Outside the scriptures and not through words

Bassui Tokushō (1327-1387)

A layman said: "Though Zen is said to be transmitted outside the scriptures and not through words, there are many more incidents of monks questioning teachers and inquiring of the Way than in the teaching sects.''~ How can Zen be said to be outside the scriptures? And can reading the records of the old masters and seeing how they dealt with k6ans ever be considered outside the realm of words? What is the true meaning of the statement, 'Outside the scriptures, and not through words'?"

The master [Bassui] called to him at once: "Layman!"

He responded immediately: "Yes?"

The master said: "From which teachings did that yes come?" The layman lowered his head and bowed.

The master then said: "When you decide to come here, you do so by yourself. When you want to ask a question, you do it by yourself. You do not depend on another nor do you use the teachings of the Buddha. This mind which directs the self is the essence of the transmission outside the scriptures and not through words. It is the pure Zen of the Tathagata. Clever worldly statements, the written word, reason and duty, discrimination and understanding, cannot reach this Zen. One who looks penetratingly into his true self and does not get ensnared in words, nor stained by the teachings of the buddhas and ancestors, one who goes beyond the singular road which advances toward enlightenment
and who does not let cleverness become his downfall, will, for the first time, attain the Way.

"This does not necessarily mean that one who studies the scriptures and revels in the words of the buddhas and ancestors is a monk of the teaching sects, and one who lacks knowledge of the scriptures is a monk of Zen--which is independent of the teaching and makes no use of words. This doctrine of nondependence on the scriptures is not a way that was first set up by the buddhas and ancestors. From the beginning everyone is complete and perfect. Buddhas and ordinary people alike are originally the Tathagata. The movement of a newborn baby's legs and arms is also the splendid work of its original nature. The bird flying, the hare running, the sun rising, the moon sinking, the wind blowing, the clouds moving, all things that shift and change are due to the spinning of the right Dharma wheel of their own original nature, depending neither on the teachings of others nor on the power of words, it is from the spinning of my right Dharma wheel that I am now talking like this, and you are all listening likewise through the splendor of your Buddha-nature.The substance of this Buddha-nature is like a great burning fire. When you realize this, gain and loss, right and wrong, will be destroyed as will your own life functions. Life, death, and nirvana will be yesterday's dream. The countless worlds will be like foam on the sea. The teachings of the buddhas and ancestors will be like a drop of snow over a burning red furnace. Then you will not be restrained by Dharma, nor will you rid yourself of Dharma. You will be like a log thrown into a fire, your whole body ablaze, without being aware of the heat.

"When you have penetrated the truth in this manner and do not stop where practice and enlightenment show their traces, you will be called a Zen practitioner. One who comes into close contact with a Zen master is likened to one entering a burning cave--he dies and is reborn. The cave of ignorance is burned out, giving rise to the great function that goes beyond ordinary standards. It is as though a burning forge were applied to a dull piece of steel converting it instantly into a sacred sword. This is the most important point for a Zen practitioner who meets a master and inquires about the Dharma."

Fonte: Dharmanet.org

Being Thoroughly Familiar with the True Self

By Sekkei Harada

IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE, THERE IS ONLY YOU

In what way can you become familiar or intimate with your true self? Zen, the Dharma, and the Way point the direction. Consequently, Zen, zazen, and the Way are all means to take us to the world of the Dharma. Many people, though, are greatly mistaken on this point. They think it is sufficient simply to do zazen, or simply to seek the Way, and this is the end of it for them. I would like to explain why this type of thinking is mistaken.

The present population of the earth is said to be almost six billion, or even more. This means that each of us is one of these six billion people. Each of us is irreplaceable; we each have our individual existence. This is something that must be clearly discerned. First, we must see our own essential Self, and then it is necessary to make sure that we live our lives with our feet firmly on the ground. We are each one part of six billion people, and we must ascertain that we are truly the only person in the whole universe, someone who doesn't need to rely on Buddha, the Dharma, or the Sangha. This is the first step in being familiar or intimate with the true Self.

YOU ARE BOTH ZEN AND THE WAY

I would like to tell you a story from China. You may be familiar with the name of Joshu, who was a priest long ago. One day a monk asked him, "I am just a beginner in the practice of Zen. Please teach me how to do zazen." Joshu said, "Have you eaten breakfast? .... Yes," replied the monk, "I've had plenty for breakfast." Joshu said, "That's fine. Then wash your bowl and put it away." At that point the monk, who had resolved to seek the Dharma was just beginning the practice of zazen, said "I understand. Now I realize the direction of practice." So he went off happily.

There is an important point in the story for those of us who practice. We tend to think of our eating bowls as things that are outside of us. Yet Joshu said, "Wash your bowl and put it away." What does the bowl signify? You yourself. Each one of you must clean yourself thoroughly and then bring the matter of the ego-self to a conclusion. If Joshu's words are not understood in this way, a great mistake will arise. We perceive Zen, the Dharma, and the Way to be outside of ourselves. But it is a serious error to create a distance between yourself and these things in this manner. If you make a separation between yourself and what you are looking for, no matter how much effort you make to lessen that distance, that effort will be in vain.

It is a mistake to look for something that is far off in the distance. The Dharma is something that is everywhere at any time.

YOUR REALITY IS ZEN

I come from Japan, but Zen, the Dharma, and the Way do not exist solely in Japan. Zen, the Dharma, and the Way--these are things that cannot be exported. Since they cannot be exported, they cannot be imported. Consequently, that which has been imported from India, China, or Korea in not Zen, the Dharma, or the Way; these are each of you--your reality as-it-is. The reason I say this is so that you will understand that reality as-it-is is Zen, the Dharma, and the Way.

But if you do not "walk the Way," it will never be possible to reach your destination. The first human being to awaken and realize he himself was the Way was Shakyamuni Buddha. It was not the case, however, that he grasped something new. For those who believe in the Way of the Buddha and aspire to practice Zen, it is only natural that they will practice in the manner taught by Shakyamuni Buddha and the enlightened ones of India, China, and Japan who transmitted the Dharma.

If you clearly and certainly walk the Way, you will awaken to yourself. However, if you create a distance between yourself and Zen, the Dharma, and the Way, even if you walk the Way, I think you'll always feel great anxiety as to whether you will be able to truly realize the Way or not.

Since the Way and Zen is your condition as-it-is, there will definitely come a time when you realize, "Ah! So that's how it is!" There is no doubt about this. It will take longer for some of you to reach this point than others, but nevertheless you will definitely realize it. For some people it has taken thirty years to realize themselves, it took Shakyamuni six years. Others have realized in a single day. It varies from person to person. However, it will undoubtedly happen.

Shakyamuni Buddha gave the following example to indicate how certain this is: If you hold a stick in your hand and aim for the ground below you, no matter which way you strike the ground, it is impossible to miss it. In the same way, it is impossible not to come to an understanding of the true Self if you seek the Dharma and Zen.

DO NOT FORGET YOUR TRUE SELF

There is a story about a priest named Zuigan. Each morning, on awakening, he would always address himself, saying, "Master, master!" which could also be translated as "True Self, true Self!" He would ask himself, "Master, are you awake?" He would answer, "Yes, yes." And then he would say, "Don't be fooled by others." Whereupon he would answer, "No, no." This was his practice.

