The Gateless Gate: Jõshû's "Mu" [1st Case]
A monk asked Jõshû, "Has a dog the Buddha Nature?" Jõshû answered, "Mu."
Mumon's Comment
In order to master Zen, you must pass the barrier of the patriarchs. To attain this subtle realization, you must completely cut off the way of thinking.
If you do not pass the barrier, and do not cut off the way of thinking, then you will be like a ghost clinging to the bushes and weeds.
Now, I want to ask you, what is the barrier of the patriarchs?
Why, it is this single word "Mu." That is the front gate to Zen.
Therefore it is called the "Mumonkan of Zen."
If you pass through it, you will not only see Jõshû face to face, but you will also go hand in hand with the successive patriarchs, entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with the same eyes, hearing with the same ears.
Isn't that a delightful prospect?
Wouldn't you like to pass this barrier?
Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin; summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word "Mu."
Carry it continuously day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of "has" or "has not."
It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try.
All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united. You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream.
Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth.
It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of the valiant general Kan'u and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Buddha, you kill him; when you meet the patriarchs, you kill them. On the brink of life and death, you command perfect freedom; among the sixfold worlds and four modes of existence, you enjoy a merry and playful samadhi.
Now, I want to ask you again, "How will you carry it out?"
Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this "Mu."
If you hold on without interruption, behold: a single spark, and the holy candle is lit!
Mumon's Verse
The dog, the Buddha Nature, the pronouncement, perfect and final.
Before you say it has or has not, you are a dead man on the spot.
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Wandering Ronin commentary: Below, I've pasted specific lines from Mumon's comments on the famous first case of The Gateless Gate, Jõshû's Mu. Mumon's teachings and comments here reveal not only the essence of Zen practice, but exactly what enlightenment is and what one should do in order to attain it. My comments are inside the parentheses after each line.
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In order to master Zen, you must pass the barrier of the patriarchs. To attain this subtle realization, you must completely cut off the way of thinking. (Using the words 'master' and 'must' implies without a doubt that something is to be done in Zen practice. Since Zen points directly to mind, practice involves a series of mental actions being undertaken and applied from the teachings. Cutting off the way of thinking is the essence of Zen practice.)
If you pass through it, you will not only see Jõshû face to face, but you will also go hand in hand with the successive patriarchs, entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with the same eyes, hearing with the same ears. ('If you pass through it' again implies that something must be done in order to pass it. 'Seeing Jõshû face to face' or going 'hand in hand with the patriarchs' points to the realization of the underlying principle, which is One Mind or the Dharma.)
Carry it continuously day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of "has" or "has not." (This line is crucial as a reminder of balance and not to overcorrect or become imbalanced in one's practice. The practices and philosophies of Zen are quite easily confused with nihilism and mere negation; the truth is only revealed through a balance of neither affirming or denying by eliminating conceptual thinking.)
All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united. You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream. (The relinquishment of delusory concepts is the Way, and internal and external being spontaneously united is enlightenment itself. Here, there is no self and no other, no subject or object. Once attained, enlightenment is a tacit and ineffable silent understanding, and no words can touch it directly.)
Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth. (This points back to the obliteration of the subject-object split: since mind has no boundaries whatsoever, mind is all of the heavens and earth to begin with. Nothing in the world or among the myriad things has any meaning whatsoever until meaning is applied through conceptual thinking. The realization of this truth is 'the sword that kills and brings to life'.)
It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of the valiant general Kan'u and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Buddha, you kill him; when you meet the patriarchs, you kill them. On the brink of life and death, you command perfect freedom; among the sixfold worlds and four modes of existence, you enjoy a merry and playful samadhi. (Throughout all heaven and earth, there is nothing holy or sacred. Mind is the Buddha, and mind is the patriarchs; to kill them means to cut off the erroneous view that anything at all has a separate existence from your mind. 'To command perfect freedom' and to 'enjoy a merry and playful samadhi' is the cessation of delusion and suffering.)
Submitted November 10, 2019 at 09:19PM by WanderingRoninXIII https://ift.tt/2NYAZV2
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