6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

[Taylor]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

The nirm??ak?ya of Buddha passed on the light, and spread the dharma onwards. In time, it reached us.

The dharmak?ya of Buddha was already there, had already passed on the light, and is shining through all of us in this very moment. "In truth -- for what could go wrong?"

??? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????

Everyone wandering around in a dark room. Shakyamuni was tall enough to reach the switch, Mahakashyapa was the only who noticed the light had come on; he smiled.

Gassho

[Taigu]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Raising a flower and smiling, this is clearly not choosing words. That’s why transmission in Zen is seen outside words and letters, in the total intimacy of this.
Shobogenzo. The display of ancestors names on the shiho, the transmission silk, a written document given by the teacher during Denpo, the transmission ceremony, looks like an eye, or a flower with countless petals.Here and now the first transmission takes place, it is clearly the matrix of numberless before and after.
Hixon insists on the very simple and naked experience, what Eika pointed out in a previous post, the transmission process requires to let go, throw away body and mind on the mat, zagu,(bowing mats) touching, many bows, and in every single one, teacher and student turn into each other.
In our tradition, we receive before being given anything, so it is always: jukai before jukai ( precepts ceremony), shukke tokudo ( leaving home, priest ordination) before shukke tokudo, denpo (transmission) before denpo. Remember the famous koan: “if you have a stick I will give you one, if you don’t have any, I will take it way from you”.
Mahakashyapa has already met this: when presented with a single flower, he smiles.

gassho to all


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[Eika]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

In our tradition, we receive before being given anything, . . .

:!:
_/_

[Jundo]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

The nirm??ak?ya of Buddha passed on the light, and spread the dharma onwards. In time, it reached us.

The dharmak?ya of Buddha was already there, had already passed on the light, and is shining through all of us in this very moment. "In truth -- for what could go wrong?"

??? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????

Thank you, Anista.

Please have a look at these pages from the Platform Sutra (this is the John McRae translation of the 13th Century version ... PDF) ...

http://www.numatacenter.com/digital/dBE ... a_2000.pdf

Pages 68 of 172 (Page 50 of the print version), from the bottom paragraph, "What is the pure dharmakaya buddha?" ... until about the end of page 70 or so of 172 (page 52 of the print version).

Gassho, J

[JamesVB]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Transmission of the Light occurs beyond & independent of time or space, while words are defined by both.

[anista]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

The nirm??ak?ya of Buddha passed on the light, and spread the dharma onwards. In time, it reached us.

The dharmak?ya of Buddha was already there, had already passed on the light, and is shining through all of us in this very moment. "In truth -- for what could go wrong?"

??? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ??????

Thank you, Anista.

Please have a look at these pages from the Platform Sutra (this is the John McRae translation of the 13th Century version ... PDF) ...

http://www.numatacenter.com/digital/dBE ... a_2000.pdf

Pages 68 of 172 (Page 50 of the print version), from the bottom paragraph, "What is the pure dharmakaya buddha?" ... until about the end of page 70 or so of 172 (page 52 of the print version).

Gassho, J

Oo, good call! Very nice reference. (If I'm thinking what you're thinking).

Always separating myself from all the dharmas. It's a bad habit, really.

Gassho, Philip

[Shohei]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Wonderful thoughtful posts above and to come!! Thank you!
Not much to add but here is how I read this:
They had a an inside joke that was not 1 bit inside!
All the assembly witnessed the transmission long before, by remaining still, verified missing it.
They knew long before the flower was raised. Mahakashyapa and Buddha, all the same. Buddha raised the flower and smiled.


Gassho
Shohei

[Seishin the Elder]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Coming a little late to the dance, but here's my $.02.

I'd ike to jump back two posts just to log in my feeling about lineage etc. This idea is, of course, very familiar to me as a priest. In the sacramental Christian churches we have what is termed Apostolic Succession. What that means is that every priest who is ordained is able to trace back through the bishop who ordained him, and in the case of bishops those who consecrated him, all the previous bishops and those who ordained them back to the Apostles, who were ordained by Jesus Christ. I can literally make a list through the past 1977 years tracing back to a particular Apostle who started the particular lineage I am in.

So the idea of Buddhist lineage and transmission is not at all foreign to me. It is quite acceptable and reasonable for me to want to know that. It would also seem rather probable that this could be done, seeing that such a list would only be about an half century longer than my other list!

