Bodhisattva

In a chapter called "Ikka No Myoju," or "One Bright Pearl" in the Shobogenzo, Dogen quotes a famous Zen story. Gensa, a guy who will later go on to be one of the great Buddhist teachers is still a young monk. He's an extremely sincere Zen student. One day he decides to leave the temple where he's staying and go out traveling around the area. He's probably feeling a little dissatisfied. Like maybe he's not getting the whole deal at the temple and if he goes looking around he might just find the truth he's looking for. As he's heading out the gate, he stubs his toe on a big rock. He's hopping around in terrible pain, bleeding from under his toenail, going "Ow! Ow!" And he thinks, "I've heard that the body is an illusion. So where the Hell did all this pain come from?"

All at once he gets it.

Later on his teacher, named Seppo Gisan, asks him what's up and he says, "I just can't be deceived by others."

Seppo really got off on this statement. "Is there anyone who doesn't have these words?" he said. "But who else can speak them?"

There you have the key to understanding Buddhism. That one sentence, "I cannot be deceived" says all you need to know. I could stop the lecture right here. But I'm supposed to go on for an hour.

There's lots of ways you could take this statement. Most people who say things like this say them as a way of bragging. "Nobody can make a fool out of me!" But that's not what it means here. He's not bragging. He might even be a little bit sad when he says, "I can't be deceived."

The idea that we can ever be deceived is an illusion. It never happens. We pretend to be deceived. We even fool ourselves into believing we've been had. But it just doesn't happen. When you stub your toe on a rock, in other words, when you suddenly come face to face with the undeniable fact that you are living in this world, you can understand that you can't be deceived.

In my first year of college, I went to some lectures by the head of the Cleveland Hare Krishna temple. I was really interested in the Hare Krishnas because George Harrison was into them and The Beatles were big heroes to me. This guy was very clever. He had the whole guru thing down. He played the role of the enlightened master exactly as everyone expects one of those guys to be. The lecture was in somebody's apartment. He sat on a chair while the rest of us gathered around sitting on the floor at his feet. There was incense burning. He had on an orange robe, his head was shaved, his voice was soothing and even. I remember sitting there and thinking, "I could sit at this man's feet forever and learn so many wonderful things."

Ultimately, though, I couldn't be deceived by him. I wanted to. But the Hare Krishna philosophy was just too full of holes for me to accept. But I can understand why so many people, even really smart people, run off and join cults. They want so desperately to be deceived that they're willing to put up with philosophies that make no sense, just so they can have the experience of being deceived. But people who pretend to be deceived by this kind of thing are a bunch of dopes, just fooling themselves. Anyone who falls for any dogma or religion is just trying hard to make people believe they've been deceived. See, 'cuase when you've been deceived nothing you do is really your fault. You can be just like the Nazis. "I was just following orders," you can plead. "I was deceived!" You might even get away with it because this whole world is run by dumb-asses who also want to be able to use that excuse if it ever comes down to it.

But it's a lame excuse. No decent Zen teacher would ever accept it. I used to come to my teachers with variations of that one all the time. "I was deceived! Please help me. Please tell me what's really true!"

"Nobody's tricked you, you moron," they'd say. "You know what the truth is. Stop being such a bonehead and take a look at it."

Putting away the idea that you can be deceived is hard work. You want to believe that the Answer to Everything is hidden somewhere really far away. That you'll have to look all over the world to find it. That you need to read lots and lots of books, visit lots and lots of teachers, think hard, study hard, then maybe one day you'll find it. All you're doing, though, is denying the fact that the answer is staring you right in the face and has been ever since you were born. It won't go away. It can't go away.

If you can understand that you can't be deceived, you can answer any koan.

Koan means "public case." Koans are stories of conversations between Zen students and teachers. Sometimes they include strange non-sensical sounding questions. The most famous one is, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" In the Rinzai school of Zen, they give these questions to students and have them concentrate on them while doing zazen. They then having meetings with their teachers and try to answer them. The koans are ranked. Some are supposedly easier than others. So the students go through a series of koans moving from the ones that are supposed to be the easiest up to the more "advanced" ones.

