Practice Meetings
Tuesday Oct 22, 8:30am
Friday Oct 25, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Gateless Gate #34
Nansen’s Knowing Is Not The Way
Nansen said, “Mind is not the Buddha, knowing is not the Way.”
Verse
The sky clears, the sun shines bright, The rain comes, the earth gets wet. He opens his heart and expounds the whole secret, But I fear he is little appreciated.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Oct 15, 8:30am
Friday Oct 18, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Gateless Gate #27, Blue Cliff Record #28
What the Holy Ones Have Not Preached
A monk asked Nansen, “Is there any Dharma that has not been preached to the people?”
Nansen answered, “There is.”
“What is the truth that has not been taught?” asked the monk.
Nansen said, “It is not mind; it is not Buddha; it is not things.”
Verse
Talking too much spoils your virtue; Silence is truly unequaled. Let the mountains become the sea; I’ll give you no comment.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Oct 8, 8:30am
Friday Oct 11, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Gateless Gate #19
Ordinary Mind is the Way
Joshu earnestly asked Nansen, “What is the Way?”
Nansen answered, “The ordinary mind is the Way.”
Joshu asked, “Should I direct myself toward it or not?”
Nansen said, “If you try to turn toward it, you go against it.”
Joshu asked, “If I do not try to turn toward it, how can I know that it is the Way?” Nansen answered, “The Way does not belong to knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is delusion; not-knowing is a blank consciousness. When you have really reached the true Way beyond all doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as the great empty firmament. How can it be talked about on a level of right and wrong?”
At these words, Joshu was suddenly enlightened.
Verse
The spring flowers, the moon in autumn, The cool breezes of summer, the winter’s snow; If idol concerns do not cloud the mind, This is man’s happiest season.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Oct 1, 8:30am
Friday Oct 4, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Gateless Gate #14, Blue Cliff Record #63 and 64, Book of Serenity #9
Nanquan Kills a Cat
Because the monks of the eastern and western halls were fighting over a cat, Master Nanquan picked it up and said, “If you can speak, I’ll spare the cat. If not, I’ll kill it.”
No one replied, so Nanquan killed it.
That evening Zhaozhou came back from somewhere else and Nanquan told him what had happened. Zhaozhou then took off his sandals, put them on his head, and walked out.
Nanquan said, “Had you been here, you could have saved the cat.”
Verse
Had Zhaozhou been present, He’d have executed the order in reverse, Snatching the knife away, Nanquan begging for his life.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Sept 24, 8:30am
Friday Sept 27, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Blue Cliff Record #75
Wujiu’s Unjust Stick
A monk who was a follower of the assembly of Venerable Dingzhou’s side came and arrived at Wujiu.
Wujiu asked, “How does the Way of the Dharma of Dingzhou resemble this side?”
The monk said, “[It is] not different.”
Jiu said, “If not different then you should turn back to the other center and go.” Then he hit.
The monk said, “The tip of the stick has eyes. Don’t get careless hitting a person.”
Jiu said, “Today I hit at one in particular!” Then he hit down thrice.
The monk then left.
Jiu said, “An unjust stick, from the first arrival there is a person enduring it.”
The monk turned his body around and said, “How can one quarrel when the handle is in the Venerable’s palm?”
Jiu said. “If you want it, this mountain monk will turn it around to give it to you.”
The monk went close in front and grabbed the stick from Jiu’s palm and hit down on Jiu thrice.
Jiu said, “An unjust stick, an unjust stick.”
The monk said, “There is a person enduring it”
Jiu said, “I carelessly hit at this particular fellow.”
The monk then did a ritual bow.
Jiu said, “A Venerable, but goes on like this!”
The monk laughed greatly and exited.
Jiu said, “Alleviating can be like this. Alleviating can be like this.”
Practice Meetings
Tuesday Sept 17, 8:30am
Friday Sept 20, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Book of Serenity #72
Zhongyi’s “Monkey”
Yangshan asked Zhongyi, “What is the meaning of Buddha nature?” Zhongyi said, I’ll tell you a simile: it’s like putting a monkey in a room with six windows—when someone outside calls it, ‘Simian! Simian!’ the monkey then responds. In this way, when called through all six windows it responds.”
Yangshan said, “What about when the monkey is asleep?” Zhongyi got right down from his seat, grabbed and held Yangshan and said, “Simian, Simian, you and I see each other.”
Verse
Freezing sleep in a snowy room, the year about ended; The recondite ivy gate does not open at night. Groves and forests withered in the cold—look at the changing conditions: The spring wind’s blowing stirs the ashes in the pipe.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Sept 10, 8:30am
Friday Sept 13, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Blue Cliff Record #74
Jinniu and the Rice Pail
Venerable Jinniu (Golden Ox), when every meal time arrived, by himself in the front of the monk’s hall with the bucket of cooked rice did a dance and, with guffaws of great laughter, said, “Mr. Bodhisattvas, come and eat the cooked rice.”
Xuedou said, “Although he acted in this way, Jinniu was not being good hearted.”
A monk asked Changqing, “The man of old said, ‘Mr. Bodhisattvas, come and eat the cooked rice.’ So what was his intended aim?”
Qing said, “A great show causing celebration and praise of the meal.”
Verse
Guffaws of laughter underneath the shadow of the white cloud, Holding on with both hands, he came handing it down and giving it to them. If they are children of the golden-haired lion, They would see the boastful swindle from three thousand li away.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Sept 3, 8:30am
Friday Sept 6, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Blue Cliff Record #37
Panshan Without Things
Panshan said: “The three realms are without things. Where is there to seek mind?”
Verse
The three realms are without things. Where is there to seek mind? White clouds become a canopy. The flowing spring makes a harp. One song, two songs, there is no human comprehension. After the rain, in the dark pool the autumn water is deep.Practice Meetings
Tuesday Aug 27, 8:30am
Friday Aug 30, 7:00pm
This Week’s Koan
Gateless Gate #1
Joshu’s Dog
A monk asked Joshu, in all earnestness: “Does a dog have Buddha Nature?”
Joshu answered, “Mu. (No.)”
Special Note
The Sangha meeting for Aug. 30 will follow a different format. In lieu of tea, discussion and chanting, there will be three 25 minute sits interspersed with walking meditation.
Practice Meetings
Tuesday Aug 20, 8:30am
Friday Aug 23, 7:00pm
This Week’s Reading
Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Chapter 57, “The Raft is not the Shore”.
This Week’s Koan
Blue Cliff Record #42
Layman Pang’s “Beautiful Snowflakes”
Layman Pang bid adieu to Yaoshan. Shan ordered ten people who were Zen travelers to go together to the main gate to see him off.
The Layman pointed to the snow in the middle of the sky and said, “The excellent snow; flake by flake it does not fall at another spot.”
At that time there was Zen traveler Quan who asked, “At what spot does it fall?”
The gentleman hit once with a slap.
Quan said, “A Layman too cannot get careless.”
The gentleman said, “Like this you call yourself a Zen traveler. Lao-tzu has not liberated your dependence.”
Quan said, “Layman how do you make it alive?”
The gentleman again hit once with a slap and said, “The eye sees like a blind person; the mouth speaks like a mute.”
Xuedou separately said, “At the first questioning point, yet grab a snowball then hit.”