I'm making this post to juxtaposition the zen teachings to what is offered in the diamond sutra, because why not. It doesn't get talked about much, so I thought it could be fun.
It's a big post, but I won't be talking too much myself. I'll try to stick to cases and let those speak for themself as much as possible.
The Buddha has declared this teaching for the benefit of initiates on the path to Enlightenment; he has declared it for the benefit of initiates on the path to Nirvana.
if a person is satisfied with lesser teachings than those I present here, if he or she is still caught up in the idea of a self, a person, a living being, or a universal self, then that person would not be able to listen to, receive, recite, or explain this Sutra to others.”
Diamond Sutra
The usual controversial topic in this sub is explaining and reciting, but according to the diamond sutra some people can't even recieve it, which is currently the more interesting angle in my opinion.
There are a lot of ways to connect this back to zen, but I think these quotes sums it up quite nicely:
The Flower Ornament Scripture says, "I now see all sentient beings everywhere fully possess the wisdom and virtues of the enlightened ones, but because of false conceptions and attachments they do not realize it."
Book of Serenity #67: The Flower Ornament Scripture's "Wisdom"
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Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #365
Although Patriarchs and Buddhas have no intention of fooling people, because people of the time cannot pass beyond, Patriarchs and Buddhas turn out fooling people; so you can't say Patriarchs and Buddhas don't fool people. If one can pass beyond Patriarchs and Buddhas, this person is beyond Patriarchs and Buddhas. Only then does one realize the intent of Patriarchs and Buddhas. Then one is the same as transcendent people. If one has not passed beyond, and only studies Buddhas and seeks Patriarchs, then one will never get out in a million years."
The monk then asked, "How does one avoid being fooled by Patriarchs and Buddhas?"
He said, "The Way must simply be realized on one's own."
I've seen it being mentioned as; Because people's karma is dark/Because people's faculties are dull, they are not able to see (paraphrased), as well.
there does not exist any so-called highest, most fulfilled, and awakened mind that the Buddha attains.
Someone would be mistaken to say that the Buddha has attained the highest, most fulfilled, and awakened mind because there is no such thing as a highest, most fulfilled, or awakened mind to be attained.”
it is just the same when a disciple speaks of liberating numberless sentient beings. If they have in mind any arbitrary conception of sentient beings or of definite numbers, then they are unworthy of being called a disciple. Subhuti, my teachings reveal that even such a thing as is called a ‘disciple’ is non-existent. Furthermore, there is really nothing for a disciple to liberate.”
“A true disciple knows that there is no such thing as a self, a person, a living being, or a universal self. A true disciple knows that all things are devoid of selfhood, devoid of any separate individuality.”
“If a disciple were to speak as follows, ‘I have to create a serene and beautiful Buddha field’, that person is not yet truly a disciple. Why? What the Buddha calls a ‘serene and beautiful Buddha field’ is not in fact a serene and beautiful Buddha field. And that is why it is called a serene and beautiful Buddha field. Subhuti, only a disciple who is wholly devoid of any conception of separate selfhood is worthy of being called a disciple.”
Diamond Sutra
What do you think happens when someone tries to bring up something pure while still having the attachments? Don't worry, we have the zen cases, so you don't have to answer or wonder.
Sayings of Joshu #58
A monk asked, "To be holy-what is it like?"
Joshu said, "To dump a mountain of shit on the clean plain."
"Pure" not literal enough? Ok..
With the practices of the Pure Land Buddhists it is also thus, for all these practices are productive of karma; hence, we may call them Buddha-hindrances!
On the Transmission of Mind (Huangbo) #26a
Better? Ok, lets move on.
A monk asked, "How should one be in harmony with the Way?"
The Patriarch replied, "I am already not in harmony with the Way."
Sun Face Buddha (Master Ma) #22
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The twenty-seventh patriarch Prajnatara showed Bodhidharma a priceless pearl given him by a king of southern India and asked, "This pearl is round and bright - is there any that could match this?"
Bodhidharma said, "This is a worldly treasure, not fit to be considered supreme; of all treasures, the treasure of Dharma is supreme. This is worldly luster, not fit to be considered supreme; of all luster, the luster of wisdom of supreme. This is worldly brilliance, not fit to be considered supreme; of all brilliance, the brilliance of mind is supreme. The lustrous brilliance of this pearl cannot shine of itself; it needs the light of knowledge to discern it. Once one discerns this, one knows this is a pearl; once one knows it's a pearl, then one understands it's a treasure. If one understands it's a treasure, the treasure is not a treasure of itself. If one discerns the pearl, the pearl is not a pearl of itself. The pearl is not a pearl of itself in that one must use the pearl of knowledge to distinguish a worldly pearl. That a treasure is not a treasure of itself means that it is necessary to depend on the treasure of wisdom to understand the treasure of Dharma. So you have the Way, Teacher, thus the treasure appears. When people have the Way, the same is true of the treasure of mind."
Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #290
I think the overlap is apparant. I don't think I have to say much about all this.
It does bring to mind another case though:
When the Master [Dongshan] was in Leh-t'an, he met Head Monk Ch'u, who said, "How amazing, how amazing, the realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Path! How unimaginable!"
Accordingly, the Master said, "I don't inquire about the realm of the Buddha or the realm of the Path; rather, what kind of person is he who talks thus about the realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Path?"
When, after a long time, Ch'u had not responded, the Master said, "Why don't you answer more quickly?"
Ch'u said, "Such aggressiveness will not do."
"You haven't even answered what you were asked, so how can you say that such aggressiveness will not do?" said the Master.
Ch'u did not respond. The Master said, "The Buddha and the Path are both nothing more than names. Why don't you quote some teaching?"
"What would a teaching say?" asked Ch'u.
