– Namkhai Norbu

Practice Meetings

Friday June 19, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #20, Book of Serenity #80
“A Chin Rest, A Sitting Cushion”

Ryûge asked Suibi, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the west?” 

Suibi said, “Bring me a chin rest.” 

Ryûge brought one and gave it to him. Suibi took it and hit him. 

Ryûge said, “You may hit me as you like. After all there is no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the west.” 

Ryûge also asked Rinzai, “What is the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the west?” 

Rinzai said, “Bring me a sitting cushion.” 

Ryûge got one and gave it to Rinzai. Rinzai took it and hit him. 

Ryûge said, “You may hit me as you like. After all there is no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the west.” 

Later Ryûge became abbot of a temple. A monk asked him, “Master, at that time, when you asked Suibi and Rinzai about the meaning of the Patriarch’s coming from the west, did they clarify it or not?” 

Ryûge said, “They clarified it all right. After all, there is no meaning to the Patriarch’s coming from the west.”

-Shunryu Suzuki

Practice Meetings

Friday June 12, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #56
“One Arrow Pierces Three Barriers”

Zen traveler Liang asked Qinshan, “So what about the time when one arrowhead destroys three barriers?”

Shan said, “To see it, liberate and produce the host within the barriers.”

Liang said, “Knowing in this way, then to pass across one must transform.”

Shan said, “What time is there for further waiting?”

Liang said, “A well released arrow does not show the place it is at.” Then he exited.

Shan said, “For the time being, come on instructor.”

Liang started to turn his head.

Shan held and stopped him and said, “As it is for the time being, cease with the ’One arrowhead destroys three barriers.’  Test it with me: shoot an arrow and see.”

While Liang was deciding what to discuss, Shan hit him seven times with a stick and said, “We’ll wait for 30 years further with this fellow’s doubt.”

– Alan Watts

Practice Meetings

Friday June 5, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #85
“Tiger Roar!”

A monk arrived at the place of the hermitage master of Paulownia (Empress Tree) Peak and immediately asked, “Here inside, if you suddenly run into a tiger, again how would you make it alive?”

The Hermitage Master immediately ROARED like a tiger. 

The monk made gestures of fear.

The Hermitage Master burst out great laughter.

The monk said, “This old thief.”

The Hermitage Master said, “How this old monk endures contention.”

The monk gave up and left.

– Bruce Lee

Practice Meetings

Friday May 22, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #97
“The Emperor’s Treasure”

Emperor Dôkô spoke to Kôke saying,

“I have attained the treasure of the Central Plain. However, no one can set a price on it.”

Kôke said, “Your Majesty, please lend it to me so that I may see.”

The emperor pulled the straps of his helmet hood with both hands.

Kôke said, “Who can dare to set a price on the emperor’s treasure!”

“Let whatever happens, be what needs to happen, so that I may awaken.”

– T. Scott McLeod

Practice Meetings

Friday May 15, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #35
“Three Threes”

 Manjusri asked Wuzhu, “What place have you departed from recently?”

Wuzhu said, “The region of the South.”

Jusri said, “So how is the Buddha Dharma kept alive in the region of the South?”

Zhu said, “Recently, few of the mendicants of the Dharma respect moral discipline and the rules.” [fn35]

Jusri said, “How many assemblies?”

Zhu said, “Perhaps three hundred, perhaps five hundred.”

Wuzhu asked Manjusri, “So how is it kept alive in this space?”

Jusri said, “The ordinary and sacred reside together, dragons and snakes mingle.”

Zhu said, “How many assemblies?”

Jusri said, “Three threes in front; three threes in back.”

“To be enlightened is to know oneself and not run away.”

-Veronique Vienne

Practice Meetings

Friday May 8, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #22
“Kaatz!”

Gantô came to Tokusan. He straddled the threshold of the gate and asked, “Is this ordinary or is this holy?”

Tokusan shouted, “Kaatz!” Gantô made a deep bow.

Hearing of this, Tôzan said, “Hardly anyone but Gantô could have accepted it that way.”

