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Book of Serenity Case #3 - The Invitation of the Patriarch to Eastern India

A rajah of an east Indian country invited the twenty-seventh Buddhist patriarch Prajnatara^A to a feast. The rajah asked him, "Why don't you read scriptures?" The patriarch said, " This poor wayfarer doesn't dwell in the realms of the body or mind when breathing in, doesn't get involved in myriad circumstances when breathing out--I always reiterate such a scripture, hundreds, thousands, millions of scrolls."

NOTES FROM AN 🦉

This quote was posted recently and I quite enjoyed it. The myriad Dharmas all reiterate a singular point, The Buddhadharma has a singular message.

It’s always interesting seeing where little pockets of Dharmic wisdom arises in society, even from those you’d least expect.

Let’s take the classic quote by Timothy Leary, “If you get the message, hang up the phone.” which sounds strikingly like the wisdom of Prajnatara here in regards to the scriptures.

Of course Leary was talking about drugs, but more fundamentally they are both talking about addiction and attachment, of which our ancestral brothers suffered no less. Where most monks spend their waking moments nose deep in scripture, or worse, getting sores on their ass, Prajnatara doesn’t bother with all that.

Here as well we see the stark contrast from the living Zen Master and those who truly haven’t internalized and actualized the essential point.

Whereas Leary quite possibly had a moment of realization, and as such was able to put forth a bit of medicine, his message remains amorphous, mysterious, vague and hazy, as if seen in a dream. He’s well aware there’s a message, he’s gotten the call, he’s set down the phone.

But if asked to point to the truth, what would he do? Well he’s written a number of books if anyone is interested in what he’s deciphered of his message, but for my money, I doubt he’s written scriptures. Most of his work seems to involve the humantics, exploring the nature of human psychology and consciousness.

And while the nature of humanity and what it means to be human is deeply fascinating and of prime interest to us as a people, there is nothing human-centric about the Dharma.

Which is the entire point of Prajnatara’s quote. If you understand the message you write a scripture. And if you understand the message what’s the bother of scripture? It’s just a reiteration of a point of realization that you already understand. This point can be, and is, reiterated countless times, in countless places, in countless ways. This point is seen from one side and from another, it’s explored up and down, and even Prajnatara’s extrapolation of the message, “doesn't dwell in the realms of the body or mind when breathing in, doesn't get involved in myriad circumstances when breathing out”, is not the nail in the coffin.

How could it be?

What about the final point of Ludwig Wittgenstein, in the Tractatus?

About that which we cannot speak, we must remain silent.

Isn’t this a bit of Dharmic wisdom, a point of realization? How many scriptures reiterate the point that the Dharma that can be spoken is not the true Dharma? How many cases do we have where Zen Masters make their point through silence, such as Yunmen winning the king’s Zen-off without saying a word?

At least it’s a step further than any other Western Philosopher, almost none of whom have realized the existent non existence of the unspeakable.

Even I managed to give a bit of the singular dharma yesterday, the constant reiteration to not mistake things for it, to not be distracted by things without or within.

Prajnatara won’t even bother with the scriptures, and they reiterate the singular message. Would he bother with the news or idle gossip? Letting his mind drift off following the current of events, forgetting himself in the myriad things?

Leary might have been content to hang up the phone, but Zen Masters are more demanding. It’s not enough to hear the message, you have to internalize it, realize it and then actualize it. You have to show your work, reiterating the singular point for all beings.

That’s todays prattle. Who else has a bit to give? In your own way, how do you express the point?

—————— A. Prajnatara is the teacher of Bodhidharma, founder of the Zen school. Call him your great, great, granddaddy.

Submitted May 30, 2022 at 10:45PM by Owlsdoom https://ift.tt/5qcsPSf