“Practically speaking, a life that is vowed to simplicity, appropriate boldness, good humor, gratitude, unstinting work and play, and lots of walking brings us close to the actual existing world and its wholeness.”

– Gary Snyder, Beat Poet and Zen Practitioner

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Jul 24, 8:30am
Friday Jun 27, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path While Cloud, Chapter 4.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #64: “Zizhao’s ‘Succession'”

Head Monk Zizhao [a disciple of Changqing] asked Fayan, “You have opened a zendo, Master. But who did you succeed to?”
Fayan said, “Master Dizang.”
Zizhao said, “You have gone a great deal against your late master Changqing.” [Fayan had also practiced under Changqing.]
Fayan said, “I still don’t understand a turning word of Changqing’s.”
Zizhao said, “Why didn’t you ask me?”
Fayan said, “‘The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena’, what does it mean?”
Zizhao stuck up his whisk.
Fayan said, “That is what you learned under Changqing. What is your own view, Head Monk?”
Zizhao was silent.
Fayan said, “When it is said, ‘The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena’, are the myriad phenomena swept away or are they not?”
Zizhao said, “Not swept away.”
Fayan said, “There are two.”
All the disciples on the right and the left side said, “Swept away.”
Fayan said, “The one body manifests itself in myriad phenomena. Look!”

Comment:

Fayan (“Hogen” in Japanese), b. 885
15th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Xuansha > Luohan > Fayan
Dharma Siblings: Jinshan Honglin, Xiushan Longji
Also appears in: Gateless Gate #26 (=BOS 27), Blue Cliff Record #7, Book of Serenity #17, 20, 51, 74

Zizhao (“Shisho” in Japanese) and Fayan had both been disciples of Changqing (“Chokei” in Japanese). Changqing, Baofu, Yunmen, and Xuansha (Fayan’s Dharma “grandfather”) were all Dharma “brothers” of each other — and Dharma “sons” of Xuefeng (“Seppo” in Japanese). Zizhao had stayed with Changqing. Fayan moved on to study under Dizang (a.k.a. Luohan; “Jizo” in Japanese).

“We’re unkind; we’re manipulative; we’re dishonest. If we saw that this very life we lead is the face of God itself, we would not be able to behave such ways — not because of any commandment or prohibition, but just because we see what life is.”

– Joko Beck

“In this moment, is your view life-centered or self-centered?”

“When you grieve over someone’s death, is it wholly the loss of the person you’re mourning, or in part the loss of your own dreams?”

– Ezra Bayda and Josh Bartok

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Jun 12, 8:30am
Friday Jun 15, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Dorothy and the Locked Door,” p. 258.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #26, Book of Serentiy #27: “Two Monks Roll Up the Blinds”

A monk once went to the Great Fayan of Jingliang before the midday meal to ask for instruction.
Fayan pointed to the bamboo blinds with his hand.
At that moment, two monks who were there went over to the blinds, and rolled them up in the same manner.
Fayan said, “One has gained, one has lost.””

Comment:

Fayan (“Hogen” in Japanese), b. 885
15th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Xuansha > Luohan > Fayan
Dharma Siblings: Jinshan Honglin, Xiushan Longji
Also appears in: Blue Cliff Record #7, Book of Serenity #17, 20, 51, 64, 74

Wumen’s Verse (from Gateless Gate).

The blind being rolled up, bright clarity penetrates the great empty space.
Yet the great empty space still does not match the principle of our sect;
It is far better to throw away emptiness and everything completely,
And with a tight fit, never to let the wind pass through.

Tiantong’s Verse (from Book of Serenty):

Pines are straight, branbles are crooked; cranes are tall, ducks are short.
In the age of the ancient emperors, people forgot about both government and anarchy.
Such peace — a hiddendragon in the abyss;
Such freedom — a soring bird sheds its tether.
Nothing can be done about the Patriarch’s coming from the West —
Within, gain and loss are half and half.
Reeds go along with the wind, turning in the air,
The boat cuts off the lfow and reaches the shore.
Spiritually-sharp mendicants here,
Observe Fayan’s method.