We are apt to forget our true Self. "To forget" means that we are always out traveling and away from home and so our home--or body--is vacant. We will be in a condition where we always think that sometime in the future, eventually, we must return home.
You may be familiar with the great thirteenth-century Zen master, Master Dogen. At first he traveled to Ghina in search of the Way. This was a condition in which his true Self was absent. But then he met Tendo Nyojo, another Zen master, and was able to "cast off body and mind." How did he express what he had attained?

The eyes are horizontal
The nose is vertical.
I won't be fooled by others.
The Buddhadharma does not exist in the least.

In another story, old Master Joshu said, "Before I knew that the Way is myself, I was used by time. But after I realized that the Way is myself, I was no longer used by time. Now I am able to live using time." For Joshu, hot was still hot, cold was still cold, and pain was still pain. He was still the same person--and yet depending on whether Joshu realized his true nature or not, he lived being used by things or he lived being able to use things.
The fact is that each of you possesses the same power as Joshu. By becoming intimate with Zen, you will understand how it is possible to find and master this power. When you do, each of you will be Joshu, Dogen, and Shakyamuni Buddha.

THREE PRINCIPAL TEACHINGS

In Buddhism there are three principal teachings: all things are impermanent; all things are without self-nature; and all things dwell in the peace and quiet of Nirvana. The first of these--all things are impermanent means that there is no condition that is fixed or determined for any length of time. It is not a matter of there being one thing that is undergoing change. It means that things---including yourself--are always changing and are without a center or an essence. As human beings we are always perceiving through the senses; which means that we are cognizant or aware of things. We can only perceive past and future. All anxieties--the opposite of peace of mind--as well as agitation, restlessness, and haste, arise from either the past or the future.

As I said earlier, the present moment is a condition where there is absolutely no separation between yourself and things. This is not to say, though, that there exists such a thing as the present moment. The condition we refer to as "now" is one where there is truly no.gap between yourself and other things. When you don't have peace of mind, this means that you are in a condition in which you are constantly aware of a distance between yourself and other things. In our present life, regardless of whether we know it or not, we are one with things. This is what is meant by the challenging expression "all things are impermanent."

No one remembers the time when they were born, the time they emerged from their mother's womb. In the same way, there is no one who knows their own death, thinking "I've just died." We know neither our birth nor our death. We first become aware of ourselves at the age of three or four. If we live to the age 0f eighty, during the intervening years we experience many things that are good and bad. There is gain and loss, there is this thing and that, but whose life is it.~ This world of perception and cognition--what we usually think of as the way human life must be or should be--this is all the life of the ego. Zen is the means that can help you discover the true nature of the ego.
When people are asked to give proof that they are living, they often cite the fact that they can see and hear and feel things. But this is not proof that you are living. It is merely a description of living. You perceive your self, the ego, "me," and then simply describe your present condition by saying that because you can see and hear and feel you are living. Someone who is dead cannot, obviously, describe what the condition of death is like. The reason is that it is already their reality. There is a problem of how to demonstrate the reality of living without description.

Even if you are aware of minute changes within the flux of events, you must understand that it is the ego that knows it and n6t the true Self. This means that with regard to our whole life, as long as the thing we call "me" does not stop intervening, it is not possible to lead a life that is truly free and peaceful. You already are free, but since you want freedom, you lose it. Consequently, it is necessary to free yourself from thinking that things must be this way or that way. This too is the meaning of the first teaching, "all things are impermanent."

The second teaching states "All things are without self-nature." As all things are selfless, this means there is no possibility of grasping on to something as your unchanging essence. For example, imagine it is now 8:00 in the evening. Let us say we go to bed at 10:00 and drift off to sleep without knowing it. While sleeping, who knows that they are asleep? Most likely, there is no one who is aware that they are fast asleep. In the same wa~, when we awake, it is not possible to be aware of awakening. All you can do is, by perceiving "this thing" (the body), say you are "awakened." But who is it, through perceiving "this thing," that calls it "you"?

No one can think two thoughts at the same time. If you were asked to think a good thought and a bad thought at the same time, it would not be possible. Have you ever considered why it is not possible to think two things simultaneously? Whether you think about this or not, you are yourself and you are living your own life. In fact, it is not possible to think of yourself. This means that it is not good to insert your own egoistic opinions. If the ego-self intervenes, it means that inevitably you will see things by comparing them. Zen practice is the practice of letting go of that intervention of the ego-self.

The third teaching is that "all things dwell in the peace and quiet of Nirvana." As I said at the beginning, Nirvana, or true peace of mind, is something that we must not seek elsewhere As long as you seek it elsewhere, you will never be free of feelings of satisfaction or anxiety. If we open our eyes, even when seeing something for the first time, we can clearly see all of it. If you hear something for the first time, you can hear it perfectly. You are endowed with the free functioning of the senses. This means that no matter what you see or hear, you assimilate all of it. You have the power to digest things in this way.

In a life where there is no separation, there is neither peace of mind nor anxiety. When there is peace of mind, there is also anxiety. In a world of the true Dharma, there is neither peace of mind nor anxiety. Having said that, there may be some people who wonder, "Then why is it necessary to practice.~" But really try living "now." There is no room for thoughts like peace of mind and anxiety to enter in. In this way, no matter how insignificant or important something may be, whether for yourself or for someone else, forgetting yourself and immersing yourself wholeheartedly in your work and making an effort, that is the life of Zen. It is the life of the Way.

People often speak of doing something for this or that purpose but in Zen we do not live our lives for this or that purpose. Even if we are doing something for ourselves or for someone else, the life of Zen is to forget all that comes before and after and really do each deed for the purpose of the deed itself. Wholeheartedly applying yourself to the task at hand, exhausting yourself in each activity, that is the life of Zen. Consequently, I would like you not to understand Zen, the Buddhadharma, or the Way by means of your intellect or your education.

Although I have just said that all of our life is Zen, the Dharma, and the Way, actually these things do not exist.

NOTHING IS BETTER
THAN SOMETHING GOOD
In everyday life, we often hear people say, "Now I can really believe it." But as long as you are satisfied with "really believing," it means that there is still belief. You must forget belief. It is the same with fact and reality. If you think something is true or real, it means you perceive "real" or "true," and there remains a gap between you and "real" or "true." The life of someone who has realized the true Dharma is one where there is r~o reality. In other words, it is to dwell peacefully in the world now.

There is a Chinese proverb that says: "Better than something good is nothing." Zazen is a wonderful thing. But even though it's wonderful, nothing is better. The reason is that something good is a condition on the way to the ultimate. We do not know if it will become better or worse. The key to zazen is to "grind up" zazen by means of the practice of zazen. If you follow through with this, then no matter what you are doing or where, each activity can be called Zen. When zazen is finally completely ground up and disappears, then for the first time everything is truly the Way, Zen, the Dharma. This is what is called "everyday mind."

Finally, I would like you not to simply understand Zen or the Buddhadharma conceptually. It is fine to investigate what others have said or written in books. But to say, "I've understood something that I didn't understand before," that is not Zen practice.