I've never done this kind of practice myself. But it doesn't sound like a good way to do zazen. In zazen you need to face yourself, discover your own mind. Thinking about questions like this just seems distracting.

Still, koans are very useful for understanding Buddhist logic. In the ordinary way of thinking, they just seem like a bunch of nonsense. One hand clapping? What is that? But these little stories express Buddhist logic very clearly. Much clearer than I can in a lecture like this.

Dogen collected 301 of his favorites in a book called Shinji Shobogenzo. I thought I'd start going through these in my lectures.

The first one goes like this:

Master Seigen Gyoshi asks his disciple Master Sekito Gisan, "Where have you come from?"

Master Sekito says, "From Mount Sokei."

Master Seigen holds up his whisk and asks his student, "Is there anything like this on Mt. Sokei?"

Master Sekito says, "Nope. Not even in India."

Master Seigen says, "You've never been to India, have you?"

Master Sekito says, "If I went to India, that whisk would be there."

Master Seigen says, "Stop talking about India and say something about your own experience."

Master Sekito says, "Can't you say something concrete? Why do you leave everything up to me?"

Master Seigen says, "It's not that I refuse to say anything. It's just that if I did,you might not be able to understand things for yourself in the future."

You can see the idea of wanting to be deceived pretty easily in this story. When Sekito asks his teacher to say something concrete instead of leaving it all up to him, he's just asking to be deceived. But Seigen refuses. No matter how right Seigen's explanation might be, it's Seigen's explanation. Every one of us has to understand the Universe for him or herself. Somebody else's description will never do. Seigen was a great teacher and probably could have articulated his understanding pretty clearly. But he had too much faith in his student's ability to do that.

If you find a Zen teacher who won't explain anything to you, you should be extremely grateful. There are plenty out there who would gladly fill your head with all kinds of explanations. That guy from the Hare Krishna temple certainly tried. He could answer everything. What happened to John Lennon after he died? Lennon was reincarnated as a tree. Seriously. He really said this. John Lennon apparently answered the door stark naked once when the head of the Hare Krishnas came to visit. Therefore he was an exhibitionist. And exhibitionists get reborn as trees. Case closed.

If you want to be deceived by stuff like that, there's plenty of it out there. But I don't.


-Brad Warner

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Pulling Teeth

keep it simple, stupid

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Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

William James

Ego Tripping

I was just thinking about a relative idea before I clicked this thread...mostly that we think of Life and The Universe as being 'out there' when everything I experience is actually "in here" *points to self*. The Universe is a reflection of myself and my reflection is the Universe. It's not 'out there' at all but its actually all within me. Even if there is an objective Universe, I still experience it subjectively. I am the Stars, Galaxies and Earth.

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Canuck Wisdom

I wanna be 3, or maybe 5. Good times.

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-Knowitall A&P type-

Bodhisattva

Zen Master Seung Sahn enters the Dharma room followed by Mu Bul Su Nim, carrying a book wrapped in cloth, and Mu Ryeom Su Nim, who is ringing a bell. They stop at the high seat before the altar and bow, and the book is placed before the seat. Then Soen Sa Nim, takes the high seat, and the following is chanted (in Korean): ''This Dharma's meaning is very profound. The whole assembly wants to hear it. Please, great Zen Master, descend. Reveal Buddha in this place.'' Soen Sa Nim hits the Zen stick on the platform three times.

Soen Sa Nim: Before the ancient Buddha appeared, there is one which is, aready pure and clear. Even Shakyamuni Buddha did not understand the transmission to Mahakashyapa. What does this mean? Buddha transmitted to Mahakashyapa and through Bodhidharma, from India to China and then to Korea, and now to America. Now this Dharma shines here in this Dharma room. Which one is correct? Somebody appears and says, "I understand this," but this stick hits him. Somebody else says, "I don't understand," and also this stick hits him. Why? KATZ! When Shakyamuni Buddha picked up a flower, Mahakashyapa only smiled. This is correct Zen.

Today we perceive one kong-an from the Mu Mun Kwan, number thirteen. Famous kong-an; already you understand. The title is, "Duk Sahn Carrying His Bowls." Very difficult kong-an, but very easy.

