~|~|~|~ STEP BACK AND SEE ~|~|~|~
(Foyan, Instant Zen)
~|~ Introduction ~|~
GS: A couple themes in these two chapters caught my attention and motivated me to share. Specifically the two chapters are "Step Back and See" and "All the Way Through." I'm not sure if linguistically they combine as nicely in Foyan's "OP" as they do in English ("Step back and see all the way through") but I felt that they paired nicely together regardless, especially in terms of clearing up any confusion.
The first theme that comes to mind is "ease" and "energy saving." I'm not sure to what degree any medieval (mis)understandings about physiology are being incorporated here, but in terms of "energy" I think Foyan is speaking more or less literally ... while in terms of "food"--and though I don't deny any literal application--just in case anyone is thinking Foyan is suggesting that enlightenment removes your need to eat, I would recommend interpreting "food" as "spiritual food" i.e. doctrines, teachings, understandings, etc.
Regardless, I would also suggest you approach "ease" as a symptom or sign-marker along "the Path" rather than a goal in and of itself.
Another important theme is "Zen study" and the impact of "teachers." Foyan and others do urge students to find a "teacher" or someone who is "adept." They also stress the lack of true differentiation between all things, including "teacher" and "student." They also emphasize not losing your ordinary mind and still being able to distinguish "between black and white." In this case: between people who understand Zen, and charlatans.
These can all seem contradictory and confusing but I promise you (as does Foyan) that there is indeed a Path down the middle. (Just don't confuse the "zero point of the scale" for the thing itself).
The general solution is, as Foyan says, to "think about it independently." I.e. if you seek out a teacher, don't seek someone who only wants to lead your around blindly.
When people set themselves up as "teachers of Zen" or even just "gurus", they lead others astray with teachings and doctrines. They are like the meditation teacher Foyan discusses; they are ultimately teaching to reinforce their own beliefs and sense of self-importance and--as Foyan's anecdote illustrates--they expect something in return.
Every student is ultimately their own teacher.
Don't come to Zen with hopes of gaining anything; don't seek Zen teachers simply to find a doctrine that you like and can repeat to others for your own self-satisfaction.
Zen and Zen teachers will teach you to be independent. To "stand on your own two feet."
If you want rainbows and falling flowers, you could sit and meditate for 30 years or follow a guru around kissing their feet ... but I say if you want those sorts of hallucinations, just get into drugs and be done with it. Then at least you can be more honest about your dependencies.
But if you want to study Zen, your doubt and your insecurities will loom like giant iron walls and you will have no peace until you can break though them (or swallow them whole; you choose the metaphor).
You have been warned. This is what you came f👁️r.
Be easy my friends
<3
~|~ Text ~|~
An early teacher said, “Is it the wind ringing, or is it the chimes ringing?” He should have stopped right there, but he went on to vex others by saying, “It is not the wind or the chimes ringing, but only your mind ringing.”
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When Zen came to China, an early teacher said, “It is not the wind or the flag moving; it is your minds moving.” The ancient teacher gave this testimony; why don’t you understand? Just because of subject and object. That is why it is said, “The objective is defined based on the subjective; since the objective is arbitrarily defined, it produces your arbitrary subjectivity, producing difference where there was neither sameness nor difference.”
People nowadays talk about certain discernment, but how do you discern with certainty? It is not a matter of declaring, “This is an initiatory saying, this is a saying for beginners, that is a saying for old-timers.” It’s not like this at all. As a matter of fact, letting go all at once is precisely how to discern with certainty— there will be no different focus at any time.
You get up in the morning, dress, wash your face, and so on; you call these miscellaneous thoughts, but all that is necessary is that there be no perceiver or perceived when you perceive— no hearer heard when you hear, no thinker or thought when you think. Buddhism is very easy and very economical; it spares effort, but you yourself waste energy and make your own hardships.
If you do not see the ease, then sit for a while and examine the principle.
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However, there are those who accept attunement and those who do not; there are the foolish and the wise, there are those who can be saved and those who cannot be saved.
Those who do not accept attunement insist on using fluctuating habit-ridden consciousness and energy from food. When questioned, they make their eyes bulge, walk back and forth, hold up their regalia, accepting and approving perceptions and emotions in the dimness of their skulls and bodies. This is irremediable. Just let go, then step back and look; only then will you understand.