NANSEN CUTS THE CAT

Consider this koan from the Book of Serenity (Shoyoroku), "Nansen Cuts the Cat":

There were about 5oo monks training under Nansen. The monks slept in one hall that was divided into east and west. One day the monks were fighting over a cat. Seeing this, Nansen picked up the cat and said, "If you can say anything, I won't cut it in two." No one spoke, so Nansen cut it.

Later, Nansen told Joshu what had happened. Joshu immediately took off his sandals, put them on his head, and walked out. Nansen said, "If you had been there, you would have saved the cat."

This particular koan originated in China 1,200 years ago but it is not just a story. I would now like to explain why.

Nansen is the abbreviated name of Nansen Fugan, a famous priest of Tang China. Nansen cut a cat in two, and this cat is the central problem of this koan. Three people or groups of people appear: the monks who are asked the question, Nansen, and Joshu--plus the cat. Each of you are now Nansen, you are now the monks being asked the question, you are now Joshu, and you are now the cat.

An argument began among some of the monks concerning the cat. "Does the cat have buddha:nature or not?" "In the future, will it become a buddha?" "Can it do zazen?" They argued about the Dharma and Zen just as we do every day. While the monks were arguing, Nansen appeared and picked up the cat by the scruff of the neck. He said to the monks, "If you can say something about this cat, you will save it. If you can't say anything, I'll cut the cat in two."

In your heart you wonder, "What is Zen? What is the Way?" You have been practicing zazen for a long time, but will you really be able to attain the wonderful results related by the buddhas and enlightened ones? These were the questions the cat represented. If you become the cat, then you will clearly understand. Or if you become the monks, I think you will also understand. Nansen, by picking up the cat by the neck, symbolically demonstrates to each of us the need to get a grip on the questioning mind. "How will you resolve this?" You must understand Nansen's question this way. It is as if Nansen appears in front of you and asks, "How will you deal with this matter?" For those of you who have this questioning, inquiring mind, this questioning mind is the cat. For those of you who practice shikan-taza, this shikantaza is the cat.

In this koan, you must be able to give the answer immediately, "Say it now." Understand this is your problem. "Out with it!" Can you clearly awaken to your essential self? That is the meaning of this case. None of the monks could answer Nansen--how would you answer? Have you been able to get a firm grip on the cat or not? Perhaps, while you are sitting zazen, the inquiring mind is clear, and perhaps you understand clearly how to practice shikantaza. But when you are eating or doing work, doesn't the cat get away?
The Way as well as Zen must be everywhere at any time. If Zen or Zen practice exists only when you think of it, then you will never be able to resolve the problem of the cat. Whatever we see or hear or feel, everything we experience is buddha-nature. In the case I have related, it is written that Nansen cut the cat in two. But is it possible to cut buddha-nature in two? Please consider this. If you are "just" sitting, you will get stuck in "just." The reason I am presenting this case is so that you can check and see to what extent you are "just" sitting. How do you see the cat? I am waiting to hear your answer.

None of the monks could answer Nansen, so he finally cut the cat in two. Joshu was out working when Nansen cut the cat, but when he returned, Nansen said to him, "Today a problem arose concerning a cat, but none of the monks could give an answer, so I cut the cat in two. How would you have answered?" On hearing this, Joshu put the sandals he was wearing on his head and went outside without saying anything. Whereupon Nansen said, "If you had been there, it would have not been necessary to cut the cat." The problem this koan represents for us, then, is how we will answer so that the cat is not cut. I would like you to be Nansen, the monks who were asked the question, Joshu, and the cat. While you are in this condition, thoroughly think through this case.

All of the buddhas and enlightened ones who appear in collections of Zen sayings and records are you. They are speaking about each one of us. This story comes to us across twelve centuries, but if each of you save the cat, then Nansen as well as ]oshu will be resurrected.

THE DELUDING PASSIONS
ARE ENLIGHTENMENT

Within our minds, there is a cat called "greed." There is also a cat named "anger" and another cat called "folly" or "ignorance." In Buddhism, we call these the three deluding passions. These passions or desires are the source of all our suffering. However, if there was no greed, we would not be able to do zazen. Without anger, the determination and enthusiasm not to lose out or be beaten would not arise. Without ignorance, there would be no reflection or introspection. For these reasons, I would like you to understand that greed, anger, and ignorance are also other names for buddha-nature. It is only because we are used by greed, anger, and ignorance that we have come to think of them as being bad.

Shakyamuni Buddha also said that the deluding passions are themselves enlightenment.
If you sit in shikantaza and let whatever thoughts appear and take no notice of them and do not deal with them, then they will definitely turn into enlightenment. You may recall the expression "everyday mind is the Way." Anger, ignorance, greed, as well as all kinds of anxiety, impatience, and irritation, exist within the "everyday mind." This is called "everyday mind as-it-is is the Way." I would like you to realize that it is a mistake, then, to throw away something bad that is inside us. In Buddhism, however, everything is buddha-nature, so there is nothing to throw away. The problem lies within your thoughts, or how you think. Inevitably you cannot accept your thoughts, so you create a distance between you and them. But, as I often say, zazen is the way to verify that you and your thoughts are one. We practice so we can confirm this.

THROWING YOURSELF INTO ZAZEN

I will digress for a moment to speak of a man named Toyohiro Akiyama. He is a reporter working for TBS, a Japanese television company. Some time ago, he was sent into space on a Soviet rocket. Later, when he returned to Earth, he was asked, "While you were in space, did you have any kind of religious experience? Have you returned with any philosophical impressions?" Akiyama replied, "I was already so preoccupied with my affairs here on Earth that I experienced absolutely nothing different on venturing into space."
As I always say, as long as you do not truly bring a resolution to the ego-self, no matter how wonderful a universe you travel to or whichever world of God or Buddha you may reach, there will be no change. Throw yourselves into zazen and really forget your own thoughts. With this kind of practice, you will certainly be able to meet your true Self. Please believe until belief is no longer necessary.

HYAKUJO'S WILD FOX

Consider this koan:

Whenever Master Hyakujo gave a teisho, or Dharma talk, an old man always came to join the monks and listen to the teaching. When the monks left, the old man would also leave. One day the old man stayed behind. Hyakuio asked him, "Who are you who stands before me now.?' The old man said, "I am not a human being. In those days of the Ashy Buddha, I used to live on this mountain. One day a monk asked me, 'Is an enlightened person also subject to causality or not?" I said 'No, he is not.' Since then I have lived the life of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. I now beg you to say a few words on my behalf to release me from my life as a fox. For that reason I ask you, 'Is an enlightened person also subject to causality or not?'" Hyakuio said, "Such a person is not blind to causality." No sooner had the old man heard these words than he became greatly enlightened.

If you could not quite become completely one with Nansen's cat, perhaps you can become one with Hyakuio's fox. This case concerns cause and effect and appears in every collection of Zen koans. It is regarded as very difficult. The particular problem dealt with is whether a person who is enlightened and "finished" with practice is subject to the principle of cause and effect or not.

