BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 53

[Jundo]

Case 52 never ends, and so we look to Case 53, Obaku's Dregs ...

https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WTU6AwAAQBAJ&dq=book+of+equanimity+case+53&q=dregs+tigers+buffaloes#v=snippet&q=dregs%20tigers%20buffaloes&f=false

Obaku was a great Zen Teacher in China who offered many Teachings to his many students, including, "there are no Teachers". What could he mean? Shishin Wick (another Teacher) offers a very good commentary. One might say that Zen cannot be "taught" because the student must do all the heavy lifting and climbing, and the "Teacher" is more like a spotter and coach in the gym or a guidepost pointing the general direction. Zen Teachings are also not something that one gets from a book sitting in an armchair, but must be learned and cultivated through one's own Practice.

One might also say that aspects of Zen cannot be taught by a "Teacher" to "Students" because there are aspects so whole that not the slightest separation of subject and object, teacher/teaching/student ... so no thing to be a "teaching," and nobody to teach or be taught it (see our last couple of Koans on the Dharmakaya on non-boat boats and wells that see donkeys!) Still, Zen teachers talk out of both sides of their no-sided mouth, so saying that there are no teachers/teachings/students does -not- mean that there are not also teachers/teachings/students ... including the "teaching" that there both are and are not teachers/teachings/students. This may also be the double meaning of the preamble on "not seeing Buddha" (is it because one misses the point, or because there is no Buddha who is separate from you to see?) and the sword that cuts heaven and earth into pieces. The appreciatory verse is also filled with images of divided and separate things ... split roads, threads of a cloth, leaves and flowers, tangles, shards and hairs, measuring scales and rulers. However, Zen symbols like the bright mirror and the golden sword of "Wisdom" actually work to unite what is separate ... for all individual things become one within the image of the clear mirror, and the sword "unrends" what is two. To the wise eye, the separate thread becomes the whole tapestry (that image appeared in our last Koan too), the flowers the whole garden, and heaven-earth just one, all roads lead here etc. The sword uncuts, the golden and jeweled ruler and scale unweigh and non-measure!

The "cloud and water inscribing tool on the potters wheel" surely refers to novice monks in training (called "unsui", clouds and water, in Zen lingo) who are being formed like pottery by the potter (but are "wheel" "potter" and "vessel" one or three?) The reference to getting a handle on Southerners might refer to this famous dialogue when the future 6th Ancestor (from the Southern "boondocks" of Lingnan China, considered an ignorant backwater) first met his teacher Hung-jen. ...

"The priest Hung-jen asked me: 'Where are you from that you come to this mountain to make obeisance to me? Just what is it that you are looking for from me?'

I replied: 'I am from Ling-nan, a commoner from Hsin-chou. I have come this long distance only to make obeisance to you. I am seeking no particular thing, but only the Buddhadharma.'

The Master then reproved me, saying: 'If you're from Ling-nan then you're a barbarian. How can you become a Buddha?'

I replied: 'Although people from the south and people from the north differ, there is no north and south in Buddha nature. Although my barbarian's body and your body are not the same, what difference
is there in our Buddha nature?'

Shishin also points out that the best teachers and teachings are sure to be often so disappointing. If that is the case, I must be an excellent teacher, and the above a fine teaching!

Do you have a Teaching to offer?

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jishin]

Do you have a Teaching to offer?

I could stomp the ground, hit the teacher or just be silent. But these are incomplete answers. They stop at emptiness.

It's a beatifull night in New Mexico. Two good friends, my wife and two children came down to visit for a long weekend. We brought four of our dogs and they love running free and barking at the neighbor's dog. Not a sound outside to be heard. Night sky littered with stars. It's 1:00 am. Time for sleep. Good night.



Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

Yeah.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Myosha]

Hello,

Taught the children to not shit their pants.

Then . . .

It's all up to realization.

Realize.

Don't realize.

If knowing where to find a bathroom . . . you're o.k.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

P.S. Thank you to veterans. Happy Memorial Day.

[Onkai]

Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Amelia]

If I manage to teach anyone anything, it wouldn't be up to me. Same goes for the morning star that taught Buddha... I think...

Gassho, sat today

[FaithMoon]

Suffering and the end of suffering.

FaithMoon
st

[Eishuu]

This reminds me of the image of the finger pointing at the moon. The teacher and teaching can only ever be the finger pointing. The moon is always there and must be experienced directly.

That's what occurs to me on first reading.

Gassho
Lucy
Sat today

[Kokuu]

I remember a story of when a man went to see a Buddhist lecture and didn’t understand much of what was said but knew that the priest talking was his teacher when he gently picked up a glass of water and slowly and deliberately put it to his lips, his concentration on that one thing alone as he gently and respectfully replaced it on the table.

Our whole lives are a teaching and if we look around, the whole world is also teaching us, from the shining light reflecting off summer leaves to the gentle song of the blackbird singing into the June wind, even the rattle of an old car engine and crisp packet blown about by the breeze.

“You must understand that in Buddhism the stress falls on the truth or falsity of the training-not on the excellence or mediocrity of the teaching or the depth or shallowness of the principle. In times past, men were drawn to Buddhism by grass, flowers, mountains, and water. Some received the Buddha seal by grasping dirt, stones, sand, and pebbles. The dimensionless letters overflow all forms, and we can hear the sermon now in a speck of dust.”
-- Shobogenzo Bendowa

At a more conventional level, each member of this sangha is teaching all of the others, and Jundo might even get something out of our words now and again! His guidance and words keep us all on track.