“As the door opens, we see that the present is absolute and that, in a sense, the whole universe begins right now, in each second. And the healing of life is in that second of simple awareness. Healing is always just being here, with a simple mind.“

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Jun 5, 8:30am
Friday Jun 8, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Simple Mind,” p. 255.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record, #25: “Lianhua’s Staff”

The hermit of Lotus Peak [Lianhua] took up his staff and showed it to the assembly, saying, “When the old ones [the great Zen personages of old] reached this point, why didn’t they dare to remain here?”
The assembly was silent.
He himself answered in their stead, saying, “Because that has no power on the Way.”
Again he said, “After all, how is it?”
Once more he himself answered in their place, saying, “With my staff across my shoulders, and, paying other people no heed, I go straight into the thousand and ten thousand peaks.”

Comment:

Lianhua (“Rengeho” in Japanese), b. 906
15th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Yunmen > ?? > Lianhua
Dharma Siblings: None of record.

At one level the staff represents the ego. At another level the staff represents enlightenment. Either way, the great Zen masters didn’t remain there.

Xuedou’s Verse:

His eyes filled with sand, his ears with clay,
Even among the thousand mountains he does not remain.
Falling blossoms, flowing streams: he leaves no trace.
Open your eyes wide, and you’ll wonder where he’s gone.

“There’s no technique that will save us, no teacher who will save us, no center that will save us. There’s no anything that will save us. That’s the cruelest blow of all.”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday May 29, 8:30am
Friday Jun 1, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “From Drama to No Drama,” p. 249.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record, #90: “Zhimen and the Essence of Prajna”

A monk asked Zhimen, “What is the essence of prajna?”

Zhimen said, “The oyster swallows the full moon.”

The monk said, “What is the action of prajna?”

Zhimen said, “The hare conceives by the full moon.”

Comment:

Zhimen (“Chimon” in Japanese), b. 927
15th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Yunmen > Xianglin > Zhimen
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Blue Cliff Record #21.

Zhimen was Xuedou’s teacher — Xuedou (“Setcho” in Japanese, b. 980), was the compiler of the Blue Cliff Record. So it’s possible that the “monk” in this case might have been Xuedou himself.

“Essence”: substance or nature.
“Action”: activity or function.
“Prajna”: wisdom.
The “essence of prajna” would be wisdom based on grasping absolute oneness and emptiness. The “action of prajna” would be wisdom based on present-moment mindfulness.

According to a Chinese folk tale, the oyster rises to the surface of the sea at the time of the full moon, swallows the moonlight, and conceives a pearl. In another folk tale, the hare conceives its young after swallowing the light of the full moon.

“When we forget one thing, we have forgotten everything. Without it, nothing else works. It’s hard to give it a name. We might call it wonder.”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday May 15, 8:30am
Friday May 18, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Chaos and Wonder,” p. 239.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity, #76: “Shoushan’s Three Verses”

Shoushan instructed his assembly and said, “If you attain the first verse, you will be the teacher of buddhas and patriarchs. If you attain the second verse, you will be the teacher of heaven and humankind. If you attain the third verse, you cannot save even yourself.”

A monk asked, “Which verse did Your Reverence attain?”

Shoushan said, “The moon is set at midnight; I walk alone through the market place of the city.”

Comment:

Shoushan (“Shuzan” in Japanese), b. 926
15th Generation
Lineage: Mazu > Baizhang > Huangbo > Linji > Xinghua > Nanyuan > Fengxue > Shoushan
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Gateless Gate #43 and Book of Serenity #65.

“There was once a man who climbed to the top of a ten-story building and jumped off. As he passed the fifth floor on his way down, he was heard to say, ‘So far, so good!'”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday May 1, 8:30am
Friday May 4, 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “The Fall,” p. 221.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate, #43: “Shoushan’s Shippei”

Master Shoushan held up a shippei before his disciples and said: “You monks, if you call this a shippei, you are adhering to the fact. If you do not call this a shippei, you are opposing the fact. Tell me, you monks, what will you call it?”

