Oct. 7th-8th, 2022 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Menzan in the Mirror

[Jundo]

Today's Talk will reflect on

Mirror Mind by Master Menzan
from his Jijuyu--Zanmai
(text below in this thread)

Please sit our Monthly 4-Hour Treeleaf Zazenkai netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)), and also sitable any time thereafter:

https://youtu.be/aUhmru13u_w

However, "one way" live sitters are encouraged to come into the Zoom sitting, and just leave the camera and microphone turned off: Join live (with or without a camera & microphone) on Zoom at: TREELEAF Now OR at DIRECT ZOOM LINK, password (if needed): dogen

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?20232-Treeleaf-Podcast&p=311119&viewfull=1#post311119

Tags: None

[Jundo]

Today we will reflect on the 'Mirror Mind by Master Menzan' ....

Menzan Zuihō (面山瑞方, 1683-1769) was a Japanese Sōtō Zen scholar and priest during the Tokugawa era. Menzan was the most influential Sōtō Zen writer of his time and his work continue to influence Sōtō Zen scholarship and practice today, especially regarding his interpretations and rediscovery of the works of Dōgen Zenji. Menzan was also involved in lecturing to the public and teaching laymen and laywomen meditation practice. One of his most famous works, the Buddha Samadhi (Jijuyu Zanmai) is addressed to laypeople and focuses on the teachings of Dōgen. We look at his presentation in Jijuyu Zanmai of "Mirror Mind," a lovely presentation of the mind of Zazen.

~~~~~~~~~

Practice-enlightenment beyond unen (thought) and munen (no-thought) can be compared to the function of a mirror. A mirror reflects both beautiful and ugly things without distinguishing them. This is the natural function of a mirror. But the reflection, which may be beautiful or ugly, is not the mirror itself. The reflection is just a shadow of what is in front of the mirror. If you only see the distinction between the good and evil of unen (thought) and think it is your original mind, it is the same as if you were to grasp the reflection in the mirror and think it to be the mirror itself. This is a mistake. This analogy admonishes you not to get caught up in the distraction of thoughts. And yet, if you think that munen (no-thought) is your real mind and become attached to the condition
of no-thought where neither good nor evil arises, it is the same as thinking that where no reflection exists is the mirror itself, and thus becoming attached to the backside of the mirror. If the mirror reflects nothing, it is the same as if it were a piece of stone or tile, the function of the light of the mirror is lost. This analogy admonishes you not to get caught up in dullness or muki (no good, no evil, no-thought, that which is neither good nor evil, but neutral). As you know, neither the reflection nor the backside of the mirror is the essential function of the mirror which, like that of the light, illuminates itself clearly. You must realize that the Buddha’s wisdom, like a great and perfect mirror, is far beyond the dichotomy of thought and no-thought.

For example, when you sit in zazen, if your mind does not arise and function, and if you do not see anything, hear anything, or feel any pain or itchiness, you just stagnate in emptiness. On the contrary, if you see or hear something outside and think of it, or feel pain or itchiness, you just stagnate in the distraction caused by the dichotomy of subject and object. Both conditions are limited by delusory thoughts. Therefore, the Third Ancestor (Master Sengcan in the Xinxin Ming) said, “Neither follow after objects, nor dwell in emptiness.” You must study this point closely and understand clearly. Just illuminating color, shape and
sound, etc., and not adding any discrimination, is the Buddha’s wisdom.

The analogy of the mirror, however, is not perfect. Generally, we use analogies for making it easier to grasp reality by comparing it to something similar, because we are unable to show reality itself directly. You should understand that analogies are useful as far as they go, but that they do not show reality as a whole. For example, when you are asked what the sun is like by a person who was born blind, you might show him a metal basin to enable him to understand that the shape of the sun is round and say that the sun is like this. The person may hit the basin and say, “Aha! The sun makes a good sound.” You have to be very careful not to misinterpret analogies, or you will go astray. I use the analogy of the mirror just to show the relationship among nenki (arising-mind, thought), munen (no-thought), and the light beyond thought and no-thought. This analogy cannot be applied to the other details, since the mirror and the reflections of either beauty or ugliness are separate, and reflections are caused by the objects in front of the mirror. But, when our mind arises, good, evil, hatred, love whatever, are not separate from our own mind. Nothing comes from outside. The original light and our thoughts are not two. This is why I said that the analogy of the mirror was not perfect.

~~~~

We must closely examine the so-called human mind. The human mind manifests as anger, ignorance, or greed. These three poisonous minds may be divided into good and evil. When they work in evil ways, anger brings about hell, ignorance brings about the realm of animals, and greed brings about the realm of hungry ghosts. ... When the mind does not function, the condition is known as muki (neutral). If you are attached to this condition, you will leave these three worlds or six realms of transmigration, and become a non-Buddhist or a Hinayana practitioner. You will never be able to attain buddhahood. This is because the attitudes of such people are all limited by the emotions and thoughts of illusory mind.

