BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 59

[Jundo]

Case 58 never ends, and so we slither to Case 59, Seirin's Deadly Snake ...

Another Koan which plays with that which can neither come nor go (even as it comes and goes) ... right through "life and death" in a world of life and death ... that which can never be found or lost even as we bump right into it.

The English expression which comes to mind is, "Ya wouldn't know it even if it bit ya on the ass" ... and it is your ass too!

This life is the place where the rubber (snake ) meets the road.

I am reminded of a couple of other traditional snake metaphors in Buddhism ...

There are the blind men who each grab a different part of the elephant, and the one holding the trunk says, "It is very like a snake".

There is the man who confused a robe with a snake ... many versions, here is one ...

There is an old Buddhist parable that tells of a man walking home one evening. In the half-light he sees on the path a snake apparently crossing in front of him. He starts and jerks himself away, heart beating fast, wide-eyed and alert. Peering closely he suddenly realises that he was mistaken, in fact it is an old piece of rope! Relieved and laughing to himself at his foolishness he goes to step over it and glancing down suddenly realises the rope is a string of jewels.

There is an old Buddhist Sutta in which the Buddha cautions that approaching and applying the Teachings incorrectly is like grabbing a poison snake from the wrong end!

"Suppose, monks, a man wants a snake, looks for a snake, goes in search of a snake. He then sees a large snake, and with a forked stick he holds it firmly down. Having done so he catches it firmly by the neck. Then although the snake might entwine with (the coils of) its body that man's hand or arm or some other limb of his, still he does not on that account suffer death or deadly pain. And why not? Because of his right grasp of the snake.

"Similarly, O monks, there are here some noble sons who study the Teaching; and having learned it, they examine wisely the purpose of those teachings. To those who wisely examine the purpose, these teachings will yield insight. They do not study the Teaching for the sake of criticizing nor for refuting others in disputation. They experience the purpose for which they study the Teaching; and to them these teachings being rightly grasped, will bring welfare and happiness for a long time. And why? Because of their right grasp of the teachings.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/a.../wheel048.html

The appreciatory verse on boating somehow seems a bit out of place in all this "snake" talk ... but is also might be about coming and going, gently poling, all intermingling, the moonlight of wisdom hazily illuminating. We had an early "boat" koan about coming with no place to come or go ... Koan 51 ...

Attention! Hogen asked Kaku Joza, "Did you come by boat or by land?" Kaku Joza replied, "By boat." Hogen said, "Where is the boat?" Kaku answered, "The boat is in the river." After Kaku left, Hogen asked the monk beside him, "Tell me: Did that monk who was just here have the Zen eye or not?"

Could that monk see the snake or not?

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Myosha]

Hello,

"Could that monk see the snake or not? "

Yes


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[Kokuu]

Hi all

The pivotal part of the koan for me is in the preface:

Not leaving, not dwelling, he is without a country. Where can he be met? Anywhere. Everywhere.

This reminds me of the second verse of the Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Togme Zangpo:

Attraction to those close to you catches you in its currents;
Aversion to those who oppose you burns inside;
Indifference that ignores what needs to be done is a black hole.
Leave your homeland — this is the practice of a bodhisattva.

Why is Shukke Tokudo also known as homeleaving? It is clearly about leaving ones physical home to go into a monastery but I think it goes deeper than that. Leaving home is to leave behind the certainty that our brains love. It is to have beginner's mind/don't know mind. Is that a snake? I don't know. Even if it is a snake our minds immediately want to push all our projections onto it and react with fear, whether it is a poisonous snake or not, a young snake, an injured snake, a snake just going about its business with no intent on harming us in any way. Snake is just a collection of all the ideas and stories we have about a snake rather than observing and seeing how that particular manifestation of snake is.

Not knowing is most intimate.

As soon as we attach certainty, we lose it. Some people fear snakes, some want to pick them up and hold them. Neither has anything to do with the snake.

That said, we would be foolish not to warn a child if we see a snake (or even think we see a snake) near where she is playing.

If you call this a staff, you deny its eternal life.
If you do not call this a staff, you deny its present fact.
Tell me just what do you propose to call it?

When I read or listen to The Heart Sutra, what strikes me is that it seems to take away all our handholds, even the Buddhist ones we usually rely on.

No ignorance, no end of ignorance, no old age and death, no end of old age and death. No suffering, nor cause or end to suffering, no path no wisdom and no gain.

I see us as cast adrift in the pool of experience in which we have to relate to the water just as it is and not from the comfort of the solidity of thinking we know based on our projections. Thoughts and actions arise and then pass.

This is true about the way as well. I find as soon as I think I know about something to do with Zen, life has a way of showing me that I don't. Impermanence is fine to understand in theory but the reality is completely different. Let go your ideas and the way opens up.

Don't bump into the sides or try to hold onto them or you lose your life. Leave home and you meet it everywhere.

Just ramblings from the archives of oblivion.

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday and someone might have put something in my tea...

[Hoko]

I guess I'll take a turn at pinning the poisonous snake to the ground with my fork!

“You will meet a deadly snake on the great road. I advise you, do not run into it.”
SO to meet the poisonous snake and lose your life seems to mean to see reality as it is and in doing so lose the "small self".

“Precisely at such a time, what then?” Seirin said, “It is lost.”
At "such and such a time" means at a specific time. As reality simply is and time IS being (a la Dogen's Uji) then to say "at a specific time" means to enter the phenomenal world of linear time at which point you no longer view ineffable reality (the poisonous snake) as-it-is and thus "it is lost".

“I wonder where it is gone.” Seirin said, “The grass is so deep, there is no place to look for it.”
You can't actively look for it with the intellectual mind. There's too much crap (judgments, emotions, thoughts aka "grass") getting in the way.

“You too, Master, must be watchful in order to get it.” Seirin clapped his hands and said, “This fellow is equally poisonous.”
I think this is a compliment. If the monk is "poisonous" then he has the inherent ability to "kill the self".

Not sure about the Verse tho.

These are fun to read!
Gassho,
-K2

#SatToday

[Jundo]

I guess I'll take a turn at pinning the poisonous snake to the ground with my fork!

“You will meet a deadly snake on the great road. I advise you, do not run into it.”
SO to meet the poisonous snake and lose your life seems to mean to see reality as it is and in doing so lose the "small self".

“Precisely at such a time, what then?” Seirin said, “It is lost.”
At "such and such a time" means at a specific time. As reality simply is and time IS being (a la Dogen's Uji) then to say "at a specific time" means to enter the phenomenal world of linear time at which point you no longer view ineffable reality (the poisonous snake) as-it-is and thus "it is lost".

“I wonder where it is gone.” Seirin said, “The grass is so deep, there is no place to look for it.”
You can't actively look for it with the intellectual mind. There's too much crap (judgments, emotions, thoughts aka "grass") getting in the way.

“You too, Master, must be watchful in order to get it.” Seirin clapped his hands and said, “This fellow is equally poisonous.”
I think this is a compliment. If the monk is "poisonous" then he has the inherent ability to "kill the self".

Not sure about the Verse tho.

These are fun to read!
Gassho,
-K2

#SatToday

Hi Kliff,

Good to have you back.

Your responses seem a bit analytical, describing the snake with words and ideas. but without feeling the poison of actually being bit.

Gassho, Jundo

SatToday

[Hoko]

Hi Kliff,

Good to have you back.

Your responses seem a bit analytical, describing the snake with words and ideas. but without feeling the poison of actually being bit.

Gassho, Jundo

SatToday

Thank you for your insight!
I will stop beating the reeds for snakes and get back to walking along the narrow path.

Gassho,
-K2

#SatToday

[Onkai]

This koan seems to me to be about inner struggle, maybe the struggle between the ego and the true self. Like Kokuu said of the Heart Sutra, it takes away all certainty. But then "Shield yourself, Osho! Then you'll be all right!" is that meant to be ironic? Or am I reading it all wrong?

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

[Kokuu]

Salutations

Apologies for chiming in again but I think I have gone slightly deeper (although doubtless still thrashing hopelessly about in the shallows).

The dead snake on the road seems like the words of previous masters. Listen to them, learn from them but don't cling to them lest you lose your life. The path is yours and yours alone and even Master Mazu cannot give you a home.

"Shield yourself, Osho" may refer to not reading scripture but even that is poisonous advice. Beyond words and scriptures includes book learning.

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday

[Jakuden]

I feel like I am constantly worrying about running into this dead snake. I like snakes. If I would just let go and allow the snake to be me without fighting it, then the struggle would end. As to being in a boat--there are water snakes too. No method of transportation will result in coming to or going away from the snake, it is in the boat with us.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tairin]

I find this part of the koan intriguing.... "The grass is so deep there's no place to seek". It is seemingly contradictory. In deep grass you would think there are lots of places to look. Admittedly playing off the commentary, I think of "the grass is so deep" as a reference to boundlessness refers to everything, every place, every experience yet "there's no place to seek" is a reminder to avoid grasping and be present in this place, in this moment. Maybe despite the boundlessness it is all right here, right now?

Admittedly this koan isn't making a whole lot of sense to me. We have a dead, deadly snake that is lying on the road. If you touch it you lose your life and you can't dodge it. It has a certain fatalism to it.

Still contemplating.........

Gassho
Warren
Sat today

[Jundo]

I find this part of the koan intriguing.... "The grass is so deep there's no place to seek". It is seemingly contradictory. In deep grass you would think there are lots of places to look. Admittedly playing off the commentary, I think of "the grass is so deep" as a reference to boundlessness refers to everything, every place, every experience yet "there's no place to seek" is a reminder to avoid grasping and be present in this place, in this moment. Maybe despite the boundlessness it is all right here, right now?

