Let’s imagine for a moment that humans are large ice cubes, about two feet along each edge, with little heads and spindly feet. This is our life as humans most of the time, running about like ice cubes, bumping into one another sharply. Often we hit each other hard enough to shatter our edges. To protect ourselves we freeze as hard as we can and hope that when we collide with others, they will shatter before we do. We freeze because we’re afraid. Our fear makes us rigid, fixed, and hard, and we create mayhem as we bump into others. Any obstacle or unexpected difficulty is likely to shatter us.

– Joko Beck

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #9: Xingyang’s Nonattained Buddha

Once a monk earnestly asked Xingyang, “Daitsu Chisho Buddha sat in the meditation hall for ten kalpas, but the Dharma of the Buddha did not manifest itself and he could not attain buddhaood. Why was this?”

Xingyang replied, “Your question is reasonable indeed.”

The monk said, “He sat in zazen in the meditation hall. Why did he not attain Buddhahood?”

Xingyang replied, “Because he is a non-attained Buddha.”

Comment:

The Tang dynasty saw the emergence of the fabled “Five Houses of Zen”. One of these five was the Guiyang (“Igyo” in Japanese) House, named for its founders, Guishan (b. 771) and Guishan’s dharma heir, Yangshan (b. 807). In this koan we meet Xingyang (b. 910), the dharma great-great-grandson of Guishan and dharma great-grandson of Yangshan.  After the Xingyang, the Guiyang House disappeared into obscurity and its monks and students eventually died out or were absorbed into one of the other lineages. Thus Xingyang is essentially the last of the great Guiyang House. He was the immediate dharma successor of Bajiao Huiqing (“Basho Esei” in Japanese), who came from Korea in search of a worthy teacher — and found one in Master Nanta of the Guiyang House.

The Houses that have survived down to this day are the Linji (“Rinzai” in Japanese) and the Caodong (“Soto” in Japanese). These are the official lineages. From the Tang Dynasty down to today, many students have studied long years in one lineage, but ended up receiving their dharma transmission is a cousin lineage. So the Zen of Guishan and Yangshan lives on, not just through the literature we have about them, but through the cross-pollination across Zen lines that went on in their time and in ours.

Still, the different lines do have somewhat different flavors. The Linji schools of Zen — historically and today — are characterized by a struggle to attain awakening. The Caodong schools put more emphasis on letting go of the struggle. This is a small and comparative difference, for each “side” would recognize that “struggling to attain” and “letting go of the struggle” are each only half the story.

So we come to the last of the Guiyang House for a teaching that bridges the gap between the Linji and Caodong Houses. Daitsu Chiso did not attain. Why not? Because he is a non-attained Buddha. So: is there any such thing as an “attained Buddha”? Is a non-attained Buddha the “worst kind”? The “best kind”? The only kind?

My teacher’s teacher, Yamada Koun, addressed the practitioners at a retreat and said:

All of you are Buddhas from the beginning and will never attain Buddhahood again, no matter how long yo sit in samadhi. Can water get any wetter? Can gold become gold again? Can completeness become more complete? Can emptiness become empty?

Wumen’s Verse:

Far better than realizing the body is to realize the mind and be at peace.
If the mind is realized, there is no anxiety about the body;
If both body and mind are completely realized,
A holy hermit doe not wish to be appointed lord.

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Melting Ice Cubes,” p. 132.

Latest issue of our weekly e-newsletter: click here.

We would rather be ruined than changed — even though change is who we are. We would rather die in our anxiety, our fear, our loneliness, than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die. And the cross is also the crossroads, the choice. We are here to make that choice.

– Joko Beck

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #38: Fengxue’s “Heart Seal”

When he was staying at the government office of the Province Eishu, Fengxue entered the hall [to preach] and said: “The heart seal [i.e., “stamp” and also “the form of the heart-mind”] of the patriarch [i.e., Bodhidharma] resembles the activity of the iron ox [a massive construction along the Yellow River that protected the area from floods]. When it goes away, the [impression of the] seal remains; when it stays there, the [impression of the] seal is brought to naught. If it neither goes away nor stays, would it be right to give a seal [of approval] or not?”

