Not Zen? Suppose a person denotes your lineage and your teacher as Buddhism unrelated to Zen, because there are several quotations from Zen patriarchs denouncing seated meditation. Would you be fine saying that your lineage has moved away from Zen and if not, how would you respond to being challenged concerning it?
I'm of the opinion now that there are no 'lineages of Zen' in the first place. In terms of the relative and the absolute, it's all Zen and it's all not Zen for those that understand. What need is there for lineage in terms of the absolute? Relatively speaking, of course there was the succession of the Ch'an patriarchs starting with Bodhidharma onwards, but now I think that that was something bound entirely to the world of the myriad things. At a certain point it's easy to kill the Buddha, but it can be much, much more difficult to kill the Zen masters and their teachings, or to cast Zen itself aside as more yellow leaves for children.
It is a necessary expedient means to look towards the teachings of the patriarchs to understand what they were pointing towards, which is mind, but to place too much emphasis on things like lineages or specific teachings and masters only serves to eventually hinder one from understanding the ultimate underlying principle. If there's nothing to seek, then there's nothing to seek. When questioned with "To whom did the Patriarch silently transmit the Dharma?", Huangbo Xiyun answered "No Dharma was transmitted to anybody."
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What's your text? What text, personal experience, quote from a master, or story from zen lore best reflects your understanding of the essence of zen?
Foyan Qingyuan [1067-1120]: This is a matter for strong people. People who do not discern what is being asked give replies depending on what comes up. They do not know it is something you ask yourself – to whom would you answer? When people do not understand an answer, they produce views based on words. They do not know it is something you answer for yourself – what truth have you found, and where does it lead? Therefore it is said, "It's all you." Look! Look!
I only offer this quote from Foyan as a pointer towards this relative area of my understanding and 'practice', for lack of a better term. I'm of the belief now that holding on to one specific master in Zen or series of teachings from them is a mistake, and can in fact limit freedom from conceptual thinking. The net has to be cast far and wide in order for true understanding to happen, and if a single thing or direction is held on to, it will hinder understanding and limit potential.
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Dharma low tides? What do you suggest as a course of action for a student wading through a "dharma low-tide"? What do you do when it's like pulling teeth to read, bow, chant, sit, or post on r/zen?
This has been perhaps my biggest and most recent change in understanding. There are no Dharma low tides whatsoever for me at this point, because it can neither be said that there is or is no Dharma in the first place. What is there to be relied on? The Dharma when sleeping is the same Dharma as being awake, and the Dharma of turmoil is the same as the Dharma of tranquility. Reading, bowing, chanting or sitting, even posting in the Zen forum; none of those have anything to do with the Dharma, yet no actions are apart from the Dharma either, or it couldn't be the Dharma.
Submitted October 26, 2019 at 08:24PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/31MwrG3
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