One qoute to rule them all, one quote to find them, one quote to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!

OK.. So I have been trying to come up with a basic set of fundamental ideas for Zen.. I've been studying Zen while I've been here for over two years now, and there are lots of differences of opinion within the r/zen Sangha as to what constitutes Zen, what is and isn't a part of the Canon, what is a correct interpretation of the literature, who is the best translator, who is a nut baker, is Japanese Zen really Zen, so on and so forth... Man it gets complicated, so I'd like to establish some brass tacks to work with, a conceptual framework if you will, of concepts to be seen through as the final layer of slime on Yunmens butt hole to be greedily licked off by eager students of Zen..

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This is a new format for me, but I'm gonna pick a page at random, from five books, from a selection of my library of Zen paperbacks, a kind of overarching book report that would hope to establish a common thread within the teachings..

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The books are, in no particular order..

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1. Instant Zen: Waking up in the present, translated by Thomas Cleary.

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1. The Platform Sutra: The Zen teachings of Huineng, translated by Red Pine.

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1. Zen Buddhism : An introduction to, by D. T. Suzuki.

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1. Zen Master Yunmen : His life and essential sayings, translated by Urs App.

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6.The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the Transmission of Mind, Translated by John Blofeld.

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1. Two Zen Classics: The Gateless Gate and The Blue Cliff Records, Translated by Katsuki Sekida.

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First rando. Hekinganroku. Case 11. Obaku's " Partakers of Brewers Grain"

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Main Subject. ( I'm omitting Engo's introduction and Setcho's Verse as I don't want even the slightest little bit of dust in my eye when I read the original Main verse)

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Obaku addressed the assembly and said, " You are all partakers of Brewers Grain. If you go on studying Zen like this, you will never finish it. Do you know that in all the land of T'ang there are no Zen teachers" Then a monk came along and said, "But surely there are those who teach disciples and preside over assemblies, what about that?" Obaku Said, "I did not say that there is no Zen, but that there is no Zen teacher."

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This one is self explanatory.. Obaku ( Huang po) is telling you to stop licking the slime offa old dead mens asses.. Look at their finger, sure, but see the moon for yourself.. Good old Huang po.

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Second rando. Taken from Yunmen. Page 52.

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When Master Yoashan first visited Shitou, he asked, " I have a superficial knowledge of the three vehicles, twelve divisions of teachings. Now I keep hearing of Southern" Directly pointing at man's heart" This is something I haven't yet understood, and I humbly request your compassionate instruction. " Shitou said" This way will not do, and any other way will not do either. No way, neither this way nor that way will do. What do you do? "

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Pretty straight forward yet again, don't have a way, no dogma, no nests, no concepts.. Not a tile over the head, nor in inch of ground under foot, wheres my next Rando?

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Rando number Three. The Zen teaching of Huang po. Page 72. The Wan long Record.

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Q. Even though Mind be formless, how can you deny the existence of the Thirty two Characteristic signs of a Buddha, or the Eighty Excellences whereby people have been ferried over?

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A. The Thirty Two Signs are signs, and whatever has form is illusory. The Eighty Excellences belong to the sphere of matter, but whoever perceives a self in matter is travelling the wrong path, he cannot comprehend the Tathagata thus..

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Hmmm.. This one is a little more complex due to the nature of the Buddhist references here, but for me, it's just about the teaching of no self to be found anywhere.. Only compounded phenomena ( The things in nature, including humans are just made up of other phenomena, air, food, components from the earth etc..) I'm not gonna get hung up on all those excellences or signs, but here is a quick explanation of what the Tathagata is.

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Tathagata

/təˈtɑːɡətə,təˈθɑːɡətə/

noun

an honorific title of a Buddha, especially the Buddha Gautama, or a person who has attained perfection by following Buddhist principles.