Gantô said, “Old Tôzan can’t tell between good and bad. At that time, I raised up with one hand and suppressed with the other.”

“Become the person of no rank. Become the noble soul, and live in this awakened way, not imitating anyone. Whatever the circumstances your life asks of you, respond to them in your own individual Zen-spirited way. Don’t waste any time trying to be someone else…We are not here to have someone else’s experience. We are here to have our own vivid experience. So please don’t cling to yesterday, to what happened, to what didn’t happen. And do not judge today by yesterday. Let us just live today to the fullest! Moment after moment, each sitting is the only sitting.”

-Maurine Stuart

Practice Meetings

Friday May 1, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #14
“Attendant Kaku Serves Tea”

Attendant Kaku asked Tokusan, “Where have all the past saints gone?” 

Tokusan said, “What? What?” 

Kaku said, ” I gave the command for an excellent horse like a flying dragon to spring forth, but there came out only a lame tortoise.” 

Tokusan was silent. 

The next day, when Tokusan came out of the bath, Kaku served him tea. 

Tokusan passed his hand gently over Kaku’s back. Kaku said, “This old fellow has gotten a glimpse for the first time.” 

Again, Tokusan was silent.

“I shall no longer be instructed by the Yoga Veda or the Aharva Veda, or the ascetics, or any other doctrine whatsoever. I shall learn from myself, be a pupil of myself; I shall get to know myself, the mystery of Siddhartha.” He looked around as if he were seeing the world for the first time.”

-Herman Hesse

Practice Meetings

Friday Apr 24, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #13, Book of Serenity #55
“Tokusan’s Bowls”

One day Tokusan went down toward the dining room, holding his bowls.

Seppõ met him and asked, “Where are you off to with your bowls? The bell has not rung, and the drum has not sounded.”

Tokusan turned and went back to his room.

Seppõ mentioned this to Gantõ, who remarked, “Tokusan is renowned, but he does not know the last word.”

Tokusan heard about this remark and sent his attendant to fetch Gantõ. “You do not approve of me?” he asked.

Gantõ whispered his meaning.

Tokusan said nothing at the time, but the next day he ascended the rostrum, and behold! he was very different from usual!

Gantõ, going toward the front of the hall, clapped his hands and laughed loudly, saying, “Congratulations! Our old man has got hold of the last word!

From now on, nobody in this whole country can outdo him!”

“No practice exists in isolation.”

-Idries Shah

Practice Meetings

Friday Apr 17, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #79
“Every Sound is Buddha’s Sound”

A monk asked Touzi, “Every sound is Buddha’s sound.  Correct or not?”

Touzi said, “Correct.”

The monk said, “[Then] Venerable, aren’t [your] farts the chirping sound of the Buddha’s bowl?”

Touzi hit him.

He again asked, “Coarse words and fine speech all return to the primary meaning.  Correct or not?”

Touzi said, “Correct.”

The monk said, “May I call the Venerable to be taken for one donkey?”

Touzi hit him.

[Xuedou added] “Fart.”

“If you love another person, you have to become a no-self, a nothing. When you love, you have to become a nobody. When you are a nobody, love happens. If you remain somebody, love never happens.

One becomes afraid of love, because love opens the inner emptiness.

Love is not an effort. If love is an effort, it is not love.

It is the same case with the ultimate experience, it happens when you do not make an effort. Then you can simply float with the river to the Ocean.” 

-Swami Dhyan Giten

Practice Meetings

Friday Apr 10, 7:00pm

This Week’s Koan

Book of Serenity #68
“Kassan Brandishes the Sword”

A monk asked Kassan, “What if one sweeps away the dust and sees Buddha?”

Kassan said, “You must brandish your sword. If you do not brandish your sword, the fisherman dwells in a nest of reeds.”

The monk mentioned this to Sekisô and asked him, “What if one sweeps away the dust and sees Buddha?”

Sekisô said, “He has no country. Where can one meet him?”

The monk reported this to Kassan. Kassan ascended the rostrum and said, “As for the facilities in the garden, the old monk is superior to Sekisô, but for deep discourse expounding the true principle he is one hundred steps ahead of me.”