchiyama Roshi wrote that "The expansive sky does not obstruct the floating white clouds." Where the clouds are the thoughts, feelings, sensations we experience and expansive sky is not that exclusively. So the sky is both the clouds and what they are not. This is Buddhadharma as a kind of openness.

              But I also took it to be the combination of the worldly dharmas and openness. So Buddhadharma is a lot like my glasses. I can see my cat without them but Mr. Winks is much clearer when I wear them. Either way, hes still there even when my eyes are closed.



              Gassho
              El Duderino (Adam)
              Sattoday

              EDIT: I forgot to mention that my second way of looking at "worldly dharma" and a couple of other minor edits.
              Last edited by Hoseki; 05-17-2016, 03:34 PM.

              Comment

              • FaithMoon
                Member
                • Jul 2015
                • 112

                #37
                I think I would like to join this book club. I'm not experienced with koans, but have gleaned some on how to work with them from teisho and classes at ZCLA.

                So far, what Hogen and Kaku's conversation points to for me is how well are the teachings integrated into my being. The conversation brings to mind the parable of the raft. Kaku has left the boat in the water. I ask myself: Whatever (dharma) vehicle got me here, am I separate from (attached to) it? "Water does not wash water".
                sat today!

                Comment

                • Ben
                  Member
                  • Nov 2015
                  • 22

                  #38
                  When I read that passage about worldly dharmas and Buddhadharma, I was reminded of something Brad Warner (in Chapter 15 of Don't Be A Jerk, "Hearing Weird Stuff Late at Night") writes about Dogen writing about. To quote Warner: "[Dogen] believed that nature could often explain the dharma to people better than people could explain it to each other through words."

                  Like FaithMoon, when reading the main case, I also thought of the the simile of the raft. For those unfamiliar with it, here it is from the Alagaddupama Sutta, which concerns how one should relate to the Buddhadharma. The first speaker here is the Buddha. The translation is by Thanissaro Bhikkhu:

                  "Monks, I will teach you the Dhamma compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto. Listen & pay close attention. I will speak."

                  "As you say, lord," the monks responded to the Blessed One.

                  The Blessed One said: "Suppose a man were traveling along a path. He would see a great expanse of water, with the near shore dubious & risky, the further shore secure & free from risk, but with neither a ferryboat nor a bridge going from this shore to the other. The thought would occur to him, 'Here is this great expanse of water, with the near shore dubious & risky, the further shore secure & free from risk, but with neither a ferryboat nor a bridge going from this shore to the other. What if I were to gather grass, twigs, branches, & leaves and, having bound them together to make a raft, were to cross over to safety on the other shore in dependence on the raft, making an effort with my hands & feet?' Then the man, having gathered grass, twigs, branches, & leaves, having bound them together to make a raft, would cross over to safety on the other shore in dependence on the raft, making an effort with his hands & feet. Having crossed over to the further shore, he might think, 'How useful this raft has been to me! For it was in dependence on this raft that, making an effort with my hands & feet, I have crossed over to safety on the further shore. Why don't I, having hoisted it on my head or carrying it on my back, go wherever I like?' What do you think, monks: Would the man, in doing that, be doing what should be done with the raft?"

                  "No, lord."

                  "And what should the man do in order to be doing what should be done with the raft? There is the case where the man, having crossed over, would think, 'How useful this raft has been to me! For it was in dependence on this raft that, making an effort with my hands & feet, I have crossed over to safety on the further shore. Why don't I, having dragged it on dry land or sinking it in the water, go wherever I like?' In doing this, he would be doing what should be done with the raft. In the same way, monks, I have taught the Dhamma compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto. Understanding the Dhamma as taught compared to a raft, you should let go even of Dhammas, to say nothing of non-Dhammas."
                  Gassho,
                  Ben
                  SatToday

                  Comment

                  • Jakuden
                    Member
                    • Jun 2015
                    • 6141

                    #39
                    How can it be known if we have the "Zen Eye" by our answers to these questions?