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Fourth Rando.. The Platform Sutra. Part three. Section 38-44

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1. The master lives on Tsaoshi Mountain and preached for more than 40 years. He had over four thousand disciples, Monks, Nuns and laymen. As for his basic principle he used the Platform Sutra and used this as his Testament. Unless a person had received the Sutra, they have no authority. They need to state the place, names and date of those who passed it on. Without the Authority of the Platform Sutra, they aren't disciples of the Southern School. If they haven't yet received this authority, even if they teach the direct teaching, they still won't understand its fundamentals and can't avoid arguments. However, those who have received this teaching are simply urged to practice it. Arguing about it involves thoughts of victory or defeat and is contradictory to the way of the Buddha.

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Haha.. What would the master have said about all the arguments going on here at r/zen? 😁

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Fifth Rando. The Daddy, The Main Contender.. Foyan.

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Association with good companions is a serious recommendation of the ancient sages. Students today should follow the words of the Buddhas and Patriarchs by finding a teacher to attain discernment. Otherwise, how can you call yourselves students?

If you want to clarify this matter, you must arouse wonder and look into it. If you wonder deeply about this matter, transcendental knowledge will become manifest. Why? The task of the journey just requires the sense of doubt to cease. If you do not actively wonder, how can the sense of doubt cease?

My teacher was thirty-five years old before he became a monk. He stayed in the city of Chengdu to listen to lectures on The Hundred Phenomena as Only Representation. There he heard a saying of how when a Buddhist enters the path of insight, knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind join, and there is no distinction between that which realizes and that which is realized. A Hindu challenged the Buddhists, "If there is no distinction between what realizes and what is realized, what is used as proof?" No one could answer this challenge, so the Buddhists were declared the losers in debate. Later the Buddhist canonical master of Tang came to the rescue of the doctrine: "When knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind unite, it is like when drinking water one spontaneously knows whether it is cool or warm."

What about the travels of my late teacher calling on teachers—why did he later say he questioned an aged grandfather? What about selling and buying oneself—what is that? You should realize there is no excess; what the man of old said is all you.

He also said, "I have never had a single statement to reach you. If I had a statement to reach you, what use would it be?" Do you want your feeling of doubt broken? You too must be like my late teacher once before you can accomplish it.

Now my teacher thought, "It may be cool or warm, all right; but what is this business of spontaneous knowing?" He wondered and questioned very deeply. He asked the lecturer about the principle of spontaneous knowing, but the lecturer couldn't answer; instead, he said, "If you want to clarify this principle, I cannot explain it, but in the South there are adepts who have found out the source of the enlightened mind; they know about this matter. You will have to journey for it."

So my teacher went traveling. He went to the capital city, and all around the eastern riverlands, asking every Zen adept he could find about this matter. And everyone he asked gave him a reply. Some explained, some spoke in aphorisms. In any case, his feeling of doubt remained unbroken.

Later he came to Fushan. Seeing that everything Fushan said in lectures and interviews was relevant to what was in his mind, he wound up staying for a year. Fushan had him contemplate the phrase, "Buddha had a secret saying, Kasyapa didn't conceal it."

One day Fushan said to him, "Why didn't you come earlier? You should go call on Baiyun Duan." So my teacher went to Baiyun. One day when he went into the teaching auditorium, all of a sudden he realized great enlightenment. "'Buddha has a secret saying, Kasyapa didn't conceal it'—of course! Of course! When knowledge and principle merge, environment and mind unite, it is like when one drinks water one spontaneously knows whether it's warm or cool. How true these words are!" Then he composed a verse on his attainment:

At an idle patch of field before the mountain

Politely I question an aged grandfather!

How many times have I sold and bought myself?

Charmingly, the pine and bamboo draw a clear breeze.

When Baiyun read this, he nodded. Is this not a case of doubting and wondering profoundly, approaching people who know, and only then succeeding in clarification?

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Good old Foyan.. Just break through that doubt, via Wonderment and the task of learning, learning about self and environment, like drinking a glass of beer and knowing if it is Heineken or Pabst Blue Ribband..

"Heineken, Fuck that shit.. Pabst Blue Ribband"

Submitted August 02, 2022 at 11:18AM by transmission_of_mind https://ift.tt/5YPQg7D