Hey r/zen.
This post is a continuation of the guidelines, as well as a response post to u/fingerstyping and u/patchrobe
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7. On Memorizing Slogans Without Being Capable of Subtle Function Meeting the Needs of the Time
It is not that there is no guidance for students of transcendent insight, but once you have gotten guidance, it is essential that expanded function actually appear; only then do you have a little bit of intimate realization. If you just stick to a school and memorize slogans, it is not penetrating enlightenment at all, but mere intellectual knowledge.
This is why the ancients said, “When your view equals your teacher, you have less than half your teacher’s virtue. Only when your view is beyond your teacher can you bring out the teacher’s teaching.” The Sixth Patriarch, furthermore, said to Elder Ming, “What I have told you is not something secret; the secret is within you.” And Yen-t’ou said to Hsueh-feng, “Everything flows forth from your own heart.”
So we know that speaking, caning, and hollering do not depend on a teacher’s bequest; how could the marvelous function, free in all ways, demand another’s assent?
When you degrade them, pearls and gold lose their beauty; when you prize them, shards and pebbles shine. If you go when and as you should go, principle and fact are both mastered; if you act when and as you should act, there is not the slightest miss.
The stuff of a real man is not for sissies. Don’t be a servile literalist and get stuck on verbal expressions as if this were the manner of Zen, or flap your lips and beat your gums as if this were sublime understanding. This cannot be penetrated by language or known by thought. Wisdom comes out in the village of infinite nothingness; spirituality is found in the realm of unfathomability. Where dragons and elephants tread is not within the capability of asses.
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I think this is a good guideline.
¤: Zen Masters talk about essence and function:
People who study the Way need to know their own basic mind. You can only see the Way when it is shown by mind. I often see people of the time who just acknowledge raising the eyebrows and blinking, sometimes speaking, sometimes silent, and right away give approval as the essence of mind. This is really not comprehending. I will now explain for you clearly; each of you should listen. Just get rid of all random operation of conceptual assessment, and then this is your true mind. This mind has nothing at all to do with sense objects or keeping notice of when it is still and silent. Mind itself is Buddha; it doesn't depend on cultivation. Why? Responding to situations according to perception, it functions on its own clearly and coolly; when you search out the seat of its function, it cannot be found. This is called subtle function; this is the basic mind. You really need to preserve it; don't take it lightly.
Is what you do demonstrating subtle functioning? Do you perhaps resort to talking about sense objects when questioned, or sometimes speak and sometimes are silent? Or do you talk about saving energy in stillness so that you can spend it later in noise? Dadian is rejecting both of this right here.
Fayan says that subtle function should be able to meet the needs of the time. When you function, such as when you are speaking to others, are you able to meet the needs? Or do you sputter out and have to resort to complaining about 'how totally immature' someone is for not understanding that your centuries of dedicated practice is impolite to question?
¤: Zen Masters say that memorizing slogans is mere intellectual knowledge
Were the zen master records a collection of 'good sayings to know and quote to friends and family'? Are they 'good ways to learn more about the structure of reality' such as 'stimulus-response'? Are you adept at giving a long description of the theories of mind and buddha? Will you talk about how good it is to sit and practice? Maybe you'll bring up one zen master that somehow contradicts another, thereby proving your point? Do you get lost in words and bore everyone with tedium?
"But suppose you take motion to be the right way. Every plant and tree knows how to move back and forth, so does that mean they constitute the Way? To the degree that they move, it is due to the element air; to the degree that they do not move, it is the element earth. Neither their moving nor their not moving come from any nature innate in them
¤: Zen Masters say that your view should surpass your teacher
Would anyone, anyone, describe your view as surpassing your teacher or even managing to equal your teacher? Can you be said to surpass any of the zen masters whose records we read? Can you share some examples of how your view has surpassed theirs or even managed to equal it? Or are you only capable of spitting out a feeble 'I understand dhyana'?
I'll give an example, let's see if any teachers can surpass Linji's view:
"There are some teachers around who can't distinguish crooked from straight. When a student comes and asks about bodhi or nirvana, about the threefold body or about environment and wisdom, those blind old teachers start explaining to the student. When the student curses at them, they pick up their stick and hit him, saying, 'Such rude language!' If you have a teacher like that, he lacks eyes to begin with. He has no cause to get angry at others.
¤: Zen Masters say that functioning does not demand assent
How do you feel when someone speaks, canes or hollers? Is it right or not?
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Fayan says don't bother to recite if you can't respond. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Submitted February 22, 2023 at 12:55AM by Dragonfly-17 https://ift.tt/SiHe62A
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