                    Musing over this some more: Trying to answer "how I got here" could take one into thinking beyond thinking. Who is experiencing "here" or "there?" And what is the difference between starting out and arriving? There is only a separation in the thinking mind.

                    Gassho,
                    Jakuden
                    SatToday

                    Comment

                    • Jundo
                      Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                      • Apr 2006
                      • 41065

                      #40
                      Originally posted by Jakuden
                      How can it be known if we have the "Zen Eye" by our answers to these questions?
                      In the end, it is you who know (and "no you" who "no know" ). I have sometimes expressed the opinion that, if one reads the old Koan stories in which a student offers some witty answer and the teacher would pronounce them enlightened or not, it was not really the answer. It was not that the teacher knew that the student knew by the words, but more that the teacher knew that the student knew that the student knew by looking at the whole package. It was the master's observing the students way of expression and, more importantly, way of daily behavior ... the confidence, peace, at homeness in it. Then, it was that the teacher could see and sense by the students words and actions that the student knew that the student knew and was at rest. Understand? How does a master chef know that the disciple has herself become a master chef? By observing the naturalness of her behavior in the kitchen, the tone of her voice and skill of hand, not to mention the tastiness of what is served.

                      By the way, someone asked me how Koans are typically approached in Soto Zen in contrast to Rinzai and mixed Rinzai-Soto lineages (like those connected to Maezumi Roshi, Sambokyodan and others). I will cut and paste an old post below, a little long.

                      Gassho, J

                      Sat Today

                      ========================


                      Koan Introspection [Zazen] is a very wonderful method for those who benefit, and Shikantaza is not (in my opinion) the only legitimate method. I happen to believe that Shikantaza is a wondrous method which can benefit most people who truly understand its power and pursue such practice, but I am not so stubborn as to insist it must be for everyone. The discussion is not (at least for me) anything to do with what is the best or one true Practice.

                      As I stated above (and as Dr. Foulk notes), Dogen did engage in "Koan Introsprection" in the sense of dancing and piercing Koans, but not (most historians including Dr. Foulk agree) in the manner of "Koan Introspection Zazen" in the way of Dahui, holding a phrase of a Koan in mind such as "MU" in search of a particular Kensho experience.

                      The passage you mention is from Eihei-Koroku Vol 8., Dharma Words 14. Those pages seem to be a letter by Dogen to some lay people. The entire passage is about these lay folks, probably outside a monastic setting and trying to maintain a practice on their own, finding a teacher. Once they do, they should ask the teacher to give them a Koan.

                      Good gentleman, when you meet a teacher, first ask for one case of a [kōan] story, and keep it in mind and study it diligently. If you climb to the top of the mountain and dry up the oceans, you will not fail to complete [this study].
                      Taigen Leighton, the translator of the Eihei Koroku and many other Dogen writings, says about the above passage, "Unlike in the formal Rinzai curriculum, or the Koan study of Dahui, Dogen does not explicitly recommend the koan stories as objects of formal meditation, but offers them for general contemplation and intent study." Actually, the entirety of what Taigen has to say about Dogen and Koans is very informative, so I will print most of it below (from his Introduction to the Koroku http://www.wisdompubs.org/sites/defa...view/Dogen.pdf)

                      Gassho, J


                      -----------------

                      Dogen’s Use of Koans

                      Although Dogen claimed in Dharma hall discourse 48 that he returned
                      from China to Japan “with empty hands,” he brought with him an
                      extraordinary mastery of the extensive Chinese Chan koan literature. A
                      popular stereotype is that Japanese Rinzai Zen emphasizes koan practice
                      whereas Soto Zen emphasizes just sitting meditation, or zazen, and even
                      disdains koans. However, even a cursory reading of Dogen demonstrates
                      his frequent use of a very wide range of koans. Contrary to the stereotype,
                      as amply proved in Eihei Koroku along with his other writings, Dogen is
                      clearly responsible for introducing the koan literature to Japan, and in his
                      teaching he demonstrates how to bring this material alive.

