Sitting in the Hall of Dead Wood

[WhiteLotus]

Greetings friends!

Today I bring Master Chún with me. His name translates to "pure," "simple," or "honest."

He is also known by the name Tanka Shijun, and his decedents are as follows, to Shinketsu Seiryô, then to Tendô Sôkaku, Setchô Chikan, Tendô Nyojô, Eihei Dôgen, all the way down to Roshi Jundo.

Today I would like to honor this tradition by sharing a small quotation from Jun's record:

Talk on the Night of the Year’s End
Tonight marks the end of the year. The old wanes and the new arrives as we turn toward spring. Time passes swiftly, never showing mercy. Our teeth loosen, our hair grays — another year is added.

Everyone, time fades and departs. Each moment is impermanent. Time waits for no one. So how can a life truly endure?

Everyone knows today is the last day of the twelfth lunar month; but have you actually prepared for this day? Don’t treat it lightly. You must prepare with all sincerity and urgency.

But what kind of preparation is needed?
Is it gathering up wealth as preparation?
Is it reading scriptures as preparation?
Is it chanting Zen verses as preparation?
Is it using cleverness or skillful tricks as preparation?

When the moment truly comes, your eyes drop to the ground, your hands and feet flail in confusion; everything you once remembered will be forgotten in an instant. In that moment, you must step with your feet on solid ground. No grasping at illusions will help you.

Everyone — now is the time to rest from your distractions and make ready. Let go of the affairs of this moment. Go sit, cold and still, in the Hall of Dead Wood. You must completely die once. Only from within that death can true life arise again.

Then, in all places, nothing can fool you. In all situations, nothing can turn you around. In all circumstances, you are free.

Thus it is said: let go from the cliff’s edge; only then can you truly take responsibility. Once death has passed, even revival cannot deceive you.

If you can truly be like this, then it is like wind swirling around mountains without disturbing their stillness; rivers rushing into the sea without flowing away; wild stallions kicking up dust without movement; sun and moon hanging in the sky, yet going nowhere.

But if not; if you only know how to follow what’s before your eyes; then without realizing it, old age will have already climbed onto your head.

I welcome any insights you would like to share!
Much love to you all,

Salem
sala

[WhiteLotus]

Jun's statement: "Thus it is said: let go from the cliff’s edge; only then can you truly take responsibility. Once death has passed, even revival cannot deceive you." reminds me of something Engo Kokugon once said:

"When Bodhidharma came from the West bringing the Zen transmission to China, he didn’t set up written or spoken formulations—he only pointed directly to the human mind. If we speak of direct pointing, this just refers to what is inherent in everyone: the whole essence appears responsively from within the shell of ignorance. This is no different in ordinary people than in all the sages since time immemorial.

It is what we call the natural, real, inherent nature, fundamentally pure, luminous and sublime. It swallows up and spits out all of space. It is a single solid realm that stands out alone, free of the senses and their objects.

Just detach from thoughts and cut off sentiments and transcend the ordinary conventions. Use your own inherent power and take up its great capacity and great wisdom right where you are. It is like letting go when you are hanging from a mile-high cliff, releasing your body and not relying on anything anymore. Totally shed the obstructions of views and understanding, so that you are like a person who has died the great death. Your breath is cut off, and you arrive at great cessation and great rest on the fundamental ground. Your sense faculties have no inkling of this, and your consciousness and perceptions and sentiments and thoughts do not reach this far. After that, in the cold ashes of the dead fire, it is clear everywhere, and among the stumps of the dead trees everything is illuminated."


Salem
satlah

[WhiteLotus]

"After that, in the cold ashes of the dead fire, it is clear everywhere."

Excellent quotation, this reminds me of Baso Dôitsu's student Tanka Tenen's story found in Jôshû Jûshin's record. It reads:

Once, on a cold day, Master Tanka took a wooden statue of Buddha and burned it to get warm.
When the head monk of the temple scolded him, Tanka stirred the ashes with his stick and said, "I burned it to get saint's bones."
The head monk said, "How could one get saint's bones out of a wooden Buddha?"
Tanka said, "Well, if there aren't any saint's bones, I might as well burn those other two statues too."
As punishment for his words, the head monk lost his eyebrows.