Comment:

Shoushan (“Shuzan” in Japanese), b. 926
15th Generation
Lineage: Mazu > Baizhang > Huangbo > Linji > Xinghua > Nanyuan > Fengxue > Shoushan
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Book of Serenity #65 and #76.

Wu-men adds: “You should not use words. You should not use no-words. Speak at once! Speak at once!”

A zen teacher with brocade rakusu and a shippei

A “shippei” is a short staff or stick, slightly curved, traditionally made from bamboo, and about half a meter long. It is the symbol of a zen master’s teaching authority, and the masters usually have it with them when they are giving instruction. Thus, when they need an object to illustrate a point, it’s common for them to reach for the shippei.

When Shoushan says, “you are adhering to the fact,” he means you are adhering to the superficial fact and negating the essence.

150 koans ago (which would have been over three years ago at our pace), we had a koan featuring Shoushan’s 4th-Great-Grandfather-in-the-Dharma, Baizhang. In that case, Gateless Gate #40, Baizhang took a water just, stood it on the floor, and said to the assembled disciples, “You may not call this a water jug. What will you call it?”

In that case, Guishan passed the test by kicking over the water jug and leaving the room. That was fine for Guishan, but if you were to do it, you’d just be copying. Without copying Guishan, how would you answer Baizhang’s challenge?

In the present case, a shippei is presented instead of a water jug. What will you call it to pass the examination?

Wu-men’s Verse (Yamada Koun translation):

Holding up a shippei
He issues the order to kill and to give life;
When adhering and opposing interweave,
Even Buddhas and patriarchs beg for their lives.

“Transformation arises from a willingness that develops very slowly over time to be what life asks of us. . . . Think of babies about nine months to a year, crawling about, encountering all kinds of marvels . . . They’re not crawling in order to absorb information; they’re not trying to be better babies who can crawl more efficiently. In fact, they’re not crawling for any reason. They are simply crawling for sheer enjoyment and curiosity. We need to regain the capacity to feel curiosity about everything in our life, even the disasters.”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Apr. 17, 8:30am
Friday Apr. 20. 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Transformation,” p. 202.

We’ll be discussing Nothing Special until early July, then we’ll start on Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1991). To order a copy from Amazon, click here.

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record, #48: “Minister Wang and the Tea Ceremony”

Minister Wang went to Zhaoqing Temple for the tea ceremony.
Elder Lang, lifting the kettle to bring it to Mingzhao, happened to overturn it.
Minister Wang said, “What is under the kettle?”
Lang said, “The god of the hearth.” [“The stove-supporting deities”]
Wang said, “If it is the god of the hearth, why has it upset the kettle?”
Lang said, “A thousand days of government service, and one accident!” [“All is lost in one morning.”]
Wang swung his sleeves and left the room.
Mingzhao said, “Elder Lang, you have long had food from Zhaoqing temple, and still you wander about the countryside, working with a stump.” [Or: “…yet you are a useless stump in the field.” “…you go off to the other side of the river noisily gathering charred wood.”]
Lang said, “What about you?”
Mingzhao said, “That is where the devil gets the better of you.” [Or: “Those who are not humans have gained the advantage.” “These non-human beings {i.e., the ‘deities who hold up the hearth’} wreaked havoc.” “The spirit got the advantage.”]

[Xuedou’s note: “Why didn’t you, at that moment, trample on the hearth?” {“…I would have kicked over the tea hearth.”}]

Comment:

Mingzhao (“Myosho” in Japanese), b. 890
14th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Yantou > Luoshan > Mingzhao
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Book of Serenity #87.

The stove or hearth for warming the tea stood on three legs, each of which had the face of a spirit or deity carved on it. These legs, which prevented the tea from turning over, were known as “stove-supporting deities.” Minister Wang asks, “How is it that the tea kettle is turned over, even though there are deities present who are supposed to prevent that from happening?” This is a checking question to see if the Senior Monk Lang can give an answer befitting a Zen monk. His answer fails to hit the mark, as Mingzhao’s rebuke indicates.

