Hello Joshu

Jōshū was of the thirty-seventh generation after the Tathagata Shakyamuni. He was sixty-one years old when he first gave rise to the intention to seek the Truth and left home life behind to explore the Way. At that time he made a vow, saying, “Even if someone is a hundred years old, if that person is spiritually less advanced than I, I shall offer that person Teaching. And even if someone is seven years old, if that person has spiritually surpassed me, I shall ask that person for Teaching.” Vowing thus, he drifted southward like a cloud. While wandering about in search of the True Way, Jōshū chanced to arrive at Mount Nansen, whereupon he went to make his prostrations to the Abbot, the monk Nansen Fugan, who happened to be in his quarters, resting, when Jōshū came for his initial interview.

Nansen immediately asked him, “Where have you just come from?” Jōshū replied, “From the Hall of the Auspicious Image.”1 Nansen asked, “And have you seen the Auspicious Image?” Jōshū replied, “I have not yet seen the Auspicious Image, but what I have encountered is a reclining Tathagata.”2 Thereupon Nansen immediately arose and asked him, “Are you a novice that has a Master not?” Jōshū responded, “A novice that has found his Master.”3 Nansen then asked, “And just who is that Master of yours?” Jōshū replied, with all sincerity, “Though the early spring is still cold,4 as I was doing my prostrations, I could not help but reflect on how grateful I am for the health of your august body, Venerable Monk. It is like ten thousand blessings.” Thereupon, Nansen called for the Head Monk of the Meditation Hall and told him, “Put this novice in the special place!”5

Thus it was that Jōshū took up residence with Nansen, and, for thirty years, did his utmost to practice the Way, without once going off to some other temple. He never idled away a moment or engaged in other pursuits. Then, after he had been Transmitted and received the methods for teaching others how to train in the Way, he took up residence in Kannon-in Monastery in Jōshū Province for another thirty years. While he was Abbot there, the things he did and how he did them were different from the behavior of ordinary monks in other places.

On one occasion, he composed the following verse:

In vain do I gaze upon the smoke from the hearths of my neighbors on all sides. Jam-filled buns and rice cakes, for a year now, have parted company from me. Thinking about them today, I can only swallow my spit. Periods of mindfulness are few, bemoanings all too frequent. Among hundreds of families, not a single good and friendly face is to be found. Those who come by merely say, “I’ve just dropped in for a cup of tea.” Unable to have any tea, they leave in a snit.

How sad that a smoking fire in his own hearth was rare, that even a one-dish meal was so scarce, and that he had not had a varied meal since the year before. When anyone from among those hundreds of families came, they were in search of a cup of tea, and those who were not in search of a cup of tea did not come at all. There was not one from amongst those hundreds of families who came bringing tea.6 Occasionally, there was a novice who came to look at ‘the wise one’,7 but there was not a single dragon elephant* who wished to be his equal. ~Dogen Zenji Shobogenzo

Submitted June 24, 2017 at 10:50PM by ZenMovie http://ift.tt/2sCN1db