Teaching You How to Practice

Dahui's Real Original, the First Shobogenzo (shamelessly stolen from u/ewk's archives)

260.

Master Nanquan said to an assembly, The Burning Lamp Buddha said it—if what is thought up by mental descriptions produces things, they are empty, artificial, all unreal. Why? Even mind has no existence—how can it produce things? They are like shadows of forms dividing up empty space, like someone putting sound in a box, and like blowing into a net trying to inflate it.

Therefore an old adept said, “It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing,” teaching you how to practice.

It is said that tenth stage bodhisattvas abide in the concentration of heroic progress, gain the secret treasury of teachings of all Buddhas, spontaneously attain all meditations, concentrations, liberations, spiritual powers(lol), and wondrous functions, go to all worlds and manifest physical bodies everywhere, sometimes present the appearance of attaining enlightenment, turning the wheel of the great teaching, and entering complete extinction, causing infinity to enter into a pore, expound a one-line scripture for countless eons without exhausting the meaning, teach countless billions of beings to attain acceptance of the truth of no origin;

yet this is still called the folly of knowledge, the folly of extremely subtle knowledge, completely contrary to the Way. It’s very difficult, very hard; take care.

IK's Comments: Time to set the record straight. You are all Buddhas and Patriarchs. No, you are all above and beyond even that. What you are is just this. What you are not is just this. Do you see It?

If you have frequented r/zen for even one single day, you may have noticed all this arguing about Zazen or no Zazen, practice or no practice, cultivation or no cultivation... etc etc. Here is my humble, not so humble opinion. The truth, as always, is nuanced and neither/nor. The truth is somewhere in the grey.

Let's take a stab at it: I'll say again, you are beyond even the Buddhas and the Patriarchs. What you are is what you are not(Mu) and what you are not can't be said in words. But what you are, that is, what you are not, is no-thing, but it is not nothing. Do you see the difference? No you are not a Buddha nor a Patriarch; you are No-thing. So are you confused? Do you understand? Who is the One who is concerned about either?

Huangpo says,

All sentient beings and Buddhas are nothing but the One Mind besides which nothing exists.

This One Mind is the one who is confused. This One Mind is the one who understands. Could we all just be puppets charged and powered by One Source?

Don't take it from this Nincompoop shitstain nobody. Huang Po says:

Your true nature is something never lost to you, even in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of enlightenment. It is the nature of your own mind, the source of all things, your original luminous brilliance. You, the richest person in the world, have been going around laboring and begging, when all the while the treasure you seek is within you. It is who you are.

So whether you have seen your Buddha Nature or not, relax for a second. Who you are won't change regardless of your condition. You can be a 4AM waking up vegan all-day meditating Mr. Rogers or you can be drug addled, heroin snorting, reddit addict. Joshu said, "I am nothing other than I am." Yes, that includes all of us. We are all the One Mind.

Now to practice. Our resident Patriarch u/ewk chastised me for saying this but I stand by it.

Practice isn't a question of "should you?" but "why wouldn't you?" Do we need to debate whether we should be at peace? And no, I don't mean attachment to pleasure(or pain if that's your thing.) I mean at peace. Physically it's called Homeostasis, psychologically, we call it peace, tranquility, or equanimity. There's nothing to debate, it's self-evident that this is what we naturally long for.

So to review, no, you don't have to do anything. Reality is not a morality nor does it require a philosophical debate. Just use your common-zense. You are and are not already complete and Whole. But unless you have practiced, you have not attained the level of peace that you naturally long for. Again, this has nothing to do with attaining Buddha Nature. You are already all that and a bag of chips. This is not about cultivating or clearing Karmic sin.

This is simply about becoming what you already are. This is simply about realizing the realization. Why do we have to become something that we already are? I don't know! But do you ask yourself why am I hungry? Or why do I have to poop? Just do it, already. If you are not at peace, practice. Stop lying to yourselves that you are already and Buddha on the internet and then cry yourselves to bed. Man the fuck up and do it. And no, you don't have to sit to do this. You can do it all day long as long as you aren't asleep.

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.

Is it a sin or a wrongdoing to practice in a Zendo(?). NO! That's like saying All cops are KKK Nazi murderers. But u/ewk warns of organized Zen practice for the same reasons people like Rousseau and Voltaire warned about the Catholic church; because when human beings organize into groups under an ideology, shit usually goes south. Just like the Enlightenment era philosophers like Rousseau and Voltaire taught and advocated for the individual to cut out the middle man and institutions on their pursuits for Enlightenment, utilizing your own Mind to discover the Truth(knowing the aforementioned dangers of organized religions and the shitshows that they devolve into) through the wealth of information that is available, u/ewk is saying why risk putting yourself in a situation where you'd be predated by power-hungry individuals who will exploit your naivety and innocence?

In conclusion, if you are at peace, keep doing what you've been doing(granted it's sustainable). It doesn't matter which religion you practice, whether you practice Zazen, attend a Zendo(?), or use the guidance from this lovely place called r/zen. But if you are not at peace, before you decide to visit one of these meditation temples where a bald headed man will act superior to you until you have proven your worth by being able to sit cross legged for long periods of time, ask yourself why not just Enlighten yourself by reading the wealth of records that Zen Masters left and are freely available on the internet? This is just my personal opinion and if you feel as though you absolutely must attend a temple, I'd read some yelp reviews or talk to trustworthy people who don't give you weirdo vibes and check out what all the hype is about. I personally won't stop you.

And for the r/zen reddtors/monks who have taken up studies and decided to go at it alone(with the help of the community), be honest with yourselves and practice until you truly are at peace with your enlightenment. Realize the realization rather than continue to play Zen Master while your relationships are failing and your life is in shambles.

Therefore an old adept said, “It is not mind, not Buddha, not a thing,” teaching you how to practice.

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.

You are all Buddhas and Patriarchs and beyond anything words/things can describe. You are fundamentally pure and your essence is incorrigible. Now do the work and realize the realization.

(I will come back and edit this later. Going to bed now, GN r/zen. auf Wiedersehen)

Submitted June 18, 2020 at 08:45AM by IlluminatedKnight https://ift.tt/3daxWn9