The one-mind which manifests either as unen (thought) or munen (no-thought: -not good, not evil) must be something which is beyond these conditions. It must be the light which illuminates everywhere and is never clouded. As soon as you become clearly aware of this light, you will be released from the limitation of delusory thoughts, and the Buddha’s wisdom will be realized. This is called nehanmyo--shin (the marvelous mind in Nirvana). This is nothing other than jijuyu--zanmai. Shakyamuni’s six years of sitting, Bodhidharma’s nine years of facing the wall, (Dogen's Teacher) Zen master Tendo-Nyojo' ’s Shikantaza; all are examples of the practice-enlightenment of this samadhi.

By the way, if you would like more mirror reflections, Tricycle published some of my reflections recently ...

Mind as Mirror
The mirror’s light and clarity holds and reflects the shapes of whatever comes.
By Jundo Cohen

https://tricycle.org/article/mind-as-mirror-zazen/

also available here:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...Mind-as-Mirror

[Jundo]

Since we are reflecting on mirrors, today we will dance the mirror version of the Hokey Pokey ... the Yekop Yehoh ...

https://youtu.be/7DdoC6l8zmw

[Jundo]

Our great experiment continues, inviting Kotei as our Ino-Doan today from another time and place ...

Our Opening Service:

https://youtu.be/36Q37EzsVXM

The Verse of Atonement and Four Vows:

https://youtu.be/qtRh7ukpwX4

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tairin]

Thank you everyone. I snuck in the back door during the second half and sat with you all live last night. I’ll catch up with the first half via recording later this weekend.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Kantai]

!enoyreve uoy knahT

Sat in reverse

Gassho
Kantai

SatLah

[Koushi]

Sat one-way with everyone last night thanks to some IT issues, thank you all

Gassho,
koushi
STLaH

[Tairin]

Hi Jundo

I just reread the material from your dharma talk. It seems that Menzan Zuihō’s works are very critical to our practice. Why aren’t his writings more emphasized in our practice?


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Jundo]

Hi Jundo

I just reread the material from your dharma talk. It seems that Menzan Zuihō’s works are very critical to our practice. Why aren’t his writings more emphasized in our practice?


Tairin
Sat today and lah

He is very influential, and his interpretations and presentation of Master Dogen are very important. Do you mean, why have not more things that he personally wrote been translated into English? Much of his influence was on how monastic training is conducted, although he was also influential in presenting Soto Zen to non-monastic folks. You can read a little more about him and his influence here:

https://terebess.hu/zen/menzan.html

.. including this scholarly treatment:

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/menzan.pdf

He wrote a book on Master Tosui that is available in English as well.

Gassho, Jundo

stlah

[Tairin]

He is very influential, and his interpretations and presentation of Master Dogen are very important. Do you mean, why have not more things that he personally wrote been translated into English? Much of his influence was on how monastic training is conducted, although he was also influential in presenting Soto Zen to non-monastic folks. You can read a little more about him and his influence here:

https://terebess.hu/zen/menzan.html

.. including this scholarly treatment:

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/menzan.pdf

He wrote a book on Master Tosui that is available in English as well.

Gassho, Jundo

stlah

Thank you Jundo. Yes I was looking to learn more about Menzan and his influence on our practice.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Kiri]

Thank you everyone, and thank you Jundo for a beautiful talk!
Gassho, Kiri
Sat/Lah

[Chikyou]

Great talk today, I was definitely having one of those days where I couldn't focus, my dog was barking non stop almost the entire four hours, my back hurt and my head just wasn't in the game...this talk was perfect for the day.

The backwards Hokey Pokey had me in stitches! That was great fun!

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[Zenkon]

This talk was very timely for me. I had been wrestling with the phrase "to free all sentient beings" from our vows. I had a difficulty seeing how our practices did anything to benefit others. Our activities seemed focused on individual, personal development, I felt there had to be something "more". This talk reminded me to stop grasping, stop labeling, stop judging and start just seeing and accepting everything just as it is. If an opportunity to help others presents itself, fine. But, if not, that's fine also.

Gassho

Zenkon

sat/lah

[Kotei]

Thank you for the talk and for sitting together, everyone.
Gassho,
Kotei sta/lah today.

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Jundo, Kotei, Bion and everyone for this Zazenkai.
It's very good to know about Master Menzan and all he did for Soto Zen - his writing is clear and to the point; sometimes he seemed like a modern zen teacher and not someone from the 18th century.
I loved the way we recited the Metta Verses: it changed something inside compared to our usual order of recitation.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah