BCR C89: The Hands and Eyes of the BodhiSattva

POINTER

If your whole body were an eye, you still wouldn't be able to see it. If your whole body were an ear, you still wouldn't be able to hear it. If your whole body were a mouth, you still wouldn't be able to speak of it. If your whole body were mind, you still wouldn't be able to perceive it. Now leaving aside "whole body" for the moment, if suddenly you had no eyes, how would you see? Without ears, how would you hear? Without a mouth, how would you speak? Without a mind, how would you perceive? Here, if you can unfurl a single pathway, then you'd be a fellow student with the ancient Buddhas. But leaving aside "studying" for the moment, under whom would you study?

CASE

Yun Yen asked Tao Wu, "What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion use so many hands and eyes for? "¹

Wu said, "It's like someone reaching back groping for a pillow in the middle of the night."²

Yen said, "I understand."³

Wu said, "How do you understand it? "⁴

Yen said, "All over the body are hands and eyes.''⁵

Wu said, "You have said quite a bit there, but you've only said eighty percent of it."⁶

Yen said, "What do you say, Elder Brother? "⁷

Wu said, "Throughout the body are hands and eyes."⁸

NOTES

1. At that time Tao Wu should have given him some of his own provisions. Why are you constantly running around? Why do you ask, Reverend?

2. Why didn't Tao Wu use his own provisions? One blind man lead­ing a crowd of blind men.

3. He adds error to error. He's cheating everyone. There's no differ­ent dirt in the same hole. Yun Yen doesn't avoid running afoul of the point and cutting his hand.

4. Why bother to inquire further? He still had to ask; Yun Yen should be challenged.

5. What does this have to do with it? He's making his living in the ghost cave, washing a lump of dirt with mud.

6. There's no different dirt in the same hole. When the manservant sees the maidservant, he takes care. A leper drags along his companions.

7. How can one get it by accepting another's interpretation? Tao Wu too should be challenged.

8. The frog cannot leap out of the basket. He's snatched your eyes and made off with your tongue. Has he gotten a hundred percent or not? He's calling daddy poppa.

NOTES FROM AN 🦉

This is a wonderful spiritual spell, able to soothe the cries of babies and grown folk alike.

I love cases like this, because it gives you something to chew on, no matter your realm of attainment or perceived level of understanding.

So in that spirit in today’s notes I’ll pose a few questions from the text, that I think are relevant for people wanting to understand Zen.

I’ve divided them into three sets of three, posed at beginners, intermediate, and advanced students.

Yes, I know this will probably upset some people, but I want to point out exactly what I’m doing here.

The first 3 questions posed towards beginners are for the purpose of clarifying what exactly the Masters are talking about here.

The second set of 3 questions are posed towards those who have some idea of what the conversation is referencing, but draws the attention towards the topical metaphors of the time, and the idioms used by the Zen Masters, so we can weasel out whatever nuggets of deeper meaning we might gloss over.

The third set of questions are posed towards those who feel they know what the Zen Masters are talking about as well as the idiosyncrasies in their speech. For these people the only question that matters is, how would you answer?

To me, the two most important passages in this case are the following;

But leaving aside "studying" for the moment, under whom would you study?

How can one get it by accepting another's interpretation? Tao Wu too should be challenged.

So to be clear, I’m not trying to teach anything or explain anything. I’m just offering some questions to those who lurk and might find the texts intimidating or senseless, and not have an idea of where to start.

QUESTIONS FROM AN 🦉

1. (B) The text speaks of a Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. Then later the text moves to talk of the Body of the BodhiSattva. What is this body of the BodhiSattva, and where would one find it?

2. (B) As for the use of hands and eyes, “Groping a pillow in the middle of the night.” What’s the sense in this explanation?

3. (B) Yen says the body is covered with Hands and Eyes. Wu says, not just covered, but throughout the entire Body Hands and Eyes exist. What do these two statements imply about the nature of the BodhiSattva?

4. (I) what are the provisions Tao Wu should have used?

5. (I) Living in a Ghost Cave; Washing dirt with mud, what are the meanings of these statements?

6. (I) No Different Dirt in the Same hole; The frog cannot leap out of the basket, snatching out eyes and making off with a tongue, what do these idioms mean?

7. (A) How do you answer Yun Yen’s first question?

8. (A) How do you answer Yun Yen’s second question?

9. (A) How do you answer Yun Yen’s third question?

Submitted April 26, 2021 at 08:09PM by Owlsdoom https://ift.tt/3aHqotD