One day, Duk Sahn came into the Dharma room carrying his bowls. Soel Bong, the Housemaster, said, ''Old Master, the bell has not yet been rung and the drum has not been struck. Where are you going, carrying your bowls?" The Zen Master was surprised. Then Duk Sahn returned to his room. Afterwards, Soel Bong told the head monk, Am Du, who then said, "Great Master Duk Sahn does not understand the last word." Later Duk Sahn heard this and sent for Am Du. "Do you not approve of me?" he demanded. Then Am Du whispered in the Master's ear. Duk Sahn was relieved. The next day on the rostrum making his Dharma speech, Duk Sahn was really different from before. Then Am Du was very happy. He went to the front of the Dharma room, laughing loudly and clapping his hands, and said, "Great joy! The Old Master has understood the last word. From now on, no one can check him.''

This is the kong-an. We'll check the first point of this kong-an. Am Du said, "The great Master doesn't understand the last word." What is this "last word?" "Last word" means moment to moment, keep your correct situation, and this means "just like this." When you are hungry, you must eat; when you are tired, you must sleep. When someone is hungry, give them food; when someone is thirsty, give them a drink. Tired time, sleep. That is tired time's last word. Hungry time, you must eat. This is hungry time's last word. When somebody is hungry, give them food. That is someone's hungry-time's last word. When somebody is thirsty and you give them something to drink, this is somebody's thirsty-time's last word. This last word is not difficult. our everyday mind is the last word.

Again, we check this: "One day, Duk Sahn came into the Dharma room carrying his bowls. Soel Bong saw this and said, 'The bell has not yet been rung and the drum has not been struck. Where are you going carrying your bowls?'" It has already appeared, do you see? What is Duk Sahn's mistake? If you understand Duk Sahn's mistake, then you understand the correct situation; then you understand the last word. Very clear, this first course.

Next course: The Zen Master heard that the head monk said, ''He doesn't understand the last word." Now, the head monk and the Zen Master are very close, like father and son, but this head monk had bad speech about the Master, so he was very angry. "Come here! You don't believe in me?" "No, no, no, I believe in you," and he whispered in the Master's ear. What did he whisper? This is the next course. Not difficult! If you keep your correct situation, then no problem.

So the next day on the high stand giving his Dharma speech, Duk Sahn was very different from before. What does this mean, "different from before"? There are two points: ''What is different before the Dharma speech?'' and ''What is the Dharma speech?" Maybe before the speech, he didn't understand the last word, and during the speech, he did understand. Maybe. I don't know. What is "understanding-the-last-word Dharma speech", and what is "not-understanding-the-last-word Dharma speech?" So, Am Du heard his speech and was very happy. Why? He taught the great Zen Master, so that the Master's Dharma speech was changed. And he went to the front of the room laughing loudly and clapping his hands, and said, "Great joy! The Zen Master has understood the last word!" Before, he'd said, "The Zen Master doesn't understand the last word." Now he says, ''He does understand." What is this last word? Very important.

Everyday mind is the last word; "just like this" is the last word; "put it all down" is the last word; "go straight" is the last word; "let it be" is the last word. It is not any special word. When you see the sky is blue, that is the last word. When you see this wall, at this time, the correct situation is only white. Not special. If you make something, are holding onto something, this last word goes away; it doesn't like you. Don't check your mind; don't check your feelings; don't check anything. Only go straight. This go-straight mind is very important. It is like one drop of water being stronger than rock. One drop after drop after drop for ten years, twenty years, one hundred years, will make a big hole. One drop nonstop, one point not changing. If you are changing, you have a problem; you cannot make a hole. If you stop, you also have a problem. Only drip, drip, drip. You must understand this: Try, try, try. Try-mind is stronger than demons, stronger than Buddha. It is able to do anything.

Why have we come here today to talk about this very difficult kong-an? For the Great Work of life and death. Some are from New York, some from New Haven, some from Cambridge, some from Providence. Why here? Only for the Great Work of life and death. If you finish the Great Work, then you understand what is your correct situation, what is your last word.

