Usually I try to do my AMA's early in the morning, and then reply to them through the day, but as it so happens, I have time to do one tonight and answer answer questions all day tomorrow (because I am staying home, fully provisioned, and the only event I have scheduled is one phone call). As such, I can answer any questions that do trickle in tonight—as well as any that come in overnight (perhaps from far away timeszones or whatever)—as soon as I wake up in the morning and read them at morning tea.
This does seem like a pretty efficient way to AMA, now that I see it written out like that—I guess we will see how it works.
Anyway, I have not had time to post recently, as I have been very occupied with chores. By the way, thanks to everyone who has offered some encouragement over the last month or two, or said nice things in comments—it has been a pain in the ass over here and I have been withdrawing from nicotine the entire time, so that sort of stuff has been useful and beneficial when I do have a moment to comment, engage in conversation, or read a post.
But this AMA has been triggered by a case I have been looking at a lot lately, and also by a post of Infinity Oracle’s about the Lankavatara Sutra.
So the "text" I am referring to for this AMA is the classic question: "Why did the founder come from the West?"
(You can see it in many places, of course, BCR 17 being one of them.)
This is such an interesting question. The response offered up in case 17 is "sitting for a long time becomes toilsome."
Zing! A real cutlass just flashed before your eyes!
What do I mean? The Lankavatara is an interesting book to study and read and learn about—especially in the sense of learning of its role in the lineage of Bodhidharma's actual history. (It's funny how my iOS autospeller always wants to write Bodhisattva instead when I am trying to write "Bodhidharma". How on the nose is that?)
This is what I mean: one way to answer the question “why did Bodhidharma come from the west?”—for anyone who has actually read and looked at the history of the lineage of Bodhidharma and that of their first fav book, the Lankavatara Sutra—is by saying:
"Some Indian monks who travelled / voyages to China by the Southern sea route probably came back from China within a year or two (much quicker than the Silk Road route—notably!) and said 'boy that Liang Dynasty has really got it all wrong—they’re teaching sutras as a religion, and using them to create a hierarchical power structure that funds war and economic oppression—someone who is capable of it should really go over there and poke old Wu in the nose right away.”
That is one totally legit possible answer to that question for anyone actually familiar with the history of the lineage of Bodhidharma, and the books they read and talked about.
In my opinion as a literati student of Zen, anyway.
Whatever that doesn't count for.
—
I pass over the question about lineage because obviously—but I will point out that I study the lineage of Bodhidharma, of which the Zen Master Yuanwu was not only a Master but a literati. Here is what he had to say about the founder’s coming from the west elsewhere in the BCR:
They don’t realize that within the gate of expedient means the Ancients couldn’t help but establish expedient verbal formulae for latecoming students of elementary capacities who had not yet clarified their mind ground nor seen their fundamental nature. In the Patriarch’s coming from the West for the sole transmission of the mind seal, directly pointing to the human mind for the perception of nature and fulfillment of Buddhahood, where were there any such complications? It is necessary to cut off words, to see the truth outside of any pattern. When you penetrate through to liberation, this can be compared to a dragon reaching the water or a tiger at home in the mountains.
The Blue Cliff Record
Zen Master Yuanwu
Translated by Thomas Cleary
—
And since I don’t think “dharma low tides” are a real thing, I will share the following quote, and say ‘’maybe what some people think are dharma low tides are really just what Yuanwu is talking about here—or maybe they are an aubergine—it’s hard to say, really:”
To have seen but not yet penetrated, or to have penetrated but not yet become illumined—among the worthies of the past who investigated for so long, this was called seeking more instruction. To ask for more instruction when you have seen and penetrated, you then must still turn round and round on the words so there will be no doubtful sticking points. When one who has investigated for a long time asked for more instruction, this would be giving a ladder to a thief. In reality this matter does not lie in words; that is why Yun Men said, “If this matter were in words, are there no words in the twelve part canon of the three vehicles? What need would there have been for Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?
The Blue Cliff Record
It seems likely that to point at mind and not at words was why Bodhidharma came from the West.
Also it seems possible that sitting is really toilsome.
Did some corrupt buddhists in a military dictatorship tell you to sit, too?
Yeah—students of Zen hear that all the time.
It’s quite literally in the record.
AMA
Submitted February 15, 2023 at 10:11AM by lin_seed https://ift.tt/sRXFjhY
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