First of all, let me speak about the principle of cause and effect. It is said that if you wish to know a past cause, then look at the present effect, the present result. There is always a continuum of past, present, past, present. We cannot say that the past is only something that happened long, long ago--it also is five minutes ago, or even a single moment. Your condition now is inevitably attributable to past causes. The present circumstance also becomes the cause of some future outcome.

With regard to breathing, each breath is new. So too with thoughts. When one idea or thought arises, that is birth. When one idea or thought vanishes, that is death. Always there is a constant repetition of birth and death. This repetition continues through past, present, and future.

We are in the habit of perceiving "this thing" (this body) as "me." The reason for this is that from birth we have come to believe that things exist. In fact, though, they do not~but we usually cannot accept this. This is the meaning of "all things have no self-nature." If there is a center, essence, or permanent self-nature that is perceived, this is a delusion. Similarly we make errors about time; we can only perceive time either through the past, which has already gone, or by the future, which has not yet come.

Consider the method of zazen in which we practice counting breaths. If you reach "two," for example, then "two" is everything. There i~s no "one" or "three." "Two" is all. At that point, you should have truly forgotten yourself and cast off body and mind.

Nonetheless, we perceive that something that does not exist does exist. This is the ego, which inevitably becomes the center of what we perceive. For this reason we are in the habit of seeing things and comparing them in terms of good and bad. Consequently, it is easy for people to think that if all bad things could be eliminated, only good things would remain. Nevertheless, good and bad exist only in contrast to each other. If all bad things were to disappear, then it stands to reason that there would no longer be any good things. If one half of a duality were not to exist, its opposite would also not exist. Please understand this clearly as we explore the principle that cause and effect are one.

In the teaching of Buddhism, everything is taught from the standpoint of the result. This means that for those people who have not yet reached the final result, it is not possible for them to say that they either understand or do not understand simply by looking at the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha or of the enlightened ones who have transmitted the Dharma.
The "dharma" of Buddhadharma means a natural principle or law. Every aspect of our life is the Dharma. There is the Dharma of bad and the Dharma of good. There is als9 the Dharma of understanding and the Dharma of misunderstanding. Moreover, these two are not in opposition. Our condition now is one that is already separate from good and bad, enlightenment and delusion. We are always peacefully dwelling in a condition where there is only the result itself. Yet, in order to awaken to the condition, it is necessary, by means of Zen, to let go of our dualistic viewpoint of comparing good and bad.

Results unavoidably correspond with causes. There should be no feelings of surprise or disappointment. If our efforts result in failure, it is only reasonable to be content with that result. The same applies to successful results. If there is a successful outcome, the requirements for this success were present, so there is nothing to be happy about. Similarly, do not feel disappointed in failure. Nevertheless, people can be seen to be selfish because when we have some success, we are naturally pleased with that success, and when we encounter some failure, by comparison we are not happy.

Returning to the case about Priest Hyakujo: Why then, on answering "does not fall under the principle of cause and effect" did the priest become a fox? And why on hearing "not blind to cause and effect" did the old man again become a human being and realize great enlightenment? What is the degree of difference between "not falling under cause and effect" and "not being blind to cause and effect"? Investigate this problem; generate this inquiring mind.

The point of this case is whether the wild fox is at peace with being a wild fox. If the fox could truly be one with being a fox, then it would not want to become human. To be a fox would be enough. The state of being truly satisfied as a fox is what we call being "a buddha." On the other hand, a human being who is not satisfied with being human and who constantly looking for something else is seeking to be a buddha; this state we call being "a wild fox." This is a very difficult problem.

In Buddhism, we speak of transmigration though the six realms. These realms are the six worlds of delusion: heaven, human beings, hell, hungry ghosts, animals, and fighting devils (asuras). As 10rig as we are deluded, we can never live peacefully as human beings. If you cannot be at ease with your present situation, you will forever be seeking something else. This is a condition where you will go around and around, migrating through the six realms, never feeling settled. Essentially, though, regardless of whether we are a being in hell, a human being, or a being in heaven, we must be able to exist peacefully in these respective worlds.

In Zen, we have the expression "unblemished" or "undefiled." The Japanese word for this, fuzenna, literally means "not-dyed-dirty" in other words, "untainted." Many people understand this to mean that if you practice and achieve a certain strength or power through that practice, no matter which world you go to, you will not be dyed the color of, or be sullied by, that world. But this is a great mistake. "Unblemished" or "undefiled" means to be completely dyed that color. If you go into the color red, then you are completely dyed red. If you enter something white, then you completely become the color white.

In the Rinzai Zen sect, the expression "be master of yourself wherever you are;' is often used. If this expression is misunderstood, it will be misunderstood in the same way as "unblemished." If you cannot be truly at one with the world you have in, you will always see other worlds as being beautiful and wonderful. The words "not falling under the principle of cause and effect" and "not being blind to cause and effect" are concerned with this condition of not being settled, of not accepting your situation.

The main purpose of practice is to bring an end to the seeking mind and to live accepting your present circumstances. It is important that you sit in zazen and are content with the result. As you sit, inevitably the thought arises that somehow or other you should be able to sit better. This is a fact. But sit without thinking that because you cannot sit well, you want somehow to sit better, If you cannot sit well, then accept it and leave it that way. If you are not settled, then accept it and leave it that way. I would like you to make the effort to live peacefully in whatever condition you are in.

To be truly what you are without being jealous of someone else is what we call Buddha. However, if a person cannot peacefully accept being a person, he or she will always want to be a buddha, to experience enlightenment. We liken this condition of trying to seek peace of mind to that of a fox. Think this through carefully as you continue with your practice.

In Japan, a fox is regarded as an animal that tricks people. Please practice steadfastly and confidently without being tricked or misled. If a fox is tricked by a fox and continues being tricked, that is all right, but it isn't good to set up the ego-self with the attitude that you cannot be tricked.

THE DAILY PRACTICE OF ZEN

Zazen can broadly be divided in two: Zen within activity and Zen within stillness. Zen within activity embraces the other activities in our life, such as our work and so forth. Zen within stillness is what we do in the zendo, the meditation hall.

I would like to speak practically about how you can continue with Zen outside of the meditation hall, outside of retreat. Everyday life itself is Zen. As I have already said many times, drinking coffee, eating toast, washing your face, taking a bath, these are all Zen even though we do not label them Zen. I would like you to be clear about this. Consequently, there is absolutely no need to choose between activities that are Zen and those that are not. Believe this firmly and have unshakable confidence in it. Then let go of this faith. This is the way I would like you to act, but in practice this is not easy. It is a mistake for you to incorporate into your life things you have learned about Zen through books or by listening to others. This also includes the Zen practice you have done up until now.

There is an expression in Zen "to put another head on top of the one you already have." This is a mistake. It really is not possible, and I want you to take great care not to make this mistake. Even though I say this, I am sure you will live and experience many things, learning by trial and error. You make an effort to build up your practice, but then you become lax and it falls apart. Again you make an effort to build up your practice, but again you become lax and it falls apart. It is important not to give up. While living your everyday life, I ask you once again not to adopt or bring Zen into that life. Apart from those times when you are sitting quietly, I would like you to forget completely about Zen.
I also have some comments about formal sitting, Zen within stillness. Make sure to sit each day. Thirty minutes is fine, fifteen minutes is fine. The length of time will depend on your circumstances, and these vary from person to person. Be sure to set aside some time to sit every day. At that time, no matter how much you are concerned about your work or what is happening in your household, forget those things and sit in a samadhl of zazen.