                      One legend about Dogen is that on the night before he left China to
                      return home, with the help of a guardian deity he copied in one night the
                      entire Hekiganroku, or Blue Cliff Record, still one of the most important
                      koan anthologies, including one hundred cases with extensive commentary.
                      Whether or not he accomplished such a supernormal feat, Dogen
                      certainly brought to Japan not only that text but also an amazing encyclopedic
                      knowledge of the contents of many other such collections.

                      In the centuries after Dogen, koan study was often prominent in Soto
                      Zen history. But the modes of koan practice and study promoted by
                      Dogen, and in much of Soto Zen until the present, differ distinctly from
                      the modern Rinzai koan curriculum study, which emphasizes frequent
                      student interviews with the teacher after intent focus on the koan as an
                      object of formal meditation. This Rinzai koan system had its roots in the
                      teachings of Dahui, a Chinese Linji/Rinzai master in the century before
                      Dogen. The development of this koan system, especially as it was
                      informed by the great seventeenth-century Rinzai master Hakuin, has
                      often been seen in the West today, mistakenly, as the definition and limit
                      of “koan practice.” This has led to the erroneous belief that Dogen, or
                      Soto generally, does not use koan practice. Steven Heine’s excellent
                      detailed study, Dogen and the Koan Tradition, clearly elaborates the varying
                      modes of koan study and praxis employed by Dogen, as opposed to
                      the Rinzai approach.

                      Generally a koan—the word means “public case”—is a teaching story
                      primarily based on a dialogue or some other encounter between a teacher
                      and a student. The classic koan stories go back to the genres of the lamp
                      transmission anthology and the recorded sayings (Ch.: yulu; Jpn.: goroku),
                      mostly from the great masters of the Chinese Tang dynasty (608–907).
                      Many of these recorded sayings of individual masters were not actually
                      compiled until early in the Song dynasty (960–1278), which has led many
                      modern scholars to question their historical reliability. However, given
                      the strong monastic culture of memorization and oral transmission, we
                      cannot say definitively whether or not these stories are historically reliable.
                      But they have unquestionably served as useful tools for the realization of
                      awakening truth and spiritual development by generations of monks and
                      seekers throughout the past millennium.



                      In Eihei Koroku, Dogen follows and expands upon many traditional
                      modes of koan commentary. Volume 9, ninety koans selected by Dogen
                      with his own added verse comments, usually only four lines, features a
                      traditional poetic mode of commentary, patterned after the core of the
                      Blue Cliff Record and also followed in the Book of Serenity anthology.
                      This collection in Eihei Koroku, volume 9, is one of Dogen’s important
                      early efforts at koan commentary. Of course the many essays in Shobogenzo,
                      often with elaborated thematic responses to specific koans, display
                      one of Dogen’s distinctive approaches and major contributions to
                      koan commentary. ...

                      Informal meeting 9 features line-by-line interjected brief responses by
                      Dogen on Zhaozhou’s koan “The cypress tree in the garden.” This was
                      Zhaozhou’s response to a monk who asked what Buddha is. This case is
                      also cited by Dogen in his Dharma hall discourses 433 and 488. Such interlinear
                      commentary is a mode Dogen here adopts from similar responses
                      to the cases and primary verse commentaries in the Blue Cliff Record. In
                      the Dharma hall discourses, Dogen uses various other modes of comment
                      on this koan. In discourse 433 he praises Zhaozhou and questions his own
                      monks’ understanding; then, after a pause, he gives a poetic “capping
                      phrase,” another traditional mode of response to koans. In discourse 488
                      Dogen takes the same story and sharply criticizes common misunderstandings
                      of it, then offers the responses that he, Dogen, would give at
                      each part of the dialogue were he in the story, another traditional mode
                      of koan response from the Chinese Dharma hall discourses. This ends
                      with Dogen giving his own final response in the form of a four-line verse
                      comment, thereby mixing modes of commentary. In all these ways and
                      more, Dogen plays with these traditional Zen stories to bring forth fresh
                      teaching and enlivening awareness for his students.

