Friday, 3 June 2022

Zen Rejects: Not Zen

(A GreenSage OP: Intro & FAQ coming soon)

 



A monk asked, "Can one who has renounced the world still be worldly?"

ZhaoZhou said, "A monk – that's what you are. Renouncing or not renouncing – I will have nothing to do with it." [Insert: Drake Face]

The monk asked, "Why?"

ZhaoZhou said, "That is what being a monk is all about."

https://zenmarrow.com/single?id=344&index=zz



 

Translation issues aside, one thing is clear: being a Zen Master–whether it’s the same or different than being a monk”–rejects rejecting and not-rejecting. (Clever liars tend to forget about ½ of the equation.)

That’s what Zen is all about.

If you don’t get it, then why not study it while you’re here?

 



A practitioner saw the staff in ZhaoZhou’s hand and said, "Is it true that a Buddha does not refuse people's wishes?"

ZhaoZhou said, "It is true."

The practitioner said, "I would like to have the staff that is in your hand. May I?"

ZhaoZhou said, "An honorable man does not take away something cherished by someone else."

The practitioner said, "I am not a gentleman."

ZhaoZhouu said, "And I am not a Buddha."

https://zenmarrow.com/single?id=183&index=zz



 

If you can't handle rejection, then go sign up with the Buddhists.

Lots of them will take you in (but not all).

 



You should not set up limitations [rejection] in the boundless void, but if you set up limitlessness [not rejecting] as the boundless void, you encompass your own downfall.

Therefore, those who understand voidness have no concept of voidness.

A high master said, "It is only tacit harmony." Because it is like this, if you haven't attained the path yet, just do not entertain any false thoughts.



 

(Stop lying)

 



If people recognize false thoughts and deliberately try to stop them, it's because you see there are false thoughts.



 

(Don’t lie about your lies either)

 



If you know you're having false thoughts and deliberately practice contemplation to effect perception of truth, this is also “seeing that there are false thoughts”.



 

(You can’t lie your way to truth)

 



If you know that falsehood is fundamentally the path, then there is no falsehood in it.

Therefore those who master the path have no attainment.

If the path were sought by deliberate intention, the path would be something attained.

Just do not seek elsewhere, and realize there is no confusion or falsehood; this is called “seeing the path”.

In recent times, everyone says, "Nothing is not the path." They are like people sitting by a food basket talking about eating; they can never be filled, because they do not themselves partake.

People who study the path clearly know there is such a thing; why do they fail to get the message, and go on doubting?

It is because their faith is not complete enough and their doubt is not deep enough.

Only with depth and completeness, be it faith or doubt, is it really Zen; if you are incapable of introspection like this, you will eventually get lost in confusion and lose the thread, wearing out and stumbling halfway along the road.

If you say they have some doctrine [such as “not rejecting”], you are thereby slandering the enlightened.

Do not be someone who finally cuts off the seed of enlightenment; if you do not discern the ultimate within yourself, whatever you do will be artificial.

https://zenmarrow.com/single?id=48&index=foyan



 

Zen rejects rejecting.

It also rejects not-rejecting.

Zen rejects lots of stuff.

The things it rejects or doesn’t reject may trigger your dukkha and cause you to have public meltdowns about stuff you lie about in the Zen Record, but just because you have strong feelings of rejection about something, doesn't mean that that thing is false.

Obviously, "rejection" is not excepted from truth.

"True" and "false" don't care about your feelings.

Zen rejects your attempts to contain or limit it, whether you like it or not.

The great stone bridge allows asses and horses alike to cross ... but it still needs to be crossed.

The Way is the ordinary mind.

When it comes to your favorite flavor of icecream, what rejecting or not-rejecting is there to speak of?

It’s just your favorite. You couldn’t reject it even if you tried … in fact, trying would prove its point even more.

Don’t reject the pwn that pwns us all.

 



ZhaoZhou asked [his master] NanQuan, "The Way–what is it?"

NanQuan said, "It is everyday mind."

ZhaoZhou said, "One should then aim at this, shouldn't one?"

NanQuan said, "The moment you aim at anything, you have already missed it."

ZhaoZhou said, "If I do not aim at it, how can I know [accept] the Way?"

NanQuan said, "The Way has nothing to do with 'knowing' ['accepting'] or 'not knowing.' ['rejecting'.] Knowing [Accepting] is perceiving but blindly. Not knowing [Rejecting] is just blankness. If you have already reached the un-aimed-at Way, it is like space: absolutely clear void. You can not force it one way or the other."

At that instant ZhaoZhou was awakened to the profound meaning. His mind was like the bright full moon.

https://zenmarrow.com/single?id=1&index=zz



 

Pwned.

🙏



Submitted June 03, 2022 at 11:18PM by OinkerDoinkerBoinker https://ift.tt/j6SPZMF

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