Zen of the six realms

[Ryumon]

Reading Uchiyama's Opening the Hand of Thought, there's an interesting section, starting on page 151, where he discusses the "zen of the six realms," or the six different ways people practice zazen (that is not true zazen). I have known many of the types of people he describes. I find this an interesting example of wrong zazen.

• Hell-realm zen: people who are afraid of zen, and, at least in Japan, only want a certificate to run a temple.
• Insatiable spirits: people who "chase after enlightenment with the desperation of starving ghosts."
• Animal zen: people who stay in monasteries just because they are fed, who follow along blindly.
• Combative demons: those who "compete over who is most enlightened or whose practice is most severe."
• Humanistic zen: zen practiced to get something in return (for health, etc.)
• Heavenly zen: people who want to just be hermits or saints.

(Sorry for more than three sentences...)

Gassho,

Kirk

sat

[Kyoshin]

I don't practice for any of those reasons. Clearly I've invented a seventh realm of wrong zazen.

Gassho
Kyoshin
Satlah

[Tomás ESP]

I am definitely in the humanistic zen category.

Gassho, Tomás
Sat

[Onka]

I'd say I'm a mix of Humanistic and Heavenly. I've got romantic ideas about hermits but in reality I started Zazen practice with the hope of being able to sit WITH pain and other health stuff rather than try to escape it. This practice has exceeded every hope or expectation I had.
Gassho
Onka
ST

Edit: Apologies for extra sentence but my partner and I will need to live closer to our nephews one day soon and I want them to know that their Auntie Anna is the best version of herself.

[Kokuu]

That is really interesting, Kirk, and I am not sure I ever took that in when reading Opening the Hand.

For those who are not familiar with the idea, the six realms is a traditional Buddhist view of the kinds of rebirths sentient beings can undergo based on their karma. You can see them in illustrations of the Tibetan wheel of life, in between the six spokes of the wheel: https://www.exoticindia.com/buddha/tx21.jpg

They are (in increasing order of relative desirability):

The hell realms (including the cold and hot hells)
The hungry ghost realms
Animal realm
Human realm
Asura (demigod) realm
God realm

In traditional Buddhism these are viewed very much as real but modern presentations are often psychological, probably stemming from the writings of Chögyam Trungpa in Transcending Madness and other places, with Uchiyama Roshi clearly going with this idea.

The associations are seen as:

hell realms - hate (either fiery rage or cold anger)
hungry ghosts - craving and dissatisfaction
animals - ignorance and blind instinct
humans - desire
asuras - jealousy
gods - pride

In daily life we can see our tendency to spend time in certain realms of experience, and then let them all drop away on the cushion.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Jundo]

• Hell-realm zen: people who are afraid of zen, and, at least in Japan, only want a certificate to run a temple.
• Insatiable spirits: people who "chase after enlightenment with the desperation of starving ghosts."
• Animal zen: people who stay in monasteries just because they are fed, who follow along blindly.
• Combative demons: those who "compete over who is most enlightened or whose practice is most severe."
• Humanistic zen: zen practiced to get something in return (for health, etc.)
• Heavenly zen: people who want to just be hermits or saints.

Hah. This is very amusing and insightful, and Uchiyama is a good observor of human character. However, this is not any kind of traditional idea of the "6 Realms" or rebirth or human nature (as Kokuu explains very nicely), and just Uchiyama having a bit of mental jaunt and creative use of the traditional idea.

Not traditional, but it is kinda true though.

Gassho, J

SYLah

[Nanrin]

In traditional Buddhism these are viewed very much as real but modern presentations are often psychological, probably stemming from the writings of Chögyam Trungpa in Transcending Madness and other places, with Uchiyama Roshi clearly going with this idea.

I was first taught about the six realms by an old important senior monk (the abbot of a very ancient and important temple in Thailand) who believed in the six realms as a literal metaphysical explanation of reality AND as a way to look at our own mental states here-and-how. The two aren't that different.

For what it's worth, I've read about the 'psychological' interpretation of the six realms in a Thai book written in the 1930's - Trungpa may have popularized this interpretation in the West, but he's not the first to look it it from a mental perspective and deny the metaphysical.

Gassho,

Nanrin (Southern Forest

Sat today

[Kokuu]

For what it's worth, I've read about the 'psychological' interpretation of the six realms in a Thai book written in the 1930's - Trungpa may have popularized this interpretation in the West, but he's not the first to look it it from a mental perspective and deny the metaphysical.

Oh, interesting. Thanks, Nanrin! I wondered if there might be parallel interpretations.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[Tairin]

If I am honest with myself I probably, to some degree, bring all of these realms to my Zazen regularly.

Thank you for posting this Kirk.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[gaurdianaq]

I don't practice for any of those reasons. Clearly I've invented a seventh realm of wrong zazen.

Gassho
Kyoshin
Satlah

I'd be curious to hear what your reason is.

Also I think this is a really interesting way of looking at things.


Evan,
Sat today

[Eva]

Very interesting discovery, Kirk,

I clearly recognize myself in Insatiable Spirit . I'm sorry for eating all the food here, leaving not a morsel to anyone

Gassho, eva
sattoday and also LAH
PS is there a type for the idiots who take everything literally, even Zen?