When Mingzhao is asked for a reponse, he indicates that the tea-hearth deities have jumped in and committed a prank. As Yamada Koun comments:

“This reply is still wide of the mark, and unacceptable when seen in terms of the ultimate truth of Zen. Although Zen should always have its attention riveted on the essential world, we see here not the slightest trace of that world.”

Xuedou seems to have included this koan in the Blue Cliff Record only because it is no good — and thereby provides him a chance to say what should have been done. Yamada Koun explains that Xuedou is saying:

“If I had been there at the time when he asked what was under the stove, you know what I would have done? I wouldn’t have said anything, I would have just knocked the stove over! Why? That’s the essential world completely revealed. Here we have a spirited expression of the essential world.”

Xuedou’s Verse (Sekida translation):

Cleaving the air, the question came;
The answer missed the point.
Alas! The one-eyed dragon monk
Did not show his fangs and claws.
Now fangs and claws are unsheathed,
Lightning flashes, stormy clouds!
Surging billows rage around,
Falling back against the tide.

“Practice is nothing but that attitude of curiosity: ‘What’s going on here, now? What am I thinking? What am I feeling? What is life presenting to me? What am I doing with this? What is an intelligent thing to do with this?'”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Apr. 10, 8:30am
Friday Apr. 13. 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Curiosity and Obsession,” p. 193.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity, #20: Dizang’s “Most Intimate”

Dizang asked Fayan, “Where are you going, senior monk?” [“Senior monk” (joza) is an honorific for a monk who has practiced more than 10 years.]
Fayan said, “I am on pilgrimage, following the wind.”
Dizang said, “What are you on pilgrimage for?”
Fayan said, “I don’t know.”
Dizang said, “Non-knowing is most intimate.”
Fayan suddenly attained great enlightenment.

Comment:

Dizang (“Jizo” in Japanese), b. 868
14th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Xuansha > Dizang
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Book of Serenity #12

Fayan (“Hogen ” in Japanese), b. 885
15th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Xuansha > Dizang > Fayan
Dharma Siblings: Xiushan Longji, Jinshan
Appears also in: GG 26 (BOS 27), BCR 7, BOS 17, 51, 64, 74
[GG: Gateless Gate. BCR: Blue Cliff Record. BOS: Book of Serenity]

Remember the Daoist saying: “For knowledge, add. For wisdom, subtract.” What you “know” about a thing boxes it in. If you are encountering a tree, then your knowledge about trees puts it in categories such as, “pine tree” and “about 30 years old.” Strip all that away and simply be present to the uniqueness of that situation. Subtract the knowledge, and wisdom comes forth. Subtract the knowledge, and there is nothing between you and the experience, no filter of categories, nothing. You stand naked before the phenomena, and the phenomena stand naked before you. Not knowing is the most intimate.

Hongzhi’s Verse (Wick translation):

Right now, investigation replete, it’s the same as before.
Utterly free from minute obstacles, one comes to not know.
Short’s short, long’s long. Cease pruning and grafting.
According with high, according with low, each is even and content.
A family’s manner of abundance or thrift is used freely according to circumstances.
Fields and lands excellent, sportive; one’s feet go where they will.
The matter of thirty years pilgrimage —
a clear transgression against one’s pair of eyebrows.

“By far the most difficult jump to make is from stage one to stage two. We must first become aware of our emotional reactions and our body tension, how we carry on about everything in our lives, even if we conceal our reactions. . . . . We resist doing this work because it begins to tear apart who we think we are.”

– Joko Beck

Practice Meetings

Tuesday Apr. 3, 8:30am
Friday Apr. 6. 7:00pm

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “The Six Stages of Practice,” p. 187.

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity, #12: Dizang Plants the Rice Field

Dizang asked Longji, “Where have you come from?”

Longji said, “I have come from the South.”