Then Elder Rohi came up and said, “I have the activities of the iron ox. [However,] I ask you, Master, not to give me the seal.”

Fengxue said, “I am accustomed to leveling the great ocean through fishing whales. But, alas, now I find instead a frog wriggling about in the mud.”

Rohi stood there considering.

Fengxue shouted, “Kaatz!” He then said, “Why don’t you say anything else, Elder?”

Rohi was perplexed.

Fengxue hit him with his whisk and said, “Do you remember what you said? Say something, I’ll check it for you.”

Rohi tried to say something. Fuketsu hit him again with his whisk.

The Magistrate said, “Buddha’s law and the King’s law are of the same nature.”

Fengxue said, “What principle do you see in them?”

The Magistrate said, “If you do not make a decision where a decision should be made, you are inviting disorder.”

Fengxue descended from the rostrum.

Comment:

This is our second koan featuring Fengxue (b. 896; Japanese: “Fuketsu”), who began Zen study under Jingqing on the Caodong (Soto) side of our lineage. Then he studied under Nanyuan on the Linji (Rinzai) side and became Linji’s dharma great-grandson.

“If the seal is removed, the impression is left; if it is not removed, the impression does not appear.” If the object is removed, subjective impression remains. If the object is all there is (i.e., is not removed), then there is no subjectivity (impression).  To “neither go nor stay” would be to transcend subjectivity and objectivity.

Rohi claims to have realized the heart seal, and that he does not need Fengxue’s approval, so he asks Fengxue not to give him the heart seal. Fengxue rebukes Rohi, calling him “a frog wriggling about in the mud.” This is Fengxue’s test to see if Rohi’s attainment is genuine. Rohi seems to be stumped, and Fengxue urges him on, then strikes him to signal his disapproval.

The government official, watching this exchange between Zen teacher and student, compares Rohi’s indecision to disorder that arises when government is indecisive.

Xuedou’s Verse:

Holding Rohi to let him ride the iron ox
He used the armor of Linji’s three mysteries.
The stream that ran to greet the lord’s palace —
With one shout he made it flow backward.

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Experiences and Experiencing,” p. 118.

Latest issue of our weekly e-newsletter: click here.

The path of life seems to be mostly difficulties, things that give trouble. Yet the longer we practice, the more we begin to understand that those sharp rocks on the road are in fact like precious jewels.

– Joko Beck

This Week’s Koan

Gateless Gate #24: Leaving Speech and Silence Behind

A monk asked Fengxue in all earnestness, “Both speech and silence are concerned with ri [subject] and mi [object]. How can we transcend them?”

Fengxue said, “I constantly think of Konan in March, where partridges are chirping among hundreds of fragrant blossoms.”

Comment:

Fengxue (b. 896; Japanese: “Fuketsu”) began Zen study under Jingqing on the Caodong (Soto) side of our lineage. Then he studied under Nanyuan on the Linji (Rinzai) side and became Linji’s dharma great-grandson.

The fourth-century text, Treatise on the Jewel Treasury, says:

“To enter is ri, to come out is mi.
When we enter ri, the dust of the outer world has no place to adhere.
When we come out to mi, the inner mind has nothing to do with it.”

That is, if we separate from the phenomenal world and enter into the inner world, that is ri. When we come out of the inner world, that is called mi. Speech is of mi, the phenomenal world, and silence is of ri, separated from the phenomenal world. Thus, both speech and silence are connected with subject and object — with the dualistic world. The monk seeks to transcend these dualistic concepts.

Subject and object are intrinsically one. “Only I, alone and sacred,” is the same as, “No I.” Fengxue’s reply manifests a consciousness in which there is neither subject nor object — neither “only I, alone and sacred,” nor “no I.”

“I constantly think of Konan in March, where partridges are chirping among hundreds of fragrant blossoms,” is Fengxue’s way of transcending speech and silence, ri and mi. Now show me yours.