Now coming back to the present sections; a couple of things jumped out at me while reading: "...when Shakyamuni Buddha was enlightened, the great earth and all beings were enlighted"[Cook; pg 30];and,"Never alone. This means oneness.There is nothing separate to be known, no one separate to perform the act of knowing. Great Compassion is simply the absence of separateness" [Nixon;pg 36]

So then, it would seem logical to assume that if we all became enlightened with Shakyamuni Buddha on that Autumn morning, that what is next is to recognize that was the case as did Mahakashyapa when he saw: the smile, the closed eyes or the flower of Buddha, or all of them together. It could have been a broom, or a toilet brush or a playful splash or water down at the river for morning bath. I cannot get hung up about the time or place or belabored symbolic act or object that did it for Mahakashyapa. What seems to be more important is that he at some moment realized he was looking into a mirror and the enlightened was "recalled" in him.

Gassho ( and waiting for my mirror-moment)

Seishin Kyrill

[BrianW]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

An short aside. Stephen Batchelor had an interesting talk in one of his recent speaking series about how Mahakashyapa is viewed differently in different traditions. Obviously in Sotos school he plays a major key role, but Batchelor commented that if you read the Pali sutras he was not such a nice dude with Ananda.

Jundo--It's a very small commentary that Batchelor gives w/i a larger presentation. If I can find it, I'll reference it here.

I listened to this podcast as well and believe it is one of these here....I listened a bit, but could not locate the part about Mahakashyapa....

http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/stephen%20talks/talks.html

Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

[Jen]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Due to a hectic week, I am going to just share the notes I scribbled in the margins of the books after I read.

Simplicity in the flower. Becoming a buddha isn't difficult, every being is already a buddha--no becoming; beginningless. Mahakashyapa smiles, at the flower which is buddha, and Buddha that is buddha, at the buddha nature in everything. The two enlightened men facing each other, reflecting this as they reflect nothing because all is as it is and was and will be.

Gassho,
Jen

[Rimon]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

A difficult but very empowering text.
I specially enjoyed the idea of making that scene from thousands of years ago real in us when we practice zazen:
If you just urgently practice the way today, Kashyapa has not entered mount Kukkutapada, but can appear in Japan. Shakyamuni fleshly body will be warm right now, and Kashyapa smile will be new again.
I read it as if when we are in zazen, with the right attitude, The treasure of the Eye of the True Dharma and the Wondrous Mind of Nirvana is continuoulsy being transmited from the ancestors to no one, that is, me . When I realise that I am "me" static jumps in and transmission is broken.

Gassho

Da5id

[Genkai]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

I feel like I understand exactly what happened between Buddha/flower/Mahakashyapa, deeply and intimately. I also feel like I haven't got the faintest clue what happened.

Reiterating and paraphrasing a lesson recently learned: Less analyzing, more smiling.

[jrh001]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

I feel like I understand exactly what happened between Buddha/flower/Mahakashyapa, deeply and intimately. I also feel like I haven't got the faintest clue what happened.

That's probably how the other 79,999 monks felt; sitting together on a mountain and waiting... waiting.

Hixon refers to the 80,000 as 'mindstreams of the principal male and female transmitters of Dharma...' What does he mean by mindstreams?

Gassho,

JohnH

[BrianW]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

I believe a recent sit-along with Jundo (i.e., http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=17304 may have revealed to me why I enjoy the closing poems so much in our readings. So far they have focused on nature and, although I am sure full of hidden meaning that I am missing, they have a simplicity to them. The use of nature to illustrate our teachings hits me at my core. In the recent sit-along, Jundo explores how some get carried away with the concept of enlightenment as being some fanciful blissed out state. Some chase after this experience as the be all and end all of our practice...as Jundo states they miss the most important gift of all "to be so totally at home and whole with/as/living this life/." So back to our reading...the simplicity of Keizan's ending poem, absent of extraordinary events, just seems so in accord with everyday experience.

Know that in a remote place in a cloud-covered valley,

There is still a sacred pine that passes through the chill of the ages.

Gassho,
Jisen/BrianW

(Disclaimer: I do make a point to surround my self with nature as much as possible and thus this may not be true for others.)

[Jikyo]

Re: 6/25 TRANSMISSION of the LIGHT: to Mahakashyapa

Like Eika, I found the focal point of these readings to be: “Perfectly pure complete understanding is not involved with the ordinary discriminating mind. . .” (Cook, p. 34). “Understanding,” not “acquisition.” For me, the general flavor of both texts is that we have what we need, or think we want, or think we are lacking. We simply need to get out of our own way (and heads) to realize it. Simple, beautiful, always available.

Gassho, Jikyo