From the beginning, I would like you to divide your life into Zen within stillness and Ten within activity. In this way, I believe you will be able to be one with your work and be one with a samadhi of zazen. If you do this, I believe you will not even have time to think "this is Zen." Then, during Zen in stillness, you will be able to forget yourself and be one with a samadhi of zazen.

Continue to persevere: building up your practice, it falls apart~ again building up your practice, it falls apart. In this way, I am sure there will come a time when it is no longer necessary to divide Zen in two.

CONTINUING WITH PERSEVERANCE

It is not easy to sit zazen. Zen practice is a difficult thing. Please do not lose heart and give up along the way. It is not something that must be concluded within a set number of years. Nor is it something that, if not taken care of quickly, will prevent you doing something else. I would like you to persevere steadfastly. That is what we call "continual mindfulness."

There are three things that any person who aspires to the Way of Zen must do: asking a master about the Dharma, the practice of zazen, and observing the precepts. Many people ask me how they can know if the zazen they are practicing is correct or mistaken. I will give you some guidance about this.

Mistaken zazen and mistaken guidance result when, figuratively speaking, the teacher first makes a suit of clothes and a pair of shoes into which you must make yourself fit. This is a grave error. A similar mistake occurs when the teaching prescribes that you mimic the teacher's form until the teacher releases you from the form.

In Zen it is said that all the teachings of Buddhism and Zen are "skillful means." They are like a finger pointing at the moon. If you look in the direction indicated by the fingertip you will see the moon.

The object of the teaching is to see the moon. However, the moon and the finger are one. If you are taught that the moon and the finger are separate, this is mistaken. In simple terms, as long as you do not understand, skillful means exist as skillful means. However, when you come to understand Zen, you understand that the means are also the result itself.

If you truly attain the Way, you will no longer have to think about yourself. Since it is not necessary to think of your own matters, it is possible to concentrate one hundred percent on your work, on the needs of others, and on your own families. In this way, you wiI1 feel great ease and comfort. This is the practice of a bodhisattva, the activity you are doing now becomes the practice of the bodhisattva. Please continue your endeavors diligently.

Excerpts from The Essence of Zen: The Teachings of Sekkei Harada
Translated and edited by Daigaku Rumme – Wisdom Publications

fonte: Dharmanet.org

Bankei Buddha Mind

Zen Master Bankei (1622-1693)

"Because of the wonderful illuminative nature of the Unborn Buddha-mind, it reflects everything before it and transforms itself into them. In this way the Buddha-mind becomes thought. I want you all to listen carefully now, laymen and priests. Not one of you is unenlightened. Right now, each one of you is sitting before me as a Buddha"!

***

"Only sit up with the Buddha-heart, be only with the Buddha-heart, sleep and arise only with the Buddha-heart, and live only with the Buddha-heart."

***

When we look back on this life, we see that when people are born, no one has thoughts of joy, sadness, hatred, or bitterness. Are we not in the state of the buddha mind bequeathed by our parents? It is after birth that intelligence develops, and people learn bad habits from others in the course of seeing and hearing them. As they grow up, their personal mental habits emerge, and they turn the buddha mind into a monster because of biased self-importance.

People are born with nothing but the unconceived buddha mind, but because of self-importance they want to get their own way, arguing and losing their temper yet claiming it is the stubbornness of others that makes them mad. Getting fixated on what others say, they turn the all-important unique buddha mind into a monster, mulling over useless things, repeating the same thoughts over and over again. They are so foolish they will not give up on things even if getting their own way would in any case prove to be futile. Folly is the cause of animality, so they are inwardly changing the all-important unique buddha mind into a paragon of animality.

Everyone is intelligent, but through lack of under- standing they turn the buddha mind into all sorts of things — hungry ghost, monster, animal. Once you've become an animal, even if you hear truth you don't listen, or even if you do listen, being animal-like, you can't retain what you've heard.

Going from one hellish state to another, from one animalistic state to another, from one ghostly state to another, from darkness to darkness in an endless vicious cycle, you go on experiencing infinite misery for the bad things you have done, with never a break.

This can happen to anyone, once you've gone astray. Just understand the point of not turning the buddha mind into something else.

As soon as a single thought gets fixated on some- thing, you become ordinary mortals. All delusion is like this. You pick up on something confronting you, turn the buddha mind into a monster because of your own self-importance, and go astray on account of your own ego.

Whatever it is confronting you, let it be. As long as you do not pick up on it and react with bias, just remaining in the buddha mind and not transforming it into something else, then delusion cannot occur. This is constant abiding in the unconceived buddha mind.

Everyone makes the mistake of supposing that acquired delusions produced by selfish desire and mental habits are inborn, and so they are unable to avoid confusion....

As I listen to the people who come to me, all of them make the mistake of turning the buddha mind into thoughts, unable to stop, piling thoughts upon thoughts, resulting in the development of ingrained mental habits, which they then believe are inborn and unalterable.

Please understand; this is very important. Once you have unconsciously drifted into delusion, if your state of mind degenerates and you flow downward like a valley stream in a waterfall, there is no way back after you have fallen into vicious cycles.

Again, suppose that you have developed mental habits based on selfish desires. When people criticize things that suit your selfish mentality, you become angry and defensive — since they are, after all, bad things — and you rationalize them as good. When people praise things that do not suit your selfish mentality, you reject them — being, of course, good things — and you retort that they are bad.

Everything is like this. Delusion can make a defect seem like a virtue. Having fallen into ignorance, you go through all sorts of changes, degenerating further and further until you fall into hell, with precious little chance of regaining your humanity.

The most important thing is not to be self-centered; then you cannot fail to remain in the buddha mind spontaneously.

To want to be at least as good as others in every- thing is the worst thing there is. Wanting to be at least as good as others is called egotistic pride. As long as you don't wish to be superior to others, then you won't be inferior either.

Also, when people mistreat us, it is because we have pride. When we consider mistreatment from others to be due to our own defects and so we exam- ine ourselves, then no one in the world is bad.

When angry thoughts arise, they turn the buddha mind into a monster. But anger and delight both, being self-centered, obscure and confuse the lumi- nous buddha mind, so that it goes around in vicious circles. Without subjective bias the buddha mind remains unconceived, so it does not revolve in circles. Let everyone understand this.

Thinking Mind and Correct View

There is no way we can make right and wrong and make them stay fixed in one place... If we become too attached to right and wrong, then this is the type of person we become.

A Lecture By The Venerable Hyunoon Sunim
of the Sixth Patriarch Zen Center, Berkeley

To try to get rid of our thoughts in the midst of our thoughts is a very foolish thing. Usually when we do meditation we find ourselves in the midst of a lot of thoughts and there we attempt to get rid of our thoughts. And because we try to do that, we are unable to come out of that darkness.