Wumen’s Verse:

Fengxue does not speak in his usual style;
Before he says anything, it is already manifested.
If you go on chattering glibly,
You should be ashamed of yourself.

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Preparing the Ground,” p. 113.

Latest issue of our weekly e-newsletter: click here.

I recommend a practice to help us catch ourselves in the act of judging: whenever we say the name of another person, we should watch what we add to the name. What do we say or think about the person? What kind of label do we use? Do we put the person into some category?

– Joko Beck

This Week’s Koan

Blue Cliff Record #95: Changqing’s “Three Poisons”

One day Changqing said, “Even if you argue that an arhat [a person who has reached the spiritual dimension without any traces of ‘the three poisons’: covetousness, anger, folly] still possesses ‘the three poisons’, don’t argue that the Tathagata has two sorts of language. I do not say the Tathagata has no words. I only say he does not have two kinds of language.”

Baofu said, “What are the words of the Tathagata?”

Changqing said, “How can a deaf man hear?”

Baofu said, “Now I know that your language belongs to the second level.”

Changqing said, “What are the words of the Tathagata?”

Baofu said, “Have some tea.”

Comment:

Baofu (Japanese: Hofuku, b. 868), and Changqing (Japanese: Chokei, b. 854) were companions and dharma brothers, disciples of Xuefeng (Japanese: Seppo, b. 822). Many koans show them bantering and playing off each other — testing and challenging and sharpening their zen.

There is, we sometimes say. the language of emptiness, the absolute, the timeless. There is, we sometimes say, the language of form, the relative, the temporal. Changqing says the Tathagata (one the titles of the Buddha) does not have two kinds of language. He may seem to be talking about the absolute, but, since the absolute is the relative, he’s talking just as much about the relative. He may seem to be talking about the relative, but, since the relative is the absolute, he’s talking just as much about the absolute.

This time Baofu gets the last line: “Have some tea.” Don’t imagine that he’s changing the subject. He is directly and immediately manifesting the Tathagata’s not-two language. He is showing what the words of the Tathagata are. Do you see?

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “Do Not Judge,” p. 103.

We are free ourselves insofar as our lives become more playful. Playing is what we are doing when we do not need to gain something from a situation.

– D. Loy and L. Goodhew

This Week’s Koan
Blue Cliff Record #23
Baofu and Changqing Go on a Picnic

Once Baofu and Changqing went out on a picnic in the hills.
Baofu, pointing with a finger, said, “Right here is the summit of Myo Peak.” [Literally, “The Peak of Wonder”]
Changqing said, “Exactly. But, it’s regrettable.”
(Xuedou commented saying, “What’s the use of making an excursion with these fellows today?”
He again said, “Hundreds and thousands of years from now, I don’t say that there will be none like him, only that there will be very few.”)
Later, they reported to Jingqing about it. Jingqing said, “If it weren’t for Changqing, you would see only skeletons in the field.”

Comment:
Baofu (Japanese: Hofuku, b. 868), and Changqing (Japanese: Chokei, b. 854) are often seen as companions, bantering and playing off each other. Baofu, Changqing, Jingqing (Japanese: Kyosei, b. 867), along with Yunmen (Japanese: Ummon, b. 864) were dharma brothers, disciples of Xuefeng (Japanese: Seppo, b. 822).
Katsuki Sekida’s translation replaces Changqing’s “But, it’s regrettable” with the simple and poignant, “Alas.”
What is that “alas”? We stand upon the peak of wonder. Wherefore, “alas”?

This Week’s Reading

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special, “The Tomato Fighters,” p. 97.

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Whatever you consider beautiful, ugly, wonderful, tasty, or aromatic is simply a projection of your superstitious mind

– Lama Yeshe

CASE

Blue Cliff Record #46: Jingqing and the Raindrops

Jingqing, b. 867, in the Caodong (Soto) lineage, was a dharma heir of Xuefeng and dharma brother of Yunmen.

