Bankei:"The only thing I tell my people is to stay in the Buddha-mind. There are no regulations, no formal discipline.
Nevertheless they have agreed among themselves to sit in Zen for a period of two incense sticks [an hour or so] daily. All right, let them.
But they should understand that the birthless Buddha-mind has absolutely nothing to do with sitting with an incense stick burning in front of you.
If one keeps in the Buddha-mind without straying, there's no further satori to seek. Whether asleep or awake, one is a living Buddha.
Zazen means only one thing-sitting tranquilly in the Buddha-mind. But really, you know, one's everyday life, in its entirety, should be thought of as a kind of sitting in Zen.
Even during one's formal sitting, one may leave one's seat to attend to something.
In my temple, at least, such things are allowed. Indeed it's sometimes advisable to walk in Zen for one incense stick's burning, and sit in Zen for the other. A natural thing, after all. One can't sleep all day, so one rises. One can't talk all day, so one engages in zazen. There are no binding rules here.
Most masters these days use devices (koan, etc.) to teach, and they seem to value these devices above all else—they can't get to the truth directly. They're little more than blind fool!
Another bit of their stupidity is to hold that, according to Zen, unless one has a doubt he proceeds to smash, he's good for nothing.
Of course, all this forces people to have doubts.
No, they never teach the importance of staying in the birthless Buddha-mind. They would make of it a lump of doubt. A very serious mistake."
(Translated by Lucien Stryk & Takashi Ikemoto [池本喬 1906-1980] In: ZEN: Poems, Prayers, Sermons, Anecdotes, Interviews Anchor Books, Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1963, pp. 70-71.)
When you want to be active, be active. When you want to be quiet, be quiet.
When you want to sit, sit. Walk, walk. Talk, talk.
Cold? Get warm. Hot? Get cool.
Why make it more complicated?
Many people here want to convince you that you need to pass through many hoops, tests or trials to get to naturalness.
That is their place, of course, and their desire.
Just see them through and through, and don't get taken up by the giant waves of these impassioned actors, dedicated to their crafts of recruiting you to the chronic efforts they hold most dear.
....They are always 'so close' and yet 'so far' from their finish line!
Unless, of course, it suits your fancy. Then by all means, take up their cause. Just see them clearly.
Just don't complain afterwords if you do. It is how you have chosen to spend your time.
Bankei was approached by a priest who boasted that his master possessed miraculous powers.
This master could take a brush and write Amida in the air and the word would appear on a sheet of paper in the distance.
Challenged to equal this, Bankei replied, "My miracle is that when I feel hungry I eat, and when I feel thirsty I drink."
Submitted November 01, 2018 at 07:06AM by Pikkko https://ift.tt/2P5EJY3
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