                      One difference between Dogen’s use of koan study and a stereotypical
                      modern view of koan practice can be found in his critique of kensho as a
                      goal. This term, which means “seeing the nature,” has been understood
                      at times to refer to an opening experience of attainment of realization,
                      going beyond conceptual thinking. Dogen believes that this is a dualistic
                      misunderstanding and such experiences are not to be emphasized. For
                      Dogen, Buddha nature is not an object to merely see or acquire, but a
                      mode of being that must be actually lived and expressed. All realizations
                      or understandings, even those from Dogen’s own comments, must be let
                      go, as he stresses to a student in Dharma word 4: “If you hold on to a single
                      word or half a phrase of the buddha ancestors’ sayings or of the koans
                      from the ancestral gate, they will become dangerous poisons. If you want
                      to understand this mountain monk’s activity, do not remember these
                      comments. Truly avoid being caught up in thinking.”

                      Unlike in the formal Rinzai curriculum, or the koan study of Dahui,
                      Dogen does not explicitly recommend the koan stories as objects of formal
                      meditation, but offers them for general contemplation and intent
                      study. For example, in the last Dharma word, 14, Dogen says: “When
                      you meet a teacher, first ask for one case of a [koan] story, and just keep
                      it in mind and study it diligently…. Now I see worldly people who visit
                      and practice with teachers, and before clarifying one question, assertively
                      enjoy bringing up other stories. They withdraw from the discussion as if
                      they understand, but are close-mouthed and cannot speak. They have not
                      yet explained one third of the story, so how will we see a complete saying?”

                      In addition to study of the traditional koan stories, in Eihei Koroku
                      Dogen also emphasizes the approach of genjokoan, “full manifestation of
                      ultimate reality,” or attention to the koans manifesting in everyday activity.
                      In this approach, each everyday phenomenon or challenge arising
                      before us can be intently engaged, to be realized and fully expressed. “Genjokoan”
                      is the name of one of Dogen’s most famous essays, now thought
                      of as part of Shobogenzo. But he uses this term and expresses this
                      approach elsewhere in his writings, including in Eihei Koroku. For example,
                      in Dharma hall discourse 60 Dogen says: “Everybody should just
                      wholeheartedly engage in this genjokoan.What is this genjokoan? It is just
                      all buddhas in the ten directions and all ancestors, ancient and present,
                      and it is fully manifesting right now. Do you all see it? It is just
                      our…getting up and getting down from the sitting platform.”

                      ...
                      Last edited by Jundo; 05-18-2016, 05:26 PM.
                      ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                      Comment

                      • Jundo
                        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
                        • Apr 2006
                        • 41065

                        #41
                        Originally posted by Ben
                        When I read that passage about worldly dharmas and Buddhadharma, I was reminded of something Brad Warner (in Chapter 15 of Don't Be A Jerk, "Hearing Weird Stuff Late at Night") writes about Dogen writing about. To quote Warner: "[Dogen] believed that nature could often explain the dharma to people better than people could explain it to each other through words."

                        Like FaithMoon, when reading the main case, I also thought of the the simile of the raft. For those unfamiliar with it, here it is from the Alagaddupama Sutta, which concerns how one should relate to the Buddhadharma. The first speaker here is the Buddha. The translation is by Thanissaro Bhikkhu:
                        Sorry, it will be a day for long cut and pastes and Dogen quotes.

                        Some Dogenologists have pointed out that Dogen's view of constant "Practice-Enlightenment" implies that the raft is never put down ... all while also simulataneously () it arrives and arrives constantly at the "other shore" (even while still on this shore and mid-river! ). Here is from an older post:

                        ==============

                        A traditional Buddhist image is that one wishes to cross the river or ocean on a raft of Practice to get from this shore of "ignorance" to the other shore of "enlightenment".