An official later asked Joshu, "Since it was Tanka who burned the wooden Buddha, why did the head monk lose his eyebrows?"
Joshu said, "At the home of the official, who is it that boils the vegetables and prepares the meal?"
The official said, "The servant."
Joshu said, "Well, well, he is really something, isn't he?"

Dogen was no stranger to the Cook.


Salem
Sat&lah

[Bion]

I am reading something like: "Go sit! Sit and see beyond old and new, time past, time coming, death or renewal, superstitions and traditions, good or bad fortune. Die to yourself, let illusions drop away and understand that life and death are the great matter! Awaken and truly live."
Or something like that...

Gassho
sat lah

[Jundo]

That phrase about "dead wood" (and related sayings such as sitting like "cold ash") can be misunderstood. It is not barren death. It is the stillness from which life blossoms and dragon's roar. Dogen wrote, for example, in the "Continuous Practice" (Gyoji) portion of Shobogenzo ...

Wooden horses whine and stone oxen run. ... When spring wind rises, a dead tree roars like a dragon.

And in "Dragon Song" (Ryugin) ...

Touzi, Great Master Ciji of Shu Region, was once asked by a monk, “Is there a dragon singing in a withered tree?” Touzi replied, “I say there is a lion roaring in a skull.”

Discussions about a withered tree and dead ash [composure in stillness] are originally teachings outside the way. But the withered tree spoken of by those outside the way and that spoken of by buddha ancestors are far apart. Those outside the way talk about a withered tree, but they don’t authentically know it; how can they hear the dragon singing? They think that a withered tree is a dead tree which does not grow leaves in spring. The withered tree spoken of by buddha ancestors is the understanding of the ocean drying up. The ocean drying up is the tree withering. The tree withering encounters spring. The immovability of the tree is its witheredness. The mountain trees, ocean trees, and sky trees right now are all withered trees. That which sprouts buds is a dragon singing in a withered tree. Those who embrace it one hundredfold, one thousand-fold, and one myriadfold are descendants of the withered This is the tall dharma body of a withered tree and the short dharma body of a withered tree. Without a withered tree there wouldn’t be the dragon singing. Without a withered tree the dragon’s singing wouldn’t be smashed. “I have encountered spring many times, but the mind has not changed” [a line by Damei Fachang] is the dragon singing with complete witheredness.

The quotes from Master Danxia Zichun include these references to stillness that are also vigor and life. For example:

Everyone — now is the time to rest from your distractions and make ready. Let go of the affairs of this moment. Go sit, cold and still, in the Hall of Dead Wood. You must completely die once. Only from within that death can true life arise again. (Schlutter Translation: "You must completely let go of all worldly concerns and sit totally still in the dry wood hall. You must die a turn and then in this death establish everything in the whole universe.")

Stillness in action, action in stillness ... swirling wind, unmoving mountain ... waters flow without flowing ... unmoving horses kick up dust ... sun and moon travel through the unmoving sky ...

If you can truly be like this, then it is like wind swirling around mountains without disturbing their stillness; rivers rushing into the sea without flowing away; wild stallions kicking up dust without movement; sun and moon hanging in the sky, yet going nowhere.

This is Shikantaza: Sitting still with mind untangled, as all the universe comes and goes.

Bodhidharma never came from the West, nor did he go. This was his direct pointing.

The "fundamentally pure, luminous and sublime ... swallows up and spits out all of space." But all that is spit out in time and space is itself the fundamentally pure, luminous and sublime. To miss that fact is like cutting down the trees to find the forest.

When hanging from a mile-high cliff, what is there to do. Just rest. One has no place else to go, nothing to strive for. Letting go, where can one fall? One's breath is cut off with every breath.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Shujin]

Great Ancestor Chun would honestly prefer more sitting and less pontificating. Let go of the mile high cliff, and land on the zafu.

Gassho,
Shujin

St/lah

[Shui_Di]

What a nice discussion, thank you everyone.


Gassho, Mujo

[Jundo]

Great Ancestor Chun would honestly prefer more sitting and less pontificating. Let go of the mile high cliff, and land on the zafu.

Gassho,
Shujin

St/lah

This is true. But no harm in discussing a little how the old masters expressed these things too. A time for both, plus all the rest of life.

Gassho, J
stlah

[Shujin]

This is true. But no harm in discussing a little how the old masters expressed these things too. A time for both, plus all the rest of life.

Gassho, J
stlah

Nine bows, teacher.

St/lah