As I see members of present-day Zen communities, it is as if none of them are talking about this reality. Now wherever you go there are Zen communities and teachers preaching Zen and Tao, holding interviews and lectures, all talking about this matter— why do I say they haven’t been talking about it at all? They are talking, to be sure, but they cannot actually speak of it. Not only can they not speak of it, they are unable to see it. Not knowing how to work on it as it is, they simply say, “When the true imperative is brought up in its entirety, the ten directions are cut off: any Buddha that shows up will get a beating, and any demon that shows up will get a beating.” They fanatically talk Zen, but never touch upon what is most urgent.
It is rare that Foyan criticizes people for not actually dealing with their life and it's circumstances as they come, according to what is most urgent. They are most often trying to press us into seeing the essential; the necessary. Then, what to do? Foyan doesn't, and probably can't say, but they do say that talking abstraction and scripture isn't talking about what is most pressing.
What I talk of here is something that others neglect. I casually pick it up from a trash heap and ask people about it, but they cannot say anything. Right now, when people who have already entered the room, inquired into the way, and attained understanding see the incense stand, is it an incense stand or not? If they say it is an incense stand, this is the same as ordinary people. If it is not an incense stand, to whom was the incense stand given away? Lightly question them, and they go to pieces. This is because they have always been working in idleness.
There are people here who can't have ordinary conversations. Just because Joshu was clever and poetic, doesn't mean they didn't know when to say "wash your dishes". The abstract philosophy of Zen can block and throw away the things that are not necessary, but can not wash dishes.
Now let me ask you a question. Never mind about since you’ve been here; before you went journeying, before you entered this community, when you saw an incense stand, what did you call it? You called it an incense stand. Everyone calls it an incense stand; why do you not think why you call it an incense stand? Zen should be studied in this way; you must understand what has been in you since beginningless time. Master Siushan said, “If you don’t see the original reality, obstacles will follow you all along; if people have obstacles, they go wrong countless thousands of times.”
It's an incense stand. It's always been an incense stand. Why would it be anything else?
My teacher said, “Suppose a bit of filth is stuck on the tip of the nose of a sleeping man, totally unknown to him. When he wakes up, he notices a foul smell; sniffing his shirt, he thinks his shirt stinks, and so he takes it off. But then whatever he picks up stinks; he doesn’t realize the odor is on his nose. If someone who knows tells him it has nothing to do with the things themselves, he stubbornly refuses to believe it. The knowing one tells him to simply wipe his nose with his hand, but he won’t. Were he willing to wipe his nose, only then could he know he was already getting somewhere; finally he would wash it off with water, and there would be no foul odour at all. Whatever he smelled, that foul odor wouldn’t be there from the start. Studying Zen is also like this; those who will not stop and watch themselves on their own instead pursue intellectual interpretation, but that pursuit of intellectual interpretation, seeking rationales and making comparative judgments is all completely off. If you would turn your attention around and watch yourself, you would understand everything. As it is said, ‘When one faculty returns to the source, the six functions are all in abeyance.’” Just see in this way, and you will have some enlightened understanding.
So, when someone asks to light the incense, where do you go? Not to the books.
Submitted September 18, 2020 at 09:06PM by surupamaerl https://ift.tt/2Ee9XrV
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