The Exacting Master

"The Exacting Master" number 50 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.


Zhaozhou asked Nanquan, "What is the way?"

Nanquan replied, "Ordinary mind is the way."

Zhaozhou asked, "Does this way have a special character?"

Nanquan replied, "With the slightest intention it is lost."

Confused, Zhaozhou said, "Without intention or direction, how can one know what is the way?"

Nanquan replied, "The way is not subject to knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion while not knowing is mere blankness. When the way is truly attained, it is like a great emptiness, vast, expansive. So how can it be reduced to right or wrong?"



In this Zen story Nanquan (Nansen) is the the teacher and Zhaozhou (Joshu) is the student. It is from Zhaozhou, who later becomes a teacher, that we get the Gateless Gate of "Mu!"

Even when Zhaozhou penetrated this teaching, he still stayed and studied with Nanquan for and additional forty years before venturing out to teach. Both of these men were exacting in their practice. An example to us.

I sense that contained in this story is a question worth investigation.


The Beginning of Practice

"The Beginning of Practice" number 49 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

When is the beginning of our practice? Is it when we first take up the notion of Zen? Is it when we begin a zazen practice? Is when we find a sangha? Is it when we go on our first retreat? Is it when we find a teacher? Is it when we are assigned our first koan? Is it when we take jukai? Is it when we pass our first koan?

Yasutani Haku'un Roshi once said at a dinner party he threw for one of his students who had completed his formal koan study, "Now his practice begins."

Even before all of that, I was was still beginning. You?


I had thought that this morning's miniature was going to stiff and stuffy. Yet it slipped out so smooth. Before the question - there was the answer. On first reading it seemed too casual, just record of some dinner party. Yet the last line says in part "...but now I offer incense and bow in gratitude to my old teacher." This beginning touches me deeply and I'm surprised by that. 

The Buddha Dharma

"The Buddha Dharma" number 48 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

I find today's miniature by Robert Aitken to be a simple and descriptive. A simple event is described. Two monks meet and recite the Heart Sutra. At first it seemed obvious and I had a sense of so simple why even write about it. Yet as I look closer, slowly the flavor of the this miniature becomes intimate.

Two monks, Roshi's really, meet. Although they are both Asian, they can't speak a common language. Eventually they find the Heart Sutra and both begin reciting it together. Even now I can reach out into the moment and recite it with them. Paraphrasing, word by word 'we' chant, ending triumphantly together. This is the Dharma of the Buddha's.

MAKA HANNYA HARAMITA SHIN GYO

KAN JI ZAI BO SA GYO- JIN HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA JI
SHO- KEN GO ON KAI KU- DO IS-SAI KU YAKU.
SHA RI SHI SHIKI FU I KU- KU- FU I SHIKI
SHIKI SOKU ZE KU- KU- SOKU ZE SHIKI
JU SO- GYO- SHIKI YAKU BU NYO ZE
SHA RI SHI ZE SHO HO- KU- SO- FU SHO- FU METSU
FU KU FU JO- FU ZO- FU GEN
ZE KO KU- CHU- MU SHIKI MU JU SO- GYO- SHIKI
MU GEN-NI BI ZES-SHIN I
MU SHIKI SHO- KO- MI SOKU HO-
MU GEN KAI NAI SHI MU I SHIKI KAI
MU MU MYO- YAKU MU MU MYO- JIN
NAI SHI MU RO- SHI YAKU MU RO- SHI JIN
MU KU SHU METSU DO-Y
MU CHI YAKU MU TOKU I MU SHO TOK'KO
BO DAI SAT-TA E HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA KO
SHIM-MU KEI GE MU KEI GE KO MU U KU FU
ON RI IS-SAI TEN DO- MU SO- KU GYO- NE HAN
SAN ZE SHO BUTSU E HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA KO
TOKU A NOKU TA RA SAM-MYAKU SAM-BO DAI
KO CHI HAN-NYA HA RA MI TA
ZE DAI JIN SHU ZE DAI MYO- SHU
ZE MU JO- SHU ZE MU TO- TO- SHU
NO- JO IS-SAI KU SHIN JITSU FU KO
KO SETSU HAN-MYA HA RA MI TA SHU
SOKU SETSU SHU WATSU
GYA TEI GYA TEI HA RA GYA TEI HARA SO- GYA TEI
BO JI SOWA KA HAN-NYA SHIN GYO


