51 / 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination

[Shokai]

22 Quaint gate.jpg
一百八法明門
IPPYAKUHACHI-HOMYOMON
One Hundred and Eight Gates of Dharma-Illumination

[51] Realization of non-appearance is a gate of Dharma-illumination; for [with it] we
experience the truth of cessation.

The realization of "non-appearance" in Buddhism refers to a deep, meditative insight where the mind no longer perceives phenomena as inherently existing, solid, or truly established. It is the experiential understanding that all appearances—sights, sounds, thoughts—are like a dream, illusion, or magical display, lacking any intrinsic, independent existence. The realization of non-appearance involves the collapse of the dualistic observer. The one who seeks becomes an obstacle; when the seeker disappears, reality is seen as it is. The realization of non-appearance is a non-conceptual, direct insight attained through meditation rather than mere intellectual study. By seeing through the illusion of inherently existing, permanent entities, the root of clinging and suffering is severed.

How does this happen in your practice?


合掌,生開
gassho, Shokai
stlah
仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai
"Open to life in a benevolent way"

[Tenryu]

For many people, searching for meaning feels necessary. For me, encountering the idea that there may be no given meaning brought relief. Nothing has to resolve. Nothing has to point elsewhere. Attention can stay with what is here.

In practice, this connects directly with non-appearance. Moments arise and pass without needing to become something. No goal, no seeker, no final sense to arrive at. Sitting and daily attention allow this to function, not as an answer, but as lived experience.

I once wrote:

„No meaning, no goal.
The moment comes, it passes.
I don’t hold on.
Why Zen?
Because I seek nothing.“

That still feels true.

Gasshō,
Tenryū
satt and lah

[Ryūdō-Liúdào]

In meditation, at most, I get a sense of a dropping away, for lack of a better way to put it. Maybe akin to that sensation you get before you drift off to sleep, but without the urge or fade of sleep itself, more like an absence of friction, if that makes sense.

Gasshō,
流道-Ryūdō-Liúdào
Satlah

[btball]

Permanence, a great illusion.
by the time signals reach the brain,
and, perhaps, on to mind
what we saw or heard is gone
maybe replaced by something that appears identical

pick a card, any card,
it is all a hall of mirrors anyway
enjoy the show
but remember,
you too are part of the show

and so the grand eternal (for so long as time exists)
dance, continues

——————————-
Gassho ????
Brian Ball

[Choujou]

I am reminded of a song I just listened to again yesterday… it is called Caravanserai by Loreena McKennitt

“This glancing life is like a morning star
A setting sun, or rolling waves at sea
A gentle breeze or lightning in a storm
A dancing dream of all eternity…”

like in the last gate, when I pull my attention back, and enter into awareness of big mind, the lines between everything begin to blur and fade. It’s all just… ME. The “big me”! You begin to see the illusion… the fact that all is just expression of emptiness. Kind of an omelette of Buddha. Buddha making Buddha, to experience Buddha, and to Buddha about.

“Row row row your boat
gently down the stream
merrily merrily merrily merrily
life is but a dream…”

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

PS- She is an amazing artist by the way… I linked the song for all to enjoy.

[Tairin]

Thank you Shokai

I think for me this seeing through illusion happens during Zazen. During Zazen, thoughts arise. If we cling to them they become real. If we let them drift away we realize how impermanent and transitory these thought are. Similarly the subject and object of these thoughts drift away


Tairin
sat today and lah

[dorgan]

I had a brief non-dualistic experience a few weeks ago during meditation, explained it as carefully as I could to Shokai, and then returned to my regular daily practice. Little doors have been opening since, with what I had experienced in meditation reoccurring now and again, briefly, fleetingly, but there is no need to rush anything . . . just let the experiences work away in their own way, in their own time. I am enjoying my Heart Sutra readings, which have only just begun.

Rain falls, leaving patterns on the surface of the lake
The lake floor rises up, embracing the sky
No sky, no lake, no rain

gassho, david
stlah

[Seiraku]

It doesn't happen in my practice, when I'm thinking or striving to produce a certain form of practice, but in 'not-my' practice when there's just practicing.

Gassho,
Seiraku
satlah

[Seikan]

I see this Gate simply as manifesting in those fleeting moments of zazen (and daily life too) when thoughts gently dissolve in the light of awareness. And as the subject of awareness/observation dissolves, so does the observer.

If awareness is strong and stable enough to experience a string of such dissolutions, it can lead to a feeling of greater detachment, yet within that detachment is simultaneously a feeling of wholeness—a sense of completeness that comes from the non-dualistic perspective of no object; no observer.

Does this happen all the time? Certainly not. Some days I count myself fortunate to catch even just a single glimpse, but once in a great while, when my mind is particularly focused, I might experience a subtle lightness of being as the weight of my attachments lessens.

Gassho,
Seikan
stlah

[Chikyou]

This one is difficult for me to write about, because in writing about it, I am already intellectualizing it.

I am listening to music. My phone, through an invisible data signal, sends another invisible signal through a speaker, which vibrates the air. I perceive this as music. It is in its essence, a series of waves, and also, all the knowledge, experience and emotion of its creators. But it moves me all the same. Magic.

Gassho,
SatLah,
Chikyō