When we are in the midst of a lot of thinking, trying to get rid of our thoughts, we have to look at that person who is trying to get rid of the thoughts. If we do that, then our thoughts will disappear automatically. This is the first gate. If we can't do this much then when we try to make our mind pure and or quiet, it just makes us more confused. This sitting posture is something very helpful in terms of making our minds simpler. Energetically as well as emotionally, we become simpler on all levels but the sitting posture itself is not doing Zen.

Even if our mind is pure and quiet according to the conditions or environment, more thoughts can start to arise. When the mind is silent and pure we can start thinking, "ah, the meditation is going well!!". But usually when we are sitting in the middle of a lot of thinking, then our goal is to get rid of those thoughts and that means we have a certain limitation. If we can turn and look back at that person who is having all that thinking, then our thinking is cut off and when thinking is cut off the desire to get rid of the thoughts also disappears.

So there is no longer the thought of wanting to get rid of the thoughts. In the same way, if you cut a tree at its roots, this kills the whole tree, including the branches. If you only trim the branches the tree will just grow new branches. So you can end up just fighting with your thinking. It's cutting off the fundamental root. In other words we look at that place from which thoughts arise. This is why we do koan practice, contemplating the koan. We can understand this intellectually but when you try to do it and look back at your own mind, you're doing it without being aware of what you're doing right now. So there is a big difference between doing it and understanding. Understanding it means it is just a part of our intellect. We are not aware of what is arising in our mind in our ordinary daily life.

If we try to relate to this with the thinking that we know, every time we encounter circumstances they make us confused and busier. Knowing something intellectually, it becomes something that we always have to know. It causes us tension and confusion. So this practice is different from what we can know, but if your thinking is cut off then our mind becomes no mind. In other words, the mind is pure. Because the mind is pure, there is no thinking. And when we say the mind disappears, this does not mean that you become an idiot. You have thinking but you are no longer attached to those thoughts so you don't pay attention to them. So you are no longer bothered by those thoughts.

If you are in a state of no mind, even though something new might come up, you are not bothered by it. So there is no problem when it comes to adapting to conditions. Most people in those conditions become stressed by trying to remember, "When its like this I have to be like this and when it's like that, I have to be like that." When something unexpected comes along, we don't know what to do, but this is life.

Zen has nothing to do with that. In Zen all things just pass by. In Zen it is simply observing what arises and disappears in the mind. All things in this world disappear. The mind arises and disappears, the body arises and disappears and all thinking arises and disappears. And this is what we come to see. If we are to see this correctly, we need to be in the state of no mind. If you do not have the state of no mind and someone is doing the looking, when something arises we become attached and when something disappears we become attached. And when something arises we start thinking "why did this arise" and when something disappears you feel sad it is gone, it feels like you've lost something. Because of these conditions, our sentient being mind is always unstable.

If you are always then searching for something under these conditions then your sense of wandering will be endless. And this is why they say "to seek is to suffer". It's important to understand this before doing meditation. As you live in the conditioned world things arise and disappear, if you then search for comfort and peace, then your struggles can never disappear. In Buddhism it is taught that all things are impermanent, but to say things are impermanent is not talking about annihilation.

Its when you want to achieve something and you are unsuccessful in achieving it then you give up… that is annihilation. This is different from impermanence. With Zen, when something arises you are uninvolved with it and when it disappears, you are still uninvolved with it. So in those situations it doesn't matter to you.

If we can correctly realize these principles, then we will engage in less unnecessary suffering. So this is a way of the Tao. The best method of doing this is contemplating the koan. The koan is directly looking at the place where the mind is cut off. If you practice the koan directly, when the mind arises, the Buddha nature is there. When the mind disappears the koan is there. Buddha nature is everywhere. The Buddha nature is there where thoughts arise, the Buddha nature is there when we experience suffering. It's there when we laugh and speak and where we hear the sound of birds. Buddha nature is there when we hear cars going back and forth on the street.

But if our mind becomes obscured by one thought then this is where we become deluded. When we are deluded, then we become confused when things appear and disappear. Like a spider web, if we pull on one string, the whole spider web moves. So when society moves, we move. When something says something that upsets us, we will become angry immediately so we can't avoid suffering. In that condition we might think our thinking is correct but its actually upside down. In upside down thinking it's very difficult to find what's correct and incorrect. There is no way we can make right and wrong and make them stay fixed in one place. So we're always searching to make the distinction between right and wrong. And this just develops the mind that makes distinctions and choices. Then we hold onto what looks good and discard what looks bad. This is the kind of habits that sentient beings have developed.

As long as we are in that condition we cannot avoid tension; tension causes our emotions to become stuck, our energy flow becomes stuck and our blood will not circulate efficiently. Then we are not helping, physically or mentally. So we have to quickly let go of these things. If we become too attached to right and wrong, then this is the type of person we become.

In reality because all things are like that, we cannot avoid those things. If we can awaken to this principle, we'll see that what we thought was correct, after we consider it with experience and hindsight, we'll realize we were not correct. There are times that what was not correct before is now appropriate or correct. Usually with human problems this is where mistakes are made.

Because we're deluded, without wisdom, we make incorrect distinctions. So as a result we can have arguments with our friends, we can miss the correct path, miss the opportunity to awaken. In a marriage, people can end up divorcing, caught up in legal problems and we can also become very involved in society's problems. If we look at the source of the problems, we can see that they began with very small insignificant things. Because they begin with small things, it's much easier to correct them when they are small. If we don't correct the small things, they become big problems. When they become big problems we fall into very difficult situations and become covered up and tied up in a big net of confusion, suffering. Most people live in this kind of condition. When we live in this condition, we have no idea where it all began.

There is a method of resolving it but we have to awaken to our mind.

If we look at the teachings of the ancient masters, there's a story of a fish in a bowl with a very small opening. The fish gets into the bowl when it was small. But while the fish lived in the bowl it got bigger and is now to big to get out of the small opening. How can we get the fish out without breaking the bowl and without hurting the fish? What I've been talking about this morning is precisely explaining this situation, reality of this koan.

From the point of view of someone who has experienced Zen, this is the life of ordinary people. Without discarding all of the complex arcane habits we have created ourselves, we try to see how we can extract that Buddha nature from within us. This is the koan. Our thinking will not disappear by using our thinking. We look at the place where the thought arises. We are looking back at ourself. That is where the Buddha nature is. When we awaken to our Buddha nature, we awaken to Zen. Zen is something that is not stained by anything. Its not stained even by complex thinking. It is always free from the spider's web. Because you've experienced this world of freedom, when it comes to spider webs within you, even if you search for them, they are not there. Because they're not there, when you look at reality, you see it as the world of the Buddha.

At that level, the Tathagata is everywhere, in the sound of traffic Zen is there, in the bird's singing Zen is there. Buddhism is very simple when you look at it from the perspective of having awoken. But if you are trying to get rid of your thoughts while in the midst of your thinking, then Buddhism is the most difficult thing in the world.

So we need to trust these basic principles and refrain from making useless effort. As we live in the world and our body we meet other people living in the midst of their problems, then actually having this human body itself is a problem. Anyone who is alive can't avoid having problems. Because it is people with problems all living together, we can't avoid problems.