Admittedly this koan isn't making a whole lot of sense to me. We have a dead, deadly snake that is lying on the road. If you touch it you lose your life and you can't dodge it. It has a certain fatalism to it.

Still contemplating.........

Gassho
Warren
Sat today

Dogen Zenji in Shobogenzo-Uji (Being-Time) ...

Know that in this way there are myriads of forms and hundreds of grasses throughout the entire earth, and yet each grass and each form itself is the entire earth. The study of this is the beginning of practice. When you are at this place, there is just one grass, there is just one form; there is understanding of form and no-understanding of form; there is understanding of grass and no-understanding of grass. Since there is nothing but just this moment, the time-being is all the time there is. Grass-being, form-being are both time. Each moment is all being, is the entire world. Reflect now whether any being or any world is left out of the present moment.

http://www.thezensite.com/ZenTeachin.../Uji_Welch.htm

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jishin]

I think koans generally point to right action. In order to get to right action, one needs to see clearly. In order to see clearly, one needs to become empty and reflect reality as it is. This is done through intellectual understanding but realized through practice. In the Soto tradition it is by sitting and chopping wood and carrying water.

That said, where does this koan or any koan fit within the framework described above? If the answer is not immediately apparent I would not waste any time with the particular koan. Just chop wood and carry water. This is always the ultimate answer anyways. Chop wood, carry water, when hungry eat, when tired sleep. Wash your bowls and drink tea if you have any questions.

An answer is not apparent to me to the above koan. My dogs just shit and pissed all over the house this morning because it was raining last night and we brought them in early so they would not get wet. So I will chop wood, carry water, clean up the mess and get ready for work.

Just my 2 cents.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Matt]

I am getting back to these koans after having taken some time off from our readings. Trying to be more disciplined about my study and practice.

"You're turning away from that black jewel at your feet and looking toward that sky that's filled with anxiety. You're creating something where nothing exists."

I create all kinds of threatening snakes in my mind on a regular basis.

In fact, the snake is a snake. Nothing more, nothing less.

No need to add anything to it, to make it more or less dangerous than it is.

Gassho,
Matt
#SatToday

[Risho]

I think this is a tricky one, maybe more subtle, sort of like practice. This seems to be playing with form and emptiness/ relative vs absolute; I think I've got it one moment, but when its put a different way I realize oh wow I do not have anything at all. I like these koans because they express this inexpressible in many different ways so that one day, even boneheads like me will see it.

How do I save the sentient beings? How do I gain enlightenment? There's nothing to seek, you cannot gain what you are..... When we start practice, we are examining the words from our normal dichotomy so we think Im lacking, or I need to save those separate beings, or if I help that old lady cross the street Ill be Super Buddha! But thats not quite right and yet we still need to do things to become better, to do better. We still need to help people. Both at the same time!

And yet, I'm a seeker because I am still a beginner; these are just words, but I'm thankful that I realize this work is never done. There is nowhere to go, its right here yet we have to get lost to realize that; practice is enlightenment. The black jewel is right here, it is me but I dont know that without searching and getting distance from it; thats the rub.

This life is dynamic, something we are, not something to grab after. I dont know if Im making sense lol. But the point Dogen makes about the wise person seeing others as himself or in Genjokoan how we let things realize us is pointing to this. I go through life trying to impart my will on things. Thats very closed.

If I listen and open and stop listening to the weeds in my mind, that is when Im truly engaged in life, letting life live me, which it really does anyway but my self centered mind blocks me off from, then the snake gets me. The small closed off self gives way to something bigger and connected; I mean its aleays there anyway but how often do I see it?

The precepts all point to thus, but how often do I close off in greed, anger and ignorance. Its a constant practice be ause those things, thise habits are always there; that past karma takes time to dissipate.

"The ferryman in darkness turns the rudder." I feel that is pointing toward that subtly, the merging of self and other but still acknowledging self and other, at the same time! This is completely different from our normal me vs everyone or my tribe and your tribe, which is unfortunately something that has been happening a lot lately.

Watch out! Dont bump into it even while there is nothing to bump into. That bumping is good; it reminds me to keep practicing.

Gassho

Risho
-sattoday

[Eishuu]

I really struggled with this koan. The only sense I could make of it was that thinking you could 'proceed' (ie get somewhere, progress) results in a dead snake hitting the road (ie you've killed it, you've created separation). If you bump into the snake, instead of trying to 'proceed' or get somewhere, then you die or your ego dies and there is no separation - I take bumping into it as being present with reality rather than searching or hiding. When it's not bumped into to there is no where to go, the snake is still present and everywhere even if you are not aware of it - it has in one sense 'been lost' but of course it can never really be lost. I like the phrase "The grass is so deep there's no place to seek" - that seems like a koan in itself - it does somthing funny to my mind, suggesting 2 concepts at once which don't quite make sense together - I think it's suggesting suchness. Anyway, just my attempt to grasp the ungraspable.

I really enjoyed all your reflections and comments, thank you all.

Gassho
Lucy
Sat today