Monk: "Zen masters since of old have said that Great Awakening proceeds from Great Doubt [literally “At the bottom of Great Doubt lies Great Awakening”大疑の下に大悟あり]. You don’t use this Great Doubt in your teaching. Why?"
Bankei: Long ago, when Nanyue went to the sixth patriarch and was asked, “What is it that’s just come?” he was totally bewildered.
His Doubt about it lasted for eight long years.
Finally he was able to respond, “Whatever I say would miss the mark.”
Now that’s really Great Doubt and Great Awakening!
....Suppose you lost your only surplice, the one you were given when you became a monk, and you were unable to find it no matter how hard you looked.
You’d search and search without let up. You’d be unable to stop searching for even an instant. That would be real doubt!
People nowadays say they need to have doubt because people in the past did. So they cultivate a doubt. But that’s merely an imitation of a doubt, not a real one, so the day never comes when they arrive at a real resolution.
It’s as if you were to go off looking for something you hadn’t really lost, pretending you had.
[Unborn 129-30 rev.; 盤珪 137]
Linji: “I say to you there is no buddha, no dharma, nothing to practice, nothing to enlighten to.
Just what are you seeking in the highways and byways?
Blind men! You’re putting a head on top of the one you already have.
What do you yourselves lack? Followers of the Way, your own present activities do not differ from those of the patriarch-buddhas."
Some people want to work hard for eternity.
That is alright. As is their choice.
But they confuse themselves with the idea that working hard will 'eventually pay off' so they can one day take it easy.
Now, in many cases that can have great truth; like in getting better at various skills.
But what is there to get better at in Zen?
You always have today. What will you do with it?
Submitted October 31, 2018 at 05:19PM by Pikkko https://ift.tt/2Q3ifDw
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