                        But Master Dogen has a rather interesting view on such. He pointed out that this side of the water, the middle of the water and the other shore are all the water, Buddha ... that the whole voyage of beginning middle and end is arriving at Buddha ... and that one never should put down the raft of Practice even when reaching the other shore!

                        Dogen wrote ...

                        The principle of zazen in other schools is to wait for enlightenment. For example, to practice is like crossing over a great ocean on a raft, thinking that having crossed the ocean one should discard the raft. The zazen of Buddha-ancestors is not like this, but is simply Buddha’s practice. We could say that the situation of Buddha’s house is the one in which the essence, practice, and expounding are one and the same. (Eihei Koroku, vol. 8:11)
                        Taigen Dan Leighton puts it this way ...

                        In many traditional branches of Buddhism, meditation practice may eventually lead to enlightenment. Dogen states that some people even practice "like having crossed over a great ocean on a raft, thinking that upon crossing the ocean one should discard the raft. The zazen of our Buddha ancestors is not like this, but is simply Buddha's practice." In this common Buddhist simile of the raft, once one reaches the other shore of liberation the raft (e.g. of meditative practice) is no longer needed. But Dogen implies that the practitioner should continue to carry the raft, even while trudging up into the mountains or down into the marketplace.

                        For Dogen zazen is not waiting for enlightenment, but simply the practice of buddhas. This practice is not to acquire something in some other time, or in another state of consciousness or being. It is actually the practice of enlightenment or realization right now.
                        http://www.ancientdragon.org/dharma/...actment_ritual
                        and

                        I think we easily tend to think that this practice eventually may be something like, if I wait long enough, I'll be enlightened. If I put enough hours into sitting on this cushion, or enough lifetimes, some day, somewhere, when you least expect it, there it will be, the big Enlightenment.

                        So he says: "The principle of zazen in other schools is to wait for enlightenment."

                        In many branches of Buddhism you may hear about practicing and eventually reaching enlightenment. But here Dogen criticizes that. He says, for example, some people practice like having crossed over a great ocean on a raft, thinking that upon crossing the ocean one should discard the raft. That's very sensible, right? Maybe some of you have heard this simile of the raft, that once we reach the other shore we don't need the raft any more. But actually Dogen says to please carry the raft with you, as you trudge up into the mountains.

                        The zazen of our Buddha ancestors is not like waiting for enlightenment, but is simply Buddha's practice.

                        So this practice we do is not practice to get something, some so-called enlightenment somewhere else, in some other time, in some other state of mind. This is not practice to get higher, or reach some other state of consciousness or being. This is actually the practice of our enlightenment and realization right now. And enlightenment and realization, naturally, leads to practice. There is no enlightenment that is not actually put into practice. Then it would just be some idea of enlightenment; it wouldn't be the actual enlightenment. So each of you is practicing your realization right now. Each of you is realizing your practice right now. This is simply Buddha's practice.

                        http://www.ancientdragon.org/dharma/...ion_expression
                        Rev. Kenshu Sugawara writes ...

                        [I]n Fukanzazengi Zen Master Dogen points out the example of Shakyamuni Buddha who sat upright zazen for six years, although he was wise enough to know the Buddha Dharma at birth. He also mentions Bodhidharma, who sat facing a wall for nine years after coming to China though he had already attained the mind-seal. Dogen stresses that Buddha-ancestors do not practice zazen as a means to an end.

                        Therefore, as is said in Gakudo Yojinshu, “Realization lies in practice.” Enlightenment is clearly manifested in the Buddha-ancestors’ zazen. In the same vein, in Bendowa Zen Master Dogen wrote, “To suppose that practice and realization are not one is a view of those outside the way. In Buddha Dharma they are inseparable.” He states that when instructing beginners we must teach them not to expect realization outside of practice. Practice is the immediate, original realization. The practice of beginner’s mind is itself the entire original realization. ...

                        In other schools zazen is a means to gain enlightenment. Like a raft, it is no longer useful when the goal is achieved. Some people boast about their experiences of great enlightenment and kensho. If their zazen practice regresses because of such an experience, that experience is nothing but a delusion that becomes a hindrance to the continuation of practice.

