Zen is a word for a specific category of internal wisdom, regarding the true nature of the mind.
The mind is infinite, formless, fluid, and ever changing. Why infinite? Because the imagination has no limit, a person with a visual imagination can manifest an infinite number of shapes and forms, all formless. A person with a non-visual imagination can also manifest an infinite number of words or ideas. Such minds can manifest and de-manifest an infinite amount of formlessness in an instant.
Chan is a family name for a group of people passing down a particular flame in a particular way, primarily in China from 500-1200 AD. The fact the date ends in 1200 shows the flame of that lineage went out, which is a pressing obstacle since the year is 2019.
The Mumonkan is like a spark, if it touches a mind that is like dry tinder, it can immediately burst into flame. If such a spark touches wet wood, nothing happens. If dry tinder touches an empty spark, nothing happens. No matter how close the tinder and spark come together, even if they are on top of one another, nothing happens unless the flame ignites.
The mind is not a static object like wet wood or dry tinder, it is an infinite and formless river, the tallest mountain and deepest ocean, always changing. Yet, such a mind is also fire. So why does a mind which can instantly become wet wood or pure fire in any moment need a spark in the first place? In simple words, this is why zen masters sometimes say nothing at all is transmitted.
Yet, so many minds go unlit. Such minds, which come to know the study of zen, which come to be in some form of dry tinder, which are exposed to a spark like the Mumonkan or a zen master, those minds can instantly ignite into the same flame as all the buddhas, zen masters, and patriarchs going back to Shakya in 500 BC.
Shakya is just a guy who invented fire making. He isn’t the first nor the last to do so. But he didn’t create fire, he didn’t create the true nature of the mind. He simply described and passed down the wisdom of fire making, like Bodhidharma, Mumon, and the Six Patriachs. In simple words, this is why zen masters sometimes say that something is indeed transmitted.
To make a fire a mind needs two things, some form of dry tinder and a spark. A receptive mind, sufficiently free of beliefs and chains and false ideas makes for good tinder. The Mumonkan, dharma talk with a zen master, the Blue Cliff Record, all of these make a good spark.
The mind is not inherently wet wood, or anything else, the mind is pure fire. It is a waterfall 1000 miles wide and a lake of bubbling lava. The mind is constantly changing into a myriad of conditions and forms. Meditation is one way to tackle wet wood, but where is the spark? There is no reason to try and re-invent fire, such a task is beyond climbing all the peaks in the Himalayas. It is something done maybe once in 500 years by an exceptional and extraordinary person. Passing a flame from torch to torch is much easier. Any mind that wishes to know zen should focus on a spark, not completely re-inventing fire making.
Even if the tinder is dry, the spark touches, and the flame ignites — it’s just a tiny candle. Fire is fire, but zen masters like Joshu are wielding a 10 foot flaming sword and shooting sparks from their eyebrows and lightning from their fingertips. Such people are extraordinary, and appear as rarely in history as the creation of fire making itself.
If the mind is dry, if the mind is unburdened by belief and superstition, if the mind is unburdened by pride and all manner of false obstacles, if the mind is unburdened by false religion and false rituals, good.
But where’s the spark?
If the mind is immersed in the Mumonkan, the Blue Cliff Record, if the mind is focusing on Mu, if the mind is reading zen masters and participating in dharma talk on the forum, good.
But where’s the dry tinder?
Minds that only focus on mind forget the spark. Minds that only focus on Mu forget the tinder.
It was Ping Ting, came looking for fire
🔥 🔥🔥
Submitted June 02, 2019 at 10:28PM by chadpills http://bit.ly/2Z86VKF
No comments:
Post a Comment