There are senior students of a certain type who say, “I do not reason, I make no calculations; I am not attached to sound and form, I do not rely on either the impure or the pure. The sage and the ordinary mortal, delusion and enlightenment, are all completely empty; there are no such things in the Great Light.”
They are shrouded by the light of knowledge, attached to an extreme of knowledge. This is also irremediable. Of these two illnesses, the former is slighter than the latter. If those who have illness are willing to set it aside, step back and look, they too will naturally understand.
This task spares energy to the utmost. The way of the ancients is very economical and most quintessential.
Why do you waste energy?
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Nevertheless, there is a genuine expedient that is very good, though only experienced seekers will be able to focus doubt on it. It is like when Xuansha was going to give a talk on the teaching one day, but didn’t speak a single word, no matter how long the assembly stood there. Finally they began to leave in twos and threes. Xuansha remarked, “Look! Today I have really helped them, but not a single one gets it. If I start flapping my lips, though, they immediately crowd around!”
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Zhaozhou said, “Just sit looking into the principle; if you do not understand in twenty or thirty years, cut off my head.” This too was to get you to become single-minded. (GS: Hello "One Mind"; I know no one wants to believe in you.)
Have you not read how the Second Patriarch of Zen used to expound the teaching wherever he was, and everyone who heard him attained true mindfulness? He did not set up written formulations and did not discuss practice and realization or cause and effect.
At the time, a certain meditation teacher heard about the Zen patriarch and send a senior disciple to spy on his lectures. When the disciple didn’t come back, the meditation teacher was enraged. When they met at a major convocation, the teacher personally said to his former disciple, “I expended so much effort to plant you; how could you turn your back on me this way?” The former disciple replied, “My vision was originally right, but was distorted by teachers.”
This is what Zen Study is like.
Later, someone asked Xuefeng, “How is it when one’s vision is originally correct but distorted by teachers?” Xuefeng said, “Confused encounter with the founder of Zen.” The seeker asked, “Where is one’s own vision?” Xuefeng said, “It is not gotten from a teacher.”
This is the way you have to be before you attain realization.
Of old it was said, “Enlightenment is always with people, but people subjectively pursue things.” In scripture it says, “ If you can turn things around, they are the same as realization of suchness.”
But how can things be turned around? It is also said, “All appearances are unreal; if you see appearances are not inherent characteristics, then you see realization of suchness.”
Just step back, stop mental machinations, and look closely.
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~|~|~|~ ALL THE WAY THROUGH ~|~|~|~
“No delusion, no enlightenment” —only when you have arrived at such a state are you comfortable and saving energy to the maximum degree.
But this is simply being someone without delusion or enlightenment; what is there deluding you twenty-four hours a day? You must apply this to yourself and determine on your own.
All realms of existence are there because of the deluded mind; right now, how could they not be there? Once you realize they are not there, they cannot delude your feelings and certainly cannot do anything to you. It is necessary to attain the reality where there is no delusion and no enlightenment before you can become free and unfettered. People on the journey call this the reality under the vest; if this reality is not fully realized, it is a disaster.
The patriarch Ashvaghosha explained three subtle and six coarse aspects of mentation; stir, and there is suffering. How to not stir?
Uttering a few sayings does not amount to talking of mysteries and marvels, or explaining meanings and principles[.]
[S]itting meditation and concentration do not amount to inner freedom.
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Other people do not know what you are doing all the time; you reflect on your own— are you in harmony with truth or not? Here you cannot be mistaken; investigate all the way through.
When my late teacher appeared in the world to teach, he said, “I rise from this jewel flower throne and sit upon it every day along with all of you; it is just that you avoid what is right before you.” This is a good saying. He also remarked, “In over ten years at one place, I couldn’t find a worthy opponent; only when I went elsewhere did I actually see such a person as would live up to my sense of indignation.” Good words; few people can talk like this.
I spent over thirty years journeying; you people were not even born when I found the way.
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Submitted January 08, 2020 at 02:32AM by GreenSage45 https://ift.tt/2Fzxdxj
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