On Knowing (aka "notes in the margins")

An excerpt from Instant Zen

People may sleep on the same bed, under the same covers, yet their individual dreams are not the same. An ancient sage said, “ We share the same one reality, yet do not realize it.” For example, within the single reality of life and death, there are those who can enter into life and death without being bound by life and death, and there are those who are bound by life and death in the midst of life and death. In the midst of the same common reality, one person is bound while another is freed; is this not the individual differences in the dreams?

row row row your boat

gently down the stream they say

life is but a dream

You usually make birth and death into one extreme, and absence of birth and death into another extreme; you make think­ing into one extreme and nonthinking into another extreme; you make speech into one extreme and nonspeech into another extreme. Here I have neither the business of Zen monks, nor anything transcendental; I just talk about getting out of birth and death. This is not a matter of simply saying this and letting the matter rest at that; you must see that which has no birth or death right in the midst of birth and death.

ring around your mind

in the pocket you will find

only what you bring

The great master Yongjia visited the Sixth Patriarch of Zen and said, “ The matter of birth and death is serious; transitori­ness is swift.” The Sixth Patriarch said, “ Why not comprehend the birthless and realize what has no speed?” Yongjia said, “ Com­prehension itself is birthless; realization of the fundamental has no speed.”

the relationship

between time and space is so

perpendicular

When Caoshan took leave of Dongshan, Dongshan asked, “Where are you going?” Caoshan replied, “ To an unchanging place.” Dongshan retorted, “ If it is an unchanging place, how could there be any going?” Caoshan replied, “ The going is also unchanging.”

the only constant

in any frame of reference

is the frame itself

Were these not realized people? You make thought one ex­treme and nonthinking another extreme; you make the unspo­ken outside of the spoken— even if you understand the unspoken clearly, as soon as words are spoken they block you.

beautiful windows

hidden behind iron bars

light framed in shadow

Why not study Zen in this way— walk, stand, sit, and recline all day long without ever walking, standing, sitting, or reclining. Sometimes seekers come here, utter a phrase, and clap their hands; how does this amount to an understanding beyond dualistic extremes? You should think in this way: “Clearly I am in the midst of birth and death; how can I get free of birth and death?” Don’t say this itself is It, that you basically have no birth or death. It is not realized by your uttering this statement.

when bound by concepts

one does not become free by

building more concepts

There are those who hear someone say there is no birth and death, and immediately say, "Right! There is originally no birth or death!” If you make your interpretation in this way, it will be impossible to understand.

you have to look through

not at the window itself

toward the horizon

Since it does not admit of rationalization and contrived under­standing, and does not admit of being explained away, how can you work on it?

what do you see now

and where do you see it from

who is it that sees

An ancient said, “ I only use what you bring me to point out an entryway to you.” Take care

Submitted March 08, 2022 at 11:44PM by eggo https://ift.tt/ofgtRiu