Dizang said, “How is Buddhism in the South these days?”

Longji said, “There is much lively discussion.”

Dizang said, “How could that match with our planting the rice field here and making rice-balls to eat?”

Longji said, “How could you then save the beings of the Three Worlds?”

Dizang said, “What do you call ‘the Three Worlds’?”

Comment:

Dizang (“Jizo” in Japanese), b. 868
14th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Xuansha > Dizang
Dharma Siblings: None of record.
Appears also in: Book of Serenity #20

From Andy Ferguson, Zen’s Chinese History:

Classical records say that from early childhood he [Dizang] could speak very well and would not eat meat. He was ordained at Wansui Temple, located in his home province, under a teacher name Wuxiang. At first he closely followed the teachings of the Vinaya, but later declared that just guarding against breaking the vows and adhering to the precepts did not equal true renunciation. He then set off to explore the teachings of the Zen school. Dizang first studied withe Xuefeng, but was unsuccessful at penetrating the Way. It was Xuefeng’s disciple, Xuansha, who is said to have brought Dizang to full awakening.

We need to do a practice that has no apparent rewards in it: the experiencing of our bodily sensations, our hearing, seeing, feeling, smelling, tasting. . . . Still, if we persist, at some point there is a shift, and for a second there isn’t myself and the world, but just — there are no words for it, because it is nondual. It is open, spacious, creative, compassionate, and, from the usual point of view, boring.”

– Joko Beck

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate, #18 and Blue Cliff Record #12: Donghshan Shouchu’s ‘Masagin’

A monk asked Dongshan Shouchu, “What is Buddha?”

Dongshan said, “Three pounds of flax [‘Masagin’ in Japanese].”

Comment:

We’re staying on this koan for another week.

Dongshan Shouchu (“Tozan Shusho” in Japanese), b. 911
14th Generation
Lineage: Shitou > Tianhuang > Longtan > Deshan > Xuefeng > Yunmen > Dongshan Shouchu
Dharma Siblings: Baling, Xianglin, Fengxian, Deshan Yuanming
Appears also in: Gateless Gate #15

Thirty-five koans ago, we were looking at a similarly-structured koan: Gateless Gate #21:

A monk asked Yunmen, “What is Buddha?”
Yunmen said, “Dried shitstick [‘Kanshiketsu’ in Japanese].”

Now we are come to Gateless Gate #18, wherein Yunmen’s disciple, Dongshan Shouchu, is asked the same question: “What is Buddha?” Is the disciple’s answer the same as his teacher’s? Or completely different? Wumen included both Yunmen’s “Kanshiketsu” and Dongshan’s “Masagin” in his Gateless Gate, while Xuedou included only Dongshan’s “Masagin” in his Blue Cliff Record. Is “Masagin” more profound? Did Xuedou regard “dried shitstick” as shock-value-merely-for-shock-value’s-sake?

Thirty-seven koans ago, we heard the story of how Dongshan Shouchu, when studying with his teacher, Yunmen, was awakened. Gateless Gate #15:

Dongshan came to see Yunmen. Yunmen asked him, “Where were you most recently?”
Dongshan said, “At Chatu.”
Yunmen said, “Where were you during the summer?”
Dongshan said, “At Baozu Monastery in Hunan.”
Yunmen said, “When did you leave there?”
Dongshan said, “August 25th.”
Yunmen said, “I spare you 60 blows.”
Next day, Dongshan came again and said, “Yesterday you said you spared me 60 blows. I don’t know where I was at fault.”
Yunmen said, “You rice bag! Do you go about in such a way, now west of the river, now south of the lake!”
With this, Dongshan had great satori.

This week, we see that the “rice bag” has turned Yunmen’s “kanshiketsu” into “masagin” — turned the dried shitstick into three pounds of flax. What goes around comes around!

Wumen’s Verse:

Thrusting forth “three pounds of flax!”
The words are intimate, mind is more so;
if you argue right and wrong,
you are a person of right and wrong.

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Listening to the Body,” p. 181.