Adding my own comments between paragraphs. (Emphasis mine).
One-sentence executive summary of the whole post:
I urge each of you, since you are already in a society, to study the path independently, not spending any time uselessly, taking enlightenment as your rule.
Chapter Text:
Those who claim to be Zennists must trust in what people who know say before they will attain it. If you do not believe, you make all talk useless. If you just listen without believing to the talks of people who know, how can you be called Zennists?
Can we talk about trust in Zen Masters when we don't even understand what they're talking about?
I'm not referring to intellectual, complete understanding of each text. But at the very least, before trusting, you need to be in tune with the source of your own mind, and aware of your own distortions and biases, otherwise you could be trusting your made up interpretation. No?
e.g. from chapter #15: In Tune...
"What you must do is live in harmony with it. This matter is not in another; but are you in tune with it? And if you are in tune, in tune with whom? If you say you are in tune with the ancients, the ancients are gone. If you say you are in tune with a teacher, a teacher has no connection with you. This is why the sages compassionately told us to tune into the source of our own minds. Now tell me, what is the source of mind, to which one tunes in on one’s own?"
Real Zennists understand it all when the grass bends in the breeze, when dust rises in the wind; they discern immediately before any signals have occurred, before falling into trains of thought, before anything stirs. Only then can one be called a Zennist.
Does this mean "we must not think"? May be a pointer to "empty our minds"? Nah, I don't think so.
Why? This thing is used against birth and death, so you have to be someone who’s not far off in order to get it.
Haven’t you read how Yunyan studied with Baizhang for twenty years without clarifying this matter? His elder brother Daowu bit his finger to the quick out of concern for him. See how that man of old still did not worry even though he hadn’t clarified this matter, saying he did not understand. His will never gave out, and he didn’t go chasing after verbal expressions either.
And how about master Xuefeng, who went to Touzi three times and Dongshan nine times! When he was at Touzi’s school, one day he rolled up the screen and entered the hermitage. When Touzi saw him coming, he got off his bench and stood.
Persistence can be useful. But polishing a brick every day for twenty years may not accomplish what you think it will accomplish.
Xuefeng hesitated, searching for something to say; Touzi pushed him out. Xuefeng could only cry. Later, when he went to Dongshan, he was still unable to understand. Then, when he went to Deshan, he asked, “Has the student a part in the enlightenment of the sages of time immemorial?” Deshan hit him and exclaimed, “What are you saying!” At that, Xuefeng’s mind opened up, like a bucket with the bottom fallen out. When he got to Tortoise Mountain, however, he said he still had some doubt. See how that man of old would not rest until his mass of doubt had been broken up. So it is said, “The task done, the mind rests; this actuality, after all, is everywhere you find it.”
Nowadays most Zen students create interpretations based on words, arbitrarily assuming mastery, or else they take stories of the ancients’ awakenings and look at them, calling this “gazing at sayings.” What relevance is there? When Xuefeng went to Touzi three times and Dongshan nine times, do you suppose he did it for the sake of words?
I often see people use these whole "not based on the written word" thing to justify all sorts of nihilism, relativism, post modernism, etc. "Everything can mean anything", "Everything goes". (Psst!! /u/_WanderingRonin_)
I think this is a dire mistake. The substance of Zen is not words. But that doesn't mean we can interpret any text any way we wish and then claim that's what Zen Masters talked about.
Not only because that's imprecise, but also because Zen Masters warned against this.
e.g. from chapter #6: Not Knowing...
“Sometimes when I question students, they all say they do not know or understand; they just say they eat when hungry and sleep when tired. What redemption is there in such talk?” “If you go on like this always declaring you don’t know and are not concerned, how will you communicate if someone questions you? There might be no one to continue on the road of Zen! It won't do to be like this. Make your choice carefully!”
It is fine to admit you don't know what Zen Masters were talking about.
But to adopt a relativist posture is to assert Zen Masters didn't mean anything, they just moved their mouth and produced random sounds. I mean, maybe that's the case, I don't know. It's a factual claim and it could be true. But if somebody really thinks this is so, I'd like to see them make the case for it.
You should simply step back and study through total experience. How do you step back? I am not telling you to sit on a bench with your eyes closed, rigidly suppressing body and mind, like earth or wood. That will never have any usefulness, even in a million years.
I've seen this used as "evidence against meditation", which I think is kind of absurd. Foyan is just describing a foolish, useless meditation technique. (Useless towards the Zen discernment, anyway).
Are there other meditations techniques that are related to Zen? No clue, I don't know. Probably not.
When you want to step back, if there are any sayings or stories you don’t understand, place them in front of you, step back and see for yourself why you don’t understand.
I thought I had came up with this on my own many months ago. But now that I read it here, this must be where I got this idea from! lol
Anyway, I think this is a crucial teaching. Step back and look. (There's a future chapter devoted to this).
Professional monks say, “Thinking will not do; not thinking will not do either.” Then how do they teach people to contemplate? I tell you, just step back and look.
Phew! Sure gives people trouble! Sure is hard to understand! But look here — what is it that troubles people? Who is it that troubles anyone? Step back and look in this way; gradually you will wake up, with each passing day illumination will expand and enlarge.
And yet, you should not fanatically recognize this alone and immediately claim perfect attainment, for then you are dependent and fixated. Then it will be ineffective. You must apply some wisdom in your observation.
The ancients allowed you to focus on a route: if you stop and step back in this way, I guarantee there is a reason. This is what is considered incomprehensible and not susceptible to knowledge.
There is also a type who talks wildly and speaks at random, questioning this and that. Again, just step back and look; what is it that talks wildly and speaks randomly? Just turn your attention around and reflect. Go on working like this, and eventually you will be sure to awaken. If you don’t believe it, there’s nothing I can do about that.
When I first called on a certain teacher, he taught me to contemplate this saying: “What is the great meaning of Buddhism? Next to the city of the King of Chu, the river flows eastward.” He also taught me to contemplate the saying, “It’s not the movement of the wind, nor the movement of the flag, but the movement of your mind.”
Then when I left and went to call on teachers all over the land, I asked them questions. The ancients were wholly true to reality, and the old teachers explained in countless ways, but I simply could not understand.
Finally I left to travel to eastern China, but halfway there I turned around and came back. Now I was told to contemplate the story, “‘If you kill your parents, you repent before Buddha; if you kill Buddha, where do you repent?’ Yunmen said, ‘Exposed.’” This case study is like a hot iron ball in the mind, and I suffered all kinds of trouble for seven years. Those of you who have studied Zen for a long time will know what I mean.
Let me tell you another story. When Huaitang started to study Zen, he first saw Yunfeng Yue. For three years, he could not understand what Yunfeng was talking about. He also studied with Zen Master Nan, and after two years still did not understand. Then he went to spend a summer retreat in a cloister. In Transmission of the Lamp, he read the story where someone asked Duofu, “What is the bamboo grove of Duofu?” He replied, “One cane, two canes slanted.” At this, Huaitang finally opened up and awakened.
Nowadays people just call these dialogues. This is because of lack of precision in applying effort, failing to understand the expedient devices of the ancients. I urge each of you, since you are already in a society, to study the path independently, not spending any time uselessly, taking enlightenment as your rule.
Submitted January 28, 2020 at 08:25PM by hookdump https://ift.tt/2GsxbrG
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