How was that title for a zinger, folks? Welcome to the world of post Roe v Wade! Notice how the news actually set it up like that themselves? For twenty years, building their own narrative? “When Roe v. Wade falls that’s it.” Okay, news—I believe you now. That’s it. It happened, and so now, with your pre-authorized permission—we can all finally say it happened.
Which means it’s time to start making a survival guide for how to study Ch’an in a military dictatorship. Don’t worry—I have actually had decades of preparation learning how to write this survival guide—as well as over a decade of doing the nitty-gritty itself, as it were. (As, of course, have many of you.)
But no shit—that’s what I want to talk about.
How to study Ch’an in a military dictatorship. And this is about the realest subject a student of Ch’an can ever look at. (See all of Japanese Zen Buddhism, and its effect in our own military dictatorship, for one example.)
And if it’s gonna be that real in a Ch’an community—it’s almost bound to be about Mazu, isn’t it?
How many Redditors out there know why?
Here, a slide show from Mazu Daoyi’s Wikipedia:
Oh would ya look at that? Hmm. The corruption of the government (see what happened when our military dictatorship pulled out of Afghanistan, btw?) eventually led to a situation where one of the out-of-control warlords was able to mount a rebellion, and managed to smash the Tang Dynasty so hard that it never actually recovered from it. Two centuries of chaos, revolution, war, famine, survival, germination, and sprouting of seed followed—in a continuously rolling wheel of historical change—right up to ehen the first note of the Song was finally sung in 960.
But imagine during the An Lushan rebellion—smack dab in the middle of Mazu’s life—when a death blow is visibly struck against all the corrupt institutions in the capital…and suddenly it’s the students of Huineng and Shenhui…who ridiculed Shenxiu and the fake, corrupt bureaucrat implants and scions of the aristocracy, and had refused to be a part of the corrupt institutions, and ran their own Ch’an communities, supporting themselves…the southern school…yep, suddenly the An Lushan Rebellion fell out of the sky, like a grand piano with the word ACME scrawled across it, and landed just so…that of course it was those Ch’an communities and Ch’an teachings that everyone turned to—rather than to the ones the piano landed on.
Developed out in the fringe, in a Balkanized empire, under god knows what sort of war lord, or in what sort of economy…but out their just gardening and studying Ch’an and doing it in public, where everyone around could see.
No wonder, anyway, that Mazu became the influential Ch’an master history universally recognizes him as, in those circumstances. And clearly…that’s a fella who knows how to study Ch’an under a military dictatorship! Quick, Reddit Zennists, go find yerself a warlord to shelter under—and ewk doesn’t count! (He’s clearly just a student of Ch’an moonlighting as a warlord on paper. Perhaps useful for those seeking a lamp to study near in chaotic times? Somehow? Hmm.)
Anyway, those experiences of Mazu’s surely payed off for Joshu’s generation the same way Shenhui’s and Huineng’s had payed off for Mazu’s. I mean, look at what they had to deal with.
Yikes!! Shit got so bad the government declared war on religious institutions—and straight up started robbing them!
Once again, it was the Ch’an masters in remote communities—able to teach at their own discretion, run their own societies and economies such that they were a product of the study of Ch’an—who were able to survive these assaults of the collapsing Tang government…and once again it was the corrupted institutions that were taken down by the corruption. (::casts sidelong glance at corporate temples who lie to people::)
While the communities of the Ch’an masters not only survived—but thrived through these times. Many of the lineage’s most famous figures come from the two century long fall of the Tang.
Always telling the truth is, in fact, a very good way to survive a fall. (Like that moment the body tries to convince itself it’s not actually falling, balks, misses an opportunity to land intentionally, and breaks an arm? I wouldn’t know myself. Never broken a bone other than the one I temporary dissected with a hatchet.)
And of course…I do have a case to back this OP up:
Sayings of Joshu #418 A monk was taking his leave. Joshu said, "Where are you going?"
The monk said, "To the state of Min."
Joshu said, "In Min there is a hell of a war going on. You will have to avoid it."
The monk said, "How can I avoid it?"
Joshu said, "That's it."
Right there, just like I said! Want to know something really interesting about Zen Masters, though? The ones we have in the cases and texts? They don’t really talk about war or politics do they? Nope. Not at all basically. But here Joshu does, because it is directly relevant to the monk in front of him. What a phrase “there’s a hell of a war going on, you will have to avoid it”! Good job pointing out that as a Ch’an monk he will have to avoid the “hell of the war.”
But it shouldn’t be much of a problem, ultimately, for anyone who studies Ch’an in the ninth century, should it? Ya can already walk all day for days and days. You can already survive on almost no food. You already have a good day every day.
At that point it really is just about avoiding arrows and knives—do that, and you should get by just fine as a monk.
But, like—head’s up.
Is about how I read Joshu’s warning. “How can I avoid it?” “That’s it.” Haha. It sounds like Joshu is both saying: “Bingo—you can’t!” and “Bingo—you’re already doing it!”
I hope the monk was okay. There was a lot going on in Min at the time.
Oh, want to learn something funny that I bet no one in r/zen knows? You know how “Mazu” means “ancestor” + ma his family bane? So how, as his teachings spread, he was referred to as a Ch’an ancestor, and an ancestor to everyone who studied Ch’an after his time and the time that followed him?
Holy shit do I have a funny joke for your guys. One of those jokes I simply can’t believe I have held on to for so long. Do you know how I do that? Probably not.
But I digress.
Have any of you ever wikipedia’d “Mazu” and noticed what happens?
It doesn’t go to Mazu, does it?
Nope. It goes to some quack with the same name. Someone with the name Mazu, who is more famous than Ancestor Ma is famous. Try that on for size!
Her own name? Lin Moniang. [“Notice the lin?😜”—Linseed from Heaven]
Why was she called Mazu? Because it means Maternal Ancestor.
She was real special. And notably—from the state of Min. She was so special, in fact, that they decided her birthday must have been the day the Song dynasty was founded, itself—and this was so obvious they were able to decide it from quite a ways in the future, too. (Shouldn’t be overlooked when myth writers pull something like that.)
Anyway, she is considered a “shamaness.” At heart, she was basically what the greek oracle women at Delphi were to the greeks—just sort of doing it on her own, real plucky like. But whatevs, I’m not interested in the mystical stuff. The story is highly interesting, though:
And:
See? That’s who she was. Also the protectoress of sailors. And a bunch of stuff like that. I won’t unbox any Athena comparisons—because what’s the point?
But this legendary woman became a folk goddess because she had such a positive impact on Min after the chaos of the end of the Tang.
But admit it.
None of you knew that by the end of the Song dynasty, Mazu (Sea lady) and Mazu (Ch’an Master) sounded like “Grandma and Grandpa” to the folk—did you?
And that was the result of Ch’an study.
How many millions of peasants had weathered historical shipwrecks—directly because of Ch’an teachings?
I mean gosh, what an example! Everytime you went and bothered to look—studying Ch’an really was all they were doing! And if you did’t keep your eye out they were as likely to twist your nose as to say hello.
And what can ya make of that?
Nothing at all.
Pretty good at getting by though—those folks.
And real good at calling bullshit bullshit.
Laying down the law, basically.
S’what they do.
—Golden Eyebrow
Year of the Tiger
🖖
Submitted June 27, 2022 at 09:56AM by golden_eyebrow https://ift.tt/39eAsJi
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