[Kyoshin]

I'd be curious to hear what your reason is.

Also I think this is a really interesting way of looking at things.


Evan,
Sat today

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Gassho
Kyōshin
Satlah

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[Jundo]

To get a taste of traditional Soto Zen and other Buddhism in Japan, a few weeks ago most temples here undertook "feeding the insatiable spirits" ceremonies (more commonly translated as "Hungry Ghosts," or "Gaki" 餓鬼, which also happens to be Japanese slang for spoiled and bratty little kids. ) Here is a little more about the ceremony.

The segaki (施餓鬼, "feeding the hungry ghosts") is a ritual of Japanese Buddhism, traditionally performed to stop the suffering of the gaki or muenbotoke (the dead who have no living relatives), ghosts tormented by insatiable hunger. The segaki may be performed at any time, but traditionally performed as part of the yearly Urabon'e (Sanskrit: उल्लम्बन Ullambana) services in July [or August in some parts of Japan] ...

The ritual is held at Buddhist temples and there is a custom to place segaki-dana (rack for gaki) or gaki-dana (shelf for gaki) at home, present offerings (traditionally rice and water) for hungry ghosts who are wandering in this world as muenbotoke during Urabon'e or O-bon.

The segaki began as a way for Moggallana (Maudgalyayna), on instruction of his master, the Buddha Sakyamuni, to free his mother from gaki-do, the realm of the gaki. Alternatively, Sakyamuni ordered Moggallana to preach the Lotus Sutra or to travel to hell himself, a feat that resulted in the escape of all gaki into the world and necessitating the segaki to force them to return to their realm. Another story says that the student Ananda was told by a gaki that he would become one himself in three days; he thus had to feed strangers to prevent the transformation. In reality, the segaki is likely an adaptation of a Chinese festival to remember the dead.

The ritual is known as mataka dānēs or matakadānaya in Sri Lanka.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segaki...iable%20hunger.

We do not undertake such a ceremony specifically in our Sangha, but it can also be an opportunity to try to "satiate" all the people of the world (our self included) who may suffer from unending desires and greed. Here is a modern interpretation by an American Soto Zen group that does such a ceremony:

Gakis are usually depicted as having long skinny necks, with throats much too small for swallowing, and the bloated, bulging stomachs common with severe malnutrition. This imagery is a fantastic description of a spiritual state which can be seen every day, right here in the world of living women and men. It is a condition which everyone suffers from, to one degree or another, at some point in life. On the most spiritual level, this is the state of someone who desperately wants to know the Truth, but who cannot accept the teaching. He knows he is suffering and that religious practice can be of help, but he just cannot stop resisting and holding on to his personal opinions. Wanting the Dharma, he goes to drink, but his throat will not open to accept it. Each time he tastes the teaching it turns to fire in his mouth. On the everyday level, this condition is that of someone who has desperate needs, but like a woman with a phantom itch, can find no relief. Women who frantically cling to their children long after they are grown, and men who cannot get enough wealth and success, are everyday examples of hungry ghosts. In examples such as these, the problem lies in trying to satisfy an inner need for wisdom, equanimity, or peace of mind through grasping after external things, instead of cultivating empty handed all-acceptance, which is the real solution. How often our attempts to obtain the things we want are like this.

... Here at Dharma Rain Zen Center, the main Segaki ceremony, which is done in the morning, features an altar laden with food. The ceremony involves an invitation to all ghosts of every stripe anywhere to come join us, in effect asking all the unhappy, unresolved karma in the universe to come to the altar to receive the Dharma in the form of food. During the chanting and procession we offer incense and the names of people who have died in the past year are read. After the ceremony we help the gakis by eating the food on the altar ourselves! Next, a live gaki visits the Dharma School Children; this annual visit always brings joy (and a bit of apprehension) to the little ones, who must teach the ill-mannered gaki the way to behave in a temple, and a little of the Dharma if possible. The closing ceremony, Segaki Toro, is done in the evening. It is an intense, symbolic ritual of cleansing. During the ceremony a fire is lit in the fireplace, and slips of paper with the names of people who have died in the past year, along with the year’s transfer of merit cards, are fed to the fire. Anyone who wishes can write down some karma or problem that they wish to let go of or cleanse, and one-by-one, they put them on the fire themselves.

The themes of death, change, and spiritual transition have for centuries in the West been remembered in the autumn, at the time of change from light to dark, from heat to cold. In adapting Buddhist traditions to our culture, Dharma Rain Zen Center celebrates Segaki on or near Halloween or All Souls Day, when all the ghosts and goblins from the past come out of hiding. What better time to offer them merit and put them back to rest? The Segaki festival is sometimes observed with a week-long Meditation Vigil, and always a weekend Retreat, and the traditional Segaki Ceremonies.
https://dharma-rain.org/on-segaki/

Interesting that they combine this for the kids with Halloween!



(Sorry, a bit long in my unsatiable desire to write something!)

Gassho, J

STLah

[Onka]

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Gassho
Kyōshin
Satlah

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LMAO!! Brilliant!
Gassho Onka
Sat

[Meian]

I cycle through the six associations randomly, but not intentionally.

But otherwise -- Zen was the only Way that fit.

gassho, meian st