During Zazen, however, all ideas of teachings, teachers, master and student fall away to leave just this. At that time, there is nothing to be taught and no one left to teach.

Deep bows to all my teachers
Kokuu
#sattoday

[Amelia]

I remember a story of when a man went to see a Buddhist lecture and didn’t understand much of what was said but knew that the priest talking was his teacher when he gently picked up a glass of water and slowly and deliberately put it to his lips, his concentration on that one thing alone as he gently and respectfully replaced it on the table.

Our whole lives are a teaching and if we look around, the whole world is also teaching us, from the shining light reflecting off summer leaves to the gentle song of the blackbird singing into the June wind, even the rattle of an old car engine and crisp packet blown about by the breeze.

“You must understand that in Buddhism the stress falls on the truth or falsity of the training-not on the excellence or mediocrity of the teaching or the depth or shallowness of the principle. In times past, men were drawn to Buddhism by grass, flowers, mountains, and water. Some received the Buddha seal by grasping dirt, stones, sand, and pebbles. The dimensionless letters overflow all forms, and we can hear the sermon now in a speck of dust.”
-- Shobogenzo Bendowa

At a more conventional level, each member of this sangha is teaching all of the others, and Jundo might even get something out of our words now and again! His guidance and words keep us all on track.

During Zazen, however, all ideas of teachings, teachers, master and student fall away to leave just this. At that time, there is nothing to be taught and no one left to teach.

Deep bows to all my teachers
Kokuu
#sattoday

Thank you, Kokuu, this is what I meant by my previous post.

Gassho, sat today

[TyZa]

Reminds me of Case 1: "The World-Honored One ascended the platform and took his seat. Manjushri struck the sounding post and said: 'When you realize the Dharma-King's Dharma, the Dharma-King's Dharma is just as is.' At that, the World-Honored One descended from the platform." It seems sometimes our teachers don't really "teach" as the term is usually meant.

Likewise, the people we tend to view as "anti-teachers" (horrible bosses, bad neighbors, or "evil" people) are in fact teachers. They can teach us how not to act and give us practice cultivating compassion for people who we don't "like" (they are suffering too). However, we can only let those people become our teachers if we change something inside of ourselves to learn from them as teachers. So, they are aren't teachers but they are if we have the right understanding (and yet they still really aren't teachers).

That's just what immediately came to mind upon reading this Koan.

Gassho,
Tyler.

SatToday

[Tom]

Likewise, the people we tend to view as "anti-teachers" (horrible bosses, bad neighbors, or "evil" people) are in fact teachers. They can teach us how not to act and give us practice cultivating compassion for people who we don't "like" (they are suffering too). However, we can only let those people become our teachers if we change something inside of ourselves to learn from them as teachers. So, they are aren't teachers but they are if we have the right understanding (and yet they still really aren't teachers).

This is the teaching for me today. Gassho. SatToday.

[Tairin]

I've been struggling with this one. In the past when working with a koan I usually latch on to one aspect, one phrase that resonates with me but so far nothing has resonated, not even in the commentary... but tonight I considered the ".. there are no Zen teachers". In the past when I've "studied" Zen I read about it as an academic. Heck I even took a university course in Oriental Philosophy that included a section on Zen. The books I read were by Western academics with possibly little practical knowledge of Zen. This past year, with a little help from a local Zen Centre, I took up a daily Zen practice and what I am finding is that Zen truly does require an actual practice. As Jundo has said elsewhere, you can read about swimming but at some point you need to jump in the water. My daily zazen. My daily reminders to be mindful and present. My daily reminders to appreciate what is rather than wishing it was something else. Maybe I am the teacher? What I am finding is that while there is a lot of guidance available what I am truly learning is what I learn through practice.

Or maybe I am just deluding myself.

Gassho
Warren
sat today

[Toun]

I am reading this Koan from so many different angles and this is what’s resonating with me…

One of the first things that came to mind was the “guru complex” where we are desperate to find a teacher that can somehow give us the magic bullet to find instant salvation or enlightenment with absolutely no strings attached and little effort on our part. This can lead to the idolization of a guru/teacher, which in my opinion might not be a good thing and can lead to a great amount of suffering.

I recall participating in a retreat and hearing a person speak of their experience of going to Tibet because she wanted to find peace of mind and a true teacher who would lead her to enlightenment. She was disillusioned with attitudes she found in the west and for her, reaching Tibet would be the embodiment of everything she was looking for. Ironically, when reaching the Tibetan plateau she noticed that the same attitudes she was fleeing from also existed right there.

There are no teachers yet we find them in the most unexpected of places: the homeless man on the street, the smile of a passerby, the rustle of the leaves, the patter of the rain, a dramatic sunset, the cat lying at my feet and the drip from the faucet . Buddha nature is found all around us and yet we run here and there looking for our idyllic dream boat.

There are no teachers and yet they are right in front of us. Don’t run, be still and realize your own enlightenment through the emptiness of pure awareness. On the other side of the coin finding a teacher can help us fine tune our practice, avoid pitfalls and aid us as we recognize our Buddha nature. Thank you Jundo!

Oh well… just my thoughts running around as I’m becoming a little delusional with this koan.
Many wonderful comments, many teachers, no need to go to China or Tibet for that matter.

Gassho to all
Mike

Sat2day