The Great Prajna-Paramita Heart Sutra


Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, practicing deep Prajna Paramita,
clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty,
transforming anguish and distress.
Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form;
form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form;
sensation, perception, mental reaction,
consciousness are also like this.
Sha-riputra, all things are essentially empty--
not born, not destroyed;
not stained, not pure; without loss, without gain.
Therefore in emptiness there is no form, no sensation,
perception, mental reaction, consciousness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind,
no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, object of thought;
no seeing and so on to no thinking;
no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance,
and so on to no old age and death,
and also no ending of old age and death;
no anguish, cause of anguish, cessation, path;
no wisdom and no attainment. Since there is nothing to attain,
the Bodhisattva lives by Prajna Paramita,
with no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance and therefore no fear;
far beyond delusive thinking, right here is Nirvana.
All Buddhas of past, present, and future live by Prajna Paramita
attaining Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.
Therefore know that Prajna Paramita
is the great sacred mantra, the great vivid mantra,
the unsurpassed mantra, the supreme mantra,
which completely removes all anguish.
This is truth not mere formality.
Therefore set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,
set forth this mantra and proclaim:
Gate gate paragate parasamgate Bodhi sva-ha-!

Zen Study

"Zen Study" number 47 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

In the Vimalakīrti Sūtra there is this wonderful reference to "lean on nothing" or "stand nowhere". This is the activity of the Buddhas.

Aitken Roshi, encourages us to study Zen not as preparatory to sitting but in our everyday activities. To study Zen is to live closely to experience both as we read the sutras or as we walk the dog. To study Zen is not to be stuck in books, discussions or zendo activities. Zen is nothing unless it is found in every moment.

My teacher once encourgaged me to compare translations as a way into the experience of a sutra. So here are two very different translations of the part of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra Aitken refers to in this miniature. These remind me of the flavor of Linchi's talks.

...

Free of worldly attachments, like the lotus blossom,
constantly you move within the realm of emptiness and quiet;
you have mastered the marks of all phenomena, no blocks or hindrances;
like the sky, you lean on nothing - we bow our heads!

The Vimalakirti Sutra (Not yet available for the Kindle)
Burton Watson

...

You nullify all signs in all things everywhere.
You are not subject to any wish for anything at all.
The miraculous power of the Buddhas is inconceivable.
I bow to you, who stand nowhere, like infinite space.

VIMALAKIRTI NIRDESA SUTRA
Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman
Copyright 1976, The Pennsylvania State University
(Can be converted to PDF for the Kindle)

Folk Stories of Zen

"Folk Stories of Zen" number 46 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

"Koans are the folk stories of Zen... They are deeply instructive and transformative, and they are destroyed by explanation." Aitken advocates the traditional view and modalities. Just yesterday I was exposed to a slightly non-traditional koan practice.

My two very favorite podcasters, Vince and Ryan over at BuddhistGeeks, recently interviewed Susan Blackmore. Dr. Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist and writer researching consciousness, memes, and anomalous experiences. Not just an academic, Susan has been a Zen practitioner for over 20 years.


Susan Blackmore 

The BuddhistGeeks talked with her about her's latest book Ten Zen Questions. This book takes ten questions/koans, some traditional and some with a modern twist, and Susan explores one of two treatments. The first is to take the question and sit with it in a traditional seven day sesshin with her teacher where together they explore that particular question. In the book she describes and journals on that experience. In the second treatment she uses her garden shed to create a three day or so personal solo retreat exploring only that specific question.

Now what is so nontraditional about this approach is that at the beginning of the sesshin, the teacher hands out a sheet of paper with a few questions/koans and each participant chooses one. This is different from my experience. She has a blog setup to discuss her book and the process at tenzenbookblog.wordpress.com. Sounds like fun. Susan has fun in the interview and looking at her pictures on her website, she obviously lives on the fun side of life. Susan was a TED presenter in 2008 and presented a talk on memes.




I'm considering a Kindle to help with my dharma study. Being able to search across my collection of Zen texts, being able to load PDFs, built in dictionary and reference, these are game changing tools. Books are cheaper and lots of classical Zen texts are already available.

Do you have a Kindle? Are you considering a Kindle?

Bishop Ditch

"Bishop Ditch" number 45 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

Today's miniature is both biographical and instructive.

Our dear Robert Aitken, tells us where he got the inspiration for writing in the style of the miniatures. Yoshida Kenkō wrote a collection of very short essays in this style back in the middle ages around 1331. His book is called Tsurezuregusa or "Random Grasses" or "Essays in Idleness". 200 plus entries collected together.