"When you've gotten the meaning, forget the words," said the Master.
"By still depending on teachings, you sicken your mind," said Ch'u.
"But how great is the sickness of the one who talks about the realm of the Buddha and the realm of the Path?" said the Master.
Again Ch'u did not reply. The next day he suddenly passed away. At that time the Master came to be known as "one who questions head monks to death."
The Record of Tung-shan (Dongshan) #26
Ch'u accused Dongshan of relying on the teachings, but what do you think, what about Ch'u?
“Subhuti, do not maintain that the Buddha has this thought: ‘I have spoken spiritual truths.’ Do not think that way. Why? If someone says the Buddha has spoken spiritual truths, he slanders the Buddha due to his inability to understand what the Buddha teaches. Subhuti, as to speaking truth, no truth can be spoken. Therefore it is called ‘speaking truth’.”
At that time Subhuti, the wise elder, addressed the Buddha, “Most Honored One, will there be living beings in the future who believe in this Sutra when they hear it?”
The Buddha said:
“The living beings to whom you refer are neither living beings nor not living beings. Why? Subhuti, all the different kinds of living beings the Buddha speaks of are not living beings. But they are referred to as living beings.”
Diamond Sutra
Q: What is meant by relative truth?
A: What would you do with such a parasitical plant as that? Reality is perfect purity; why base a discussion on false terms? To be absolutely without concepts is called the Wisdom of Dispassion.
Now we are getting towards the end of the third period of five hundred years since the time of the Buddha and most students of Zen cling to all sorts of sounds and forms.
You must get away from the doctrines of existence and non-existence, for Mind is like the sun, forever in the void, shining spontaneously, shining without intending to shine. This is not something which you can accomplish without effort, but when you reach the point of clinging to nothing whatever, you will be acting as the Buddhas act. This will indeed be acting in accordance with the saying: 'Develop a mind which rests on no thing whatever. [A famous quotation from the Diamond Sutra.] For this is your pure Dharmakaya, which is called supreme perfect Enlightenment. If you cannot understand this, though you gain profound knowledge from your studies, though you make the most painful efforts. and practice the most stringent austerities, you will still fail to know your own mind. All your effort will have been misdirected and you will certainly join the family of Mara. What advantage can you gain from this sort of practice? Chih Kung once said: 'The Buddha is really the creation of your own Mind. How, then, can he be sought through scriptures?' Though you study how to attain the Three Grades of Bodhisattvahood, the Four Grades of Saint hood, and the Ten Stages of a Bodhisattva's Progress to Enlightenment until your mind is full of them, you will merely be balancing yourself between 'ordinary' and 'Enlightened'. Not to see that all methods of following the Way are ephemeral samsaric Dharma.
On the Transmission of Mind (Huangbo) #34
So truth is not depending on false terms, students 500 - 700 years after the buddha aren't all that great and all methods and any form of clinging whatsoever is completely antithetical to practice and is not the effort the teachings are expecting you to make.
“Subhuti, when people begin their practice of seeking to attaining total Enlightenment, they ought to see, to perceive, to know, to understand, and to realize that all things and all spiritual truths are no-things, and, therefore, they ought not to conceive within their minds any arbitrary conceptions whatsoever.”
Diamond Sutra
He's telling people they need to do this at the very start. What Huangbo calls "dropping conceptual thought" is the very first thing you should be practicing according to this text.
“Subhuti, how can one explain this Sutra to others without holding in mind any arbitrary conception of forms or phenomena or spiritual truths? It can only be done, Subhuti, by keeping the mind in perfect tranquility and free from any attachment to appearances.”
Diamond Sutra
There are more zen quotes that touch upon this:
If you look upon the Buddha as presenting a pure, bright or Enlightened appearance, or upon sentient beings as presenting a foul, dark or mortal-seeming appearance, these conceptions resulting from attachment to form will keep you from supreme knowledge, even after the passing of as many aeons as there are sands in the Ganges. There is only the One Mind and not a particle of anything else on which to lay hold, for this Mind is the Buddha. If you students of the Way do not awake to this Mind substance, you will overlay Mind with conceptual thought, you will seek the Buddha outside yourselves, and you will remain attached to forms, pious practices and so on, all of which are harmful and not at all the way to supreme knowledge.
On the Transmission of Mind (Huangbo) #3
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as long as you speak of anything existent, nonexistent, or whatever, all these are wounds. 'Existence' and 'nonexistence' refer to all things.
Sayings and Doings of Pai-chang (Baizhang) #1
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"When thought is produced, all kinds of things are produced; when thought passes away, all kinds of things pass away." If you want to develop knowledge of all kinds, you need to attain absorption in unity, absorption in one practice. If in all places you do not dwell on appearances, do not conceive aversion or attraction to any of those appearances, and have no grasping or rejection, do not think of such things as benefit, fulfillment, or destruction,
Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching #446
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The only essential thing in learning Zen is to forget mental objects and stop rumination. This is the message of Zen since time immemorial. Did not one of the Patriarchs say, "Freedom from thoughts is the source, freedom from appearances is the substance"?
Instant Zen (Foyan) #16: Learning Zen
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Just understand that the many things do not originate of themselves; all of them come into existence from one’s own single mental impulse of imagination mistakenly clinging to appearances.
Sayings and Doings of Pai-chang (Baizhang) #29
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Master Yunmen cited the words of the Overnight Enlightened One:
The spiritual action of the six senses is empty without being empty; the perfect shine of the singular [mani jewel] is formless form.
Zen Master Yunmen #172
Looking at all this the overlap between the texts is pretty apparant.
Thoughts? Ideas? Comments?
Submitted June 15, 2022 at 10:23AM by TheChemicalWhisperer https://ift.tt/QT64KLV
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