So again the kong-an: If Duk Sahn had kept his correct situation, then there would have been no problem, but he did not, so he had many problems. But one thing: "Soel Bong said, 'The bell has not been rung; the drum has not been struck,' and Duk Sahn returned to his room." If you can give me one word, all the kong-ans are not necessary. If you were Duk Sahn and Soel Bong had said this to you, what would you have answered? "I am sorry?" (laughs) Then Am Du said, "The great Zen Master does not understand the last word." This is not difficult. If you make difficult, you have difficult. Also, don't make easy. Don't make anything. The True Way is not dependent on understanding or not understanding. Much understanding cannot help you. So put it all down.

Mu Mun said, "Understand first word; then understand last word. The last word and the first word are not one word.''

What does this mean? What is "first word" and what is "last word"? We have four kinds of 'like this': First, ''without like this", primary point. "Without like this" means true emptiness, complete stillness. Everything is from complete stillness and returns to stillness. So this name is primary point. Next is "become-one like this". This substance, your substance, my substance, universal substance become one. What is one? Hit! or KATZ! We say "become-one like this'' is True Nature. Next, only 'like this'': ''What is Buddha?'' "The sky is blue; trees are green," or "Spring comes; the grass grows by itself." Only this. ''3 x 3 = 9'' All is like this, not bad, not good. With wide questions, wide answers are needed. ''What is Buddha?" "The wall is white.'' ''What is karma?' ''The dog likes the bone." The meaning is truth. "3 x 3 = 9." This style. And next, "just like this": For one-point questions, you must give one-point answers. For example, here is an apple. If you say it is an apple, then you are attached to name and form. If you say it is not an apple, you are attached to emptiness. Is this an apple or not? At that time, what is the correct relationship between the apple and you? What is the correct function?

So "just like this" means the correct situation, the correct relationship. If you understand your true self, then any relationship is no problem. Your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, no problem. With your car and you, with your coffee and you, being correct is possible. Everyday mind is Zen Mind.

So these are the four kinds of "like this": "without like this", "become-one like this", "only like this", and "just like this." "First word" means "become-one like this". "Last word" means "just like this". What is the correct relationship between you and something?

So I ask you: The first word and the last word, are they the same or different? Mu Mun said they are not one word. Then are they different? The same? If somebody says the same, this stick will hit them. If somebody says different, this stick will also hit them.

Why?

KATZ!

One head, two hands.

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snapshot

That shit is hard^.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that society has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
-Richard Dawkins

Geeno

that was cool until it got incredibly boring with that last word business

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snapshot

It's not incredibly boring, it's incredibly hard to figure out with an unclear mind. That which I am experiencing first hand. Any suggestions, Bodhi?

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that society has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
-Richard Dawkins

Geeno

Id rather converse it face to face then read such accounts

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Bodhisattva

"What is this "last word?" "Last word" means moment to moment, keep your correct situation, and this means "just like this."

Snap, no.

Geeno, Seung Sahn actually died not long ago, so if your serious about a face to face find a different Zen master

One day Tokusan came to the dining room from the Meditation Hall, holding his bowl. Seppo saw him coming and asked, "The dinner drum is not yet beaten. Where are you going with your bowl?
Tokusan went back at once to his room. Seppo told about this incident to Ganto, who said, "Tokusan as he is, has not penetrated into the ultimate truth of Zen."
Tokusan heard of this and sent an acolyte to ask Ganto to come to him. "I have heard," told Tokusan, "you are not approving my Zen." Ganto whispered to Tokusan what he meant. Tokusan said nothing, leaving Ganto there.
Next day, ascending the rostrum, Tokusan delivered an entirely different sermon to the monks. Ganto went forward in the Hall, clapped his hands, laughed and said, "What a happy thing! The old man has got hold of the ultimate truth of Zen. From now on, no one in heaven and on earth can surpass him."

Mumon's Comment:

As for the ultimate truth of Zen, neither Tokusan nor Ganto even dreamt of such a thing. When you look into the matter, they are only a set of dummies how about puppets- dummies sounds like stupid..

Whoever understands the first truth
Understands the ultimate truth.
The last and the first
Are they not one and the same?

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snapshot

Empty cup, empty cup.

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We are all atheists about most of the gods that society has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.
-Richard Dawkins