Rejection of Religious Authority in Zen

There are all sorts of religious appeals to their own authority that get repeatedly rejected in Zen texts; as it relates to the modern Western audience, here are a few types of authority that people claim are claimed or otherwise endorsed by Zen Masters...without being capable of citing texts, of course.

1. Authority of Scriptures: REJECTED

   If you study the scriptures, codes, and treatises, there are already people for that; this is why I always say the scriptures have teachers of scriptures, the codes have teachers of codes, the treatises have teachers of treatises. They are organized, categorized, and classified, and there are already people who transmit and memorize them day and night, at bright windows and by lamplight. What about Chan masters? Can anyone say?

   Clearly, people who are trying to teach sutras, eightfold paths, ten commandments, magical mystical stages aren't studying Zen.

   So it is said, what can be seen by the eye or heard by the ear can be studied in the scriptures and treatises; but what about the basis of awareness itself—how do you study that?

2. Authority of Psychedelic-Meditation-Revelation: REJECTED

   Master Shunji was asked by a monk, "What is someone engaged in great practice like?" He said, "Wearing stocks and chains." The monk asked, "What about someone creating a lot of karma?" He said, "Practicing meditation, entering concentration."

   Meditation is just making a mess of things that are already pure. It's not like anyone needs to sit anymore than they already do in this day and age.

   The Fourth Patriarch said, "The Great Way is empty and open, beyond thought, beyond cogitation. Now that you have gotten such principles, you lack nothing anymore; how are you different from Buddha? There is no special doctrine beyond this. Just let your mind be free; don't do contemplative exercises, and don't try to settle your mind either. Don't conceive greed or hostility, don't think of sorrow or worry. Clear and unobstructed, free as you will, not contriving virtues, not perpetrating evils, walking, standing still, sitting, lying down, whatever meets the eye, in any circumstance, is all the subtle function of Buddha."

   Trying to purify mind by one means or another is just ignorance of your true, unobstructed, Buddha nature. People telling you that you need to do this sort of stuff are trying to chase away their own shadow and losers in a Zen community.

3. Authority of Karma-Merit

   Emperor Wu of Liang asked the great master Bodhidharma, "What is the highest meaning of the holy truths?" Bodhidharma said, "Empty, without holiness."

   The guy crossed the boat and got the imperial summons in taped to the door of his shack or whatever. The emperor was famous for building temples, telling people to worship and practice to get good karmas for eventual enlightenment, and promoting religion in his realm...but...that...all of it...is worth nothing at all.

   Xuansha said, "All the practices and stages of the three vehicles, liberation, bodhisattvas, nirvana, holy virtues, and sanctification are all like flowers in the sky, horns on a rabbit. Haven't you heard it said, 'When you come back and observe the world, it's like something in a dream.' Contrived mental states are not to be relied upon; over the long run, they are of no benefit."

   A triple rejection from Xuansha ! All of Buddhism out the window. All trying-to-be-good is as useless as horny rabbits. Oh, and meditative, mystical states are of no benefit.

Overall, most of the questions of people coming to /r/Zen have been asked and answered by Zen Masters hundreds of times before. So...it's not that there is some scarcity of material to take a look at, or some controversy-of-fact here, it's really just people who claim to have the authority to speak on behalf of someone else and are afraid to take a look at the record of what they actually said.

Someone else they haven't even met, they couldn't even recognize.

Which, is just a cowards game for people who know that no one would buy their BS if they said it came from their own imagination.

Submitted May 25, 2022 at 03:05AM by ThatKir https://ift.tt/FRIDdm7