From introduction to George Sansom's translation of the Tsurezuregusa - "To while away the idle hours, seated the livelong day before the inkslab, by jotting down without order or purpose whatever trifling thoughts pass through my mind, truly this is a queer and crazy thing to do!" Sort of sounds like a blog, like this blog. Sounds like twitter. Would Yoshida Kenkō be blogging if he was around today, would he be twittering? Probably so.

Now for the instructive part of this miniature.

The story of Bishop Ditch by Yoshida Kenkō.

Seems the bishop didn't like the nick name Bishop Nettle Tree so he chopped down the nettle tree from which he got the name and promptly was known as Bishop Stump. Mad as hell, he dug up the stump only now to be called Bishop Ditch.

We are known by our actions. Every morning during sesshin we recite "The Five Remembrances" which in part says "My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand."

Now, I must consider what actions am I known by? We don't get to choose how we are know, we can only act and live the consequences. Focus on the action and let the consequences handle themselves. Grousing about the consequences is just another action that has consequences.

Thanks for the fish!
Bless you Robert Aitken.


Continuing our conversation from a few days ago about shame. How does shame relate to Bishop Ditch? This action and consequences cycle is our karma. How our ego relates to this cycle is usual not with much maturity. Isn't it the ego that responds to an action/consequence and labels it "shame" or "praise"? Wouldn't one ego get all worked up and another ego not even notice the same action/consequence? Even the very same ego, one time feels/sees/hears shame and another time not? All these questions point to the nature of the ego. What is the nature of ego? It is a made up construct of imaginings built up from the consequences of our actions from the "beginningless past".

Saying this does not make us immune from the ego's labeling of action/consequence cycles. It does help dis-identify with praise, blame and shame. These feelings are just heavy baggage that can be put down and left where ever we are or not even picked up when noticed. They feel like dead weights, hindering us from moving lightly through life. Sure, for some it may be helpful to temporarily work with someone to see clearly enough to dis-identify with these ego states. But only sometimes, for some people and only temporarily. We have to be very careful not to let ego wallow in the warm feelings that come from psychotherapy. For many people and even Zen itself, encourages us not to identify with these ego states but to simply and directly move through life without trying to "show me your mind and I pacify it for you".

Notice and put down. Notice and don't pick up.

My most favorite Zen moment:

CASE 12 from the Mumonkan.
ZUIGAN CALLS HIMSELF "MASTER"

Every day Zuigan used to call out to himself, "Master!" and then he answered himself, "Yes, Sir!" And he added, "Awake, Awake!" and then answered, "Yes, Sir! Yes, Sir!"
"From now onwards, do not be deceived by others!" "No, Sir! I will not, Sir!"

Mumon's Comment:
The master, Zuigan, sells out and buys himself. He has a lot of puppets of gods and devils that he plays with. Why is this so? With one mask he asked, and with another he answered. With another mask he said, "Awake!" and another, "Don't be cheated by others!" If you adhere to any one of these, you are totally mistaken. If, however, you imitate Zuigan, then all these are no other than the fox's disguises.

Some who search the Way of Zen do not realize true self,
For they recognize only the ego-soul.
This ego-soul is the seed of birth and death,
Foolish people take it for the true original self.

Vacancy!

"Vacancy!" number 44 of 200 from Robert Aitken's book Miniatures of a Zen Master.

Today's miniature is a little vacant? A sleep talking Roshi? My own confusion.

I continue to study my posture when sitting. Watching how my thought stream is influenced by the position of hips, vertebrae, shoulders, and skull. I hold these structures in a column, lightly and mindfully, focusing my attention by scanning from hips to skull a time or two. Then I relax into the space that arises. Spine held with attention, the thought stream slows. Which aspect proceeds which? Can posture be worked with because the thought stream is quiet or does the thought stream become quiet when the posture is in alignment? Does this matter? Maybe.

How do you work with your posture?



Provided we keep a constant eye on our own faults,
We cannot go astray from the right path.
           Hui Neng



1971 TV program that films a conversation with Alan Watts. In 1971 he shows himself to be a concerned environmentalist. What would he be saying on this topic if he was around today. I don't know much about Alan's personal history. My view is from just what I've heard and read. His books and his audio. I sense that many conservative Zen practitioners in the West don't hold Alan to highly.

In this 30 minute program, Alan Watts talks about the interconnectedness of life and wonders how we've gone so far astray by polluting our environment. Worth 30 minutes.