                        Zen Master Dogen says that the zazen of the Buddha-ancestors is Buddha’s practice. It is a very simple and plain practice of just continuing to sit, letting go of our views. Such zazen embodies the “situation of Buddha’s house” in which the essence (foundation/enlightenment), expounding (explaining the Dharma) and practice are one and the same. Therefore, there is no need to seek the Buddha outside zazen. Zazen is not a practice that produces a Buddha-ancestor but an action causing the Buddha-ancestors to live as Buddha-ancestors. The Buddha-ancestors are beings who have already clarified all kinds of enlightenment and psychological states. They have nothing more to gain, nothing more to realize. When zazen is valued as a practice performed by those Buddha-ancestors, the content of that zazen is called “nothing to attain nothing to enlighten” (Shobogenzo Zuimonki , book 6).

                        When there is nothing to be gained, nothing to be realized, sitting zazen is “body-mind dropping off (shinjin datsuraku).” Body-mind dropping off is not a wonderful psychological state to be gained as a result of sitting zazen. Rather, zazen itself is nothing but “body-mind dropping off.” It is to escape all kinds of clinging. When we sit zazen, our body-mind naturally drops off and the true Dharma manifests.
                        http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/...ey_terms01.pdf
                        So, what raft? No raft! Ever raft! Sail on!

                        Gassho, J

                        SatToday
                        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

                        Comment

                        • Jakuden
                          Member
                          • Jun 2015
                          • 6141

                          #42

                          Thank you Jundo! So much to learn!

                          I was being a little facetious about the "Zen Eye" thing. Am far from being a master chef, but content to be in cooking school.

                          Gassho,
                          Jakuden
                          SatToday

                          Comment

                          • Amelia
                            Member
                            • Jan 2010
                            • 4980

                            #43
                            Thank you Jundo, a lot to drop and/ or carry up the mountain today.

                            Gassho, sat today
                            求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
                            I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

                            Comment

                            • Kaishin
                              Member
                              • Dec 2010
                              • 2322

                              #44
                              Will sit with it

                              -satToday
                              Thanks,
                              Kaishin (開心, Open Heart)
                              Please take this layman's words with a grain of salt.

                              Comment

                              • Jwroberts27
                                Member
                                • Jun 2014
                                • 19

                                #45
                                Thank you all for a stimulating conversation.

                                I'm reminded of a line in one of Ryokan's poems that goes something like, "unless you got lost on purpose, you would never get this far". I see this as related to the koan in topic.

                                The implication is that there is an ongoing path of (non)discovery: of intuiting buddhanature, rather than conceptualizing it. Like Buddha and Bodhidharma who sat after awakening, they utilized their vehicle (meditation) to manifest this intuition. The point is you never arrive at the other shore, because to arrive there is to conceptualize it as something separate from yourself, which it cannot be. This is why ongoing practice is important. The moment we say to ourselves that we reached a point in our understanding, we have demonstrated that we are deluding ourselves. You have to keep getting lost on purpose, by decentering your perceived understanding, with ongoing practice. As one of our four vows states, "I vow to transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible".

                                There is no coming or going because everything is in flux. WE are not products, but processes of transformation. This seems to me to be the nature of ongoing transformation: worldly dharma (the practice of zen) enlightens, but recognizing this "enlightenment" is buddhadharma's delusion. And so we get back into our vehicle on our way to noplace (buddhadharma in performance, rather than as a representation of something outside us).

                                At this point in my (representational) understanding I would have to say, I got here by worldly dharma.
                                Q: Where did you park your car?
                                A: Who said I ever turned off the ignition and got out?

                                Gassho

                                Sat Today

                                *Apologies, I don't have the complete case 51, since I am waiting on my copy in the mail.
                                Last edited by Jwroberts27; 05-19-2016, 01:16 AM.
                                Gassho,
                                John
                                sattoday

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