What can we do to live in the midst of problems but not be caught by them? If we look at the koan correctly, we see that we live obscuring ourselves. When conditions are good and you become a little more tolerant but when conditions are not good, you become frozen. When we are in that frozen condition we are not very tolerant and we complain. When we're in good conditions we become more tolerant and broad minded. This is the character of human beings. If we can understand this fundamentally we will be less involved when compulsions appear.

Because this is the condition in which most people live, you must not make judgments of how people live. Just when you encounter these conditions you just say, "oh, this is the world of sentient beings", and you remind your self that "it's because of this that I have to practice". When this is the condition of sentient beings, how can we not practice? So we have to continue inspiring ourselves. If we don't do that and we just complain and say, "why is the world like this?" physically and mentally we just become more frozen and then you end up entering even darker delusion.

When we observe human beings we see that today they are like this, tomorrow they are like that and you wonder why are they change so. This affects your nerves and you end up suffering. These kinds of situations usually arise between people who are quite close to each other, like as a couple or a lawyer and a client. They don't happen with people to whom you have a more distant relationship; they arise between people who are closest to each other.

When we read the scriptures we see there is a wise path and you trust that more. In turn this makes you more comfortable. You'll arrive at that path of the mind. The fastest path to the mind is the Zen koan. In the koan, there is no thought of the past present and future, it is simply relating to the thought that is arising in this moment. You do not think if you have suffering or not. If you are alive and breathing right now, then it is possible for you to do this practice. This moment is important. If you practice this koan correctly in this moment, then the solution becomes clear. Because our Buddha nature has not left us in this moment, the Truth has not left us in this moment.

If we don't know the method of approaching it, then we feel as though we are very distant from each other. If we don't look at the truth, then we end up seeing more delusion. And it looks as though that world actually exists.

If you awaken you will see, honestly, that that illusion does not exist and that the world is NOT a complex place. When you change, then the world changes. So you need to absolutely believe in this Buddha nature and you have to throw away your common sense. You'll have to discard your stubbornness when you insist on what you think is right or wrong. You need to begin by realizing that maybe your judgments or opinions are wrong. That is how you need to begin looking at yourself. Your biases need to be released, surrendered. Only when opinions and judgments are released can greater things inside start to come forth.

Don't try to awaken to your Buddha nature in some contrived artificial way. If you decide that Zen is the best way, the fastest way, and just try to slowly do Zen, there's only one path but if you try to get there all at once, you'll get caught up in the traffic and confusion and your practice won't go as well. You may think, "well, I need to relieve my suffering as quickly as possible so what's wrong with practicing as quickly as possible?" That mind that wants to do it quickly becomes a hindrance so you need to look back at yourself and realize that you're doing nothing. Then in one moment, that mind will be clear.

Because you get caught in the mind that you're clinging to, then that mind that you're clinging to is demolished. And as that mind is demolished then your energy will settle down and you become more grounded, as you become more grounded, your mind will become silent. When you become silent, then wisdom comes.

This is why human beings are simple even though they seem complex. Human beings are simple but when they take a wrong step, then they become complex. So no matter what kind of difficulty comes up, there's no reason to worry about it. According to your thinking, it can get worse or better. So don't allow your mind to move following those kinds of ideas. Things become better or worse according to your thinking. When you're wrong habits become stuck then you don't believe this kind of talk and you become confused, entangled.

Then even though you haven't found the correct path yourself, you go off searching in the direction of darker places. Through that, your mind eventually becomes worn out and you become ill physically and mentally. This is the condition of sentient beings, which the Buddha saw very clearly. Usually people who see this clearly for themselves become Buddhist monks.

Some say, "well there is a lot of happiness in the world, why look at all this suffering?" Well, of course that's true, but happiness comes along less often than suffering. The conditions which cause happiness can change very quickly. It comes and goes like night becomes day. When something bad comes along, it can become worse and that can lead to worse things, even disaster. Heaven is very small. The entranceway to it is also very small. Once you enter it, it's very vast, but the entrance is small. So there aren't many who get through.

So we need to make ourselves simple and let go of our thinking and make up our mind to begin. Once we get past a certain level, we come to learn every day in reality. In the beginning we learn from the teacher but eventually we hear and see the teachings from everywhere.

Learning from the Buddha is exactly learning from sentient beings. In the beginning we think of learning from the Buddha, but that is actually illusion. Someone who does not know how to learn from sentient beings does not know how to learn from the Buddha. Through our parents we grew up and since this is not something we can do alone, we need a teacher. Gradually as we practice we learn to hear the teachings everywhere. When that happens, we can know we are on the correct path.

People, even Zen monks can spend 30 years or 50 years practicing, but they're only practice separating themselves from their own mind. As a child I had a close friend who was a monk. He told me that since he was an abbot he would have to go off to a hermitage and practice alone. I said "when you go, where would you go??" When you talk about going, where are you going. Right now you can practice where do you want to go?

We're always avoiding our own Buddha within us. With our own thinking we create a very comfortable world. Then we think, "if I can only be there, then my practice would go well. Most people think that way. Even if you could go there and achieve something, then another mind would still come up because that is the sentient mind. We need to stop that habit. The Buddha is here. Where are you going to run away to the Buddha? The Buddha is here in this moment so its right there where you look. When you do that your mind changes and right here becomes your hermitage, your Zen home. That's what you have to do but people want to go somewhere else and keep making excuses. We need to look at that and see how very foolish it is. When I talk on the telephone to distant students about their practice this is usually what they complain about. They have a house and they practice and yet they complain. It's so clear that people live in illusion. Is it illusion who is living here or is it you who is living here?

We need to become aware in a simple way that even if your Zen practice doesn't go well even if you can just have this awareness you can be more comfortable.

Because we exist in the world, that is why the world is existing. So who is existing in the world? If you contemplate this way you can know your mind and when you see your own mind you can see when and where your mind is stuck. When you see where your mind is stuck, mind arises. When you see there you see your miraculous awareness. Miraculous awareness means Zen mind, Buddha mind, and its empty. Space. When we look at it this way then the attachment disappears. In other words, I'm saying don't fight with reality and don't fight with your own mind. These are things that will change. Its because we think that they won't change that we fight with them. But they are all things that will change. Birds come and sit in the tree and soon they will leave, so why do you try to grasp them? Our mind is like that too. It comes from somewhere and goes off to somewhere. The Buddha and other masters have taught this from awakened view. Anyone who can see will confirm it. The Buddha's teaching is not just the private teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. The correct view of human beings is just like that. This has nothing to do with religion, this is correct for anyone.

This is referred to as correct view in the Eight-Fold Path. Anyone who awakens sees the same thing. Anyone who sees this becomes the correct disciple of the Buddha. Zen brings this awakening.

Your problem is that right now there is that emotional consciousness; you're not able to see right now. But it's that that you become aware of; look at it. If you look at it and follow it down there is an ocean of truth. No matter what kind of thinking you have, that thinking has never left truth. But since your way of approaching it is incorrect, then its like turning your back on that truth.

Now look at your own question and follow it downward, because that thinking has come from you, so that is what you look at. This is becoming aware, awareness. When you look at this there is the ocean of truth and the Zen mind. And that is precisely the koan, the miraculous awareness. It's mysterious. Here there is no individual view, it's an ocean. The five senses have become empty.

The five senses are empty but there is a hole. So you are using your five senses you are using them and yet not using them. It's like doing without doing. You do it but you're not attached to it. We can't just use theories. You actually have to see your original nature. So when you ask your question, look to see who is asking, from where are you asking? That's why old Zen masters were always asking: "who is asking?" The world is simple but we don't recognize it. The root of the fellow who's asking the question is the Buddha. But most people, when they ask, they take this narrow mind that asks the question and through that try to OBTAIN something. Then through what they obtain they try to build something. That's precisely knowledge but it becomes a burden and it actually even closes more the entrance to the Buddha. This is why we say when you enter the Zen hall don't bring anything with you. Don't bring any knowledge. One includes everything.

It's because of this problem that we do contemplation. This sitting posture is the best. As we sit here there are many different obstacles. We have many opinions, heavy ideas, customs, morals, questions, conceptions, misconceptions, ideas, a lot of confusion, but while we are sitting like this, one. Mind and body is one. This helps this body that's part of why we sit. Become one. If we have too many questions we can't contemplate any one of them. Trust the Buddha mind. If we ask only "who is asking" then that is one." Your ordinary mind disappears. Gradually as it becomes deeper you come to Buddha mind. Once you have experienced this, you realize all the things you are clinging to have been completely foolish. That is when you can let go. This is why we do Zen to be able to see and let go. This practice is possible for everyone at any time.

We have not let go of our complicated habits and haven't even realized what they are. We also don't yet have enough faith. We sit by ourselves and research this way and that way, and if we're next to someone else, they can tell what we are doing, so then we hide under some blanket. Your mind gets lazy. At that time we need to be well hit to wake you up!!!

This path is very possible for everyone to follow but I think it's just a lack of faith which prevents people from doing so.

In Zen when we talk about questions and answers, we are not talking about ordinary questions and answers because originally the answer is within you. In some ways, asking questions is rather stupid from the point of view of high-level Zen. But because we don't yet know what the path is, then there has to be questions and a learning process, but the answer is actually within you.

In ancient times, when someone asked the master a question, he would only reply by hitting them. So in order to do that, continually work at the contemplation. If you become good at contemplation, the teacher can know immediately whether the student is doing Zen correctly. He can know without any words being exchanged. The way you walk, the way you sit, the teacher can know. To know about Zen through asking and answering is a low-level Zen, and dangerous, because its very easy to misunderstand that way.

Fonte: http://www.zenhall.org/Pages/talkfour.html

The Miraculous Awakening of Zen

Ven. Hyunoong Sunim, Abbot


The word Zen means the mind of awakening or miraculous awareness. It has no form. It is also not silent. It doesn't stay fixed in any one place. It is something one has to experience. If you bring any understanding with you into this practice you will obstruct the path. Zen is the Buddha mind. And Buddha mind is in each individual person. It's here in this moment as we sit. It's absolutely not separate from us. That's all we need to trust.

The name is Zen, but according to the person practicing this, some think Zen is sitting quietly while others say Zen is having a clear mind. Some say Zen is forgetting all the complexities of life, while others say Zen is guarding nothingness. There are many kinds of Zen Buddhists in the world but if we forget the correct path, then even if we do Zen practice all we are doing is wasting time.

When you first begin Zen practice you observe many thoughts arising in your mind, but you mustn't search for which of these thoughts is the real you. Searching is avoidance. To seek is to suffer. You need to understand this carefully. This is our fundamental delusion. Someone doing Soto Zen just has silence-but that is not practice- when you reenter reality that silence will shatter. Our Zen nature doesn't abide in any one place, it functions from moment to moment, so we mustn't hold onto anything. When we stay in one place this creates a view and we make distinctions - Soto Zen/Rinzai Zen, awakening/delusion. If you say you have awakening you are actually very far from awakening.

There is a Zen koan that says, "Knowing obstructs Zen, not knowing obstructs Zen". Knowing is delusion because knowing can create tension and obstruct our practice. So we decide "Ok, I don't know," but that is also relying on delusion. We need to recognize the mind that knows, and let go of that. And because "not knowing" also obstructs our Zen, we need to be aware of this too. Our Buddha nature has nothing to do with knowing or not knowing - it is spontaneous awareness and cannot be touched intellectually. Right here is where our thoughts are completely cut off.

Knowing, not knowing, nothing can cling to this awareness. The sentient being mind will attach itself anywhere - over here over there, Hell or Heaven, awakening/delusion. It creates duality everywhere.

We have this miraculous awareness that cannot be expressed in words; and we have to simply experience it. Then automatically the things that we cling to are released. At that point we are no longer attached - not because we are trying to be unattached but because our nature no longer clings to anything. At this point religion disappears. There isn't anything we are carrying around with us. This is something that cannot be understood. It simply requires faith. It can only be experienced through awareness. Through this, wisdom and power grow. If you constantly practice, at one point that empty mind within you is suddenly revealed. Then there is only realization, and you can enter a correct path. Only with such realization can true practice begin.

If one practices Soto Zen correctly, one's practice becomes the same as koan practice, and the conflicts within you will disappear. If you meet Dogen you come to the world of Rinzai, and if you meet Rinzai you meet the world of Dogen. You will see the Zen of the ancient masters and American Zen too. We can all become one Dharma family and benefit each other. Through this, societies become purified. Otherwise we will cling to a small mind and this is suffering.

In our Rinzai Zen, even though we are sitting, we don't pay a lot of attention to our posture. We totally focus on mind and the koan, and in doing that both body and mind become quiet. You utilize the sitting posture because of it's convenience. We can be active in reality and when we come to sit we let go of body and mind. We only focus on the koan. As our active energy settles down into our lower body we may sometimes feel a little itchy spot and spontaneously our hand goes to scratch it. But your practice continues.

Let's open our narrow minds. We mustn't compete with others. It would be nice if we could come together into one Dharma. It doesn't matter whether one is practicing Soto or Rinzai Zen, whether Christian or whatever. Someone following the path of awakening can understand it as soon as they see it. Let's reveal the ancient path of Zen and that would be one goal if Buddhism can be reborn in the United States, if someone awakens to correct traditional Zen here. I believe great Zen power can arise in America.


Fonte: http://www.zenhall.org/Pages/talk3.html

/////

Hyunoong Sunim is a Korean Zen master as well as a Taoist Master born in South Korea. He is a Dharma heir of Ku San Sunim and entered Songkwang-sa Buddhist Monastery when he was 20 years old. After ten years of training in Zen Meditation halls, he spent some years training under Taoist Master Chong San and in 1982 was sanctioned as a Taoist Master. Master Sunim spent six years in rigorous practice alone in hermitages in remote mountain areas. There he followed a raw food diet, eating what the mountains made available. One early spring day while sitting in the Zen hall suddenly all his doubts were resolved and he wrote the following song of enlightenment:

Even existing dharmas must be discarded,
So how can we cling to Dharmas which don't exist!
Ah ha! Futilely the Ancients busily pursued
enlightenment, then departed.
The countenance, existing of its own accord
I wonder who named it buddha or sentient being?
Even one true Dharma cannot survive.
Outside the window, the cherry tree
is singing this news.