Jingqing asked asked a monk, “What is that sound outside?”
The monk said, “That is the sound of raindrops.”
Jingqing said, “People live in a topsy-turvy world. They lose themselves in delusion about themselves and only pursue [outside] objects.”
The monk said, “What about you, Master?”
Jingqing said, “I was on the brink of losing myself in such delusions about myself.”
The monk said, “What do you mean, ‘on the brink of losing myself in such delusions about myself’?”
Jingqing said, “To break through [into the world of Essence] may be easy. But to express fully the bare substance is difficult.”

Notes by Katsuki Sekida:

“What is the noise outside?” This is the teacher’s leading question. It is the mother hen tapping at the eggshell [Cf. Jingqing in last week’s case.]

“That is the voice of the raindrops.” The chick is pecking from inside. Zen has two aspects, the absolute and the positive. The absolute side is that of absolute samadhi, where there are no objects — no mountain, no river, no man, no woman, no plant, no animal, no rain, no raindrops. The positive side is that of positive samadhi, where all these things exist. Whatever answer you may make is all right if you truly realize it. Shuzan Oshō once held up a shippei (a bamboo baton) before his disciples and said, “If you call it a shippei, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a shippei, you ignore the fact. Tell me, you monks, what will you call it?” (Gateless Gate #43).

“People live in a topsy-turvy world.” People in general are led astray by their egocentric thinking.

“They lose themselves in delusion about themselves and only pursue objects.” Our ordinary consciousness has acquired an egocentric way of thinking. It is always looking for what is most profitable for “me.” The result is a distorted view of life and the world, which has led to endless disasters: deceiving, fighting, killing, wars, and so on. But still we go on pursuing the nonexistent profit, with calamitous results. You may ask what relation the raindrops have to man’s appalling condition. The answer is that they have a close relationship, because this case is dealing with the fundamental question of cognition, and hence with the essential nature of our underlying mental attitude.

“What about you, Master?” The monk’s question was inevitable, and Jingqing had intended to elicit it.

“I was on the brink of losing myself in such delusions about myself.” Jingqing had first asked, “What is the noise outside?” He asked as any ordinary person might have done. The difference is this. A baby may be unaware of danger even if it crawls near the edge of a cliff. Jingqing was as close to danger as anyone else when he asked the question, but he did it with full knowledge. He was not deluded.

“To break through may be easy. But to express fully the bare substance is difficult.” To say it in the dimension of absolute samadhi is rather easy, but to say it in positive samadhi — that is, having transcended the busiest activity of consciousness in ordinary life — is difficult. Jingqing is stressing the importance of transcending actual daily life while being busily engrossed in it. This is what Engo means by his sentence, “Seated amid the totality of form and sound, he rises above them.”

READING

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special,
Chapter: “Integration,” p. 93.

MEETINGS

All meetings at:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Common Room
4225 NW 34th St
Gainesville, FL 32605

Dec 30: FRIDAY Evening Zen, 7pm to 8:45pm.
Two sits, chants, dharma talk.
Zen Interviews with Meredith available.

Dec 31: SATURDAY Morning UU Meditative Worship Service, 11am – noon.
A hymn, a 20-min sit, sharing, a reading, discussion, a hymn, a shorter sit, closing.

Jan 2: TUESDAY Morning Zen, 8:30am – 9:30am.
1 sit, discussion.

Fear in Others. In some people anxiety is obvious. Others may appear calm and at ease with life, yet still be scared to death — of intimacy, of criticism, of loss of something. Just because fear in others is not obvious doesn’t mean it’s not there. The fear may be hidden, but it is just as powerful and just as frightening. Recalling this can foster compassion.

– Ezra Bayda and Josh Bartok

THIS WEEK

READING:

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special,
Chapter: “The Subject-Object Problem”, p. 84.

MEETINGS:

All meetings at:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Common Room
4225 NW 34th St
Gainesville, FL 32605

Dec 23
FRIDAY Evening Zen, 7pm to 8:45pm.
Two sits, chants, dharma talk.
Zen Interviews with Meredith available.

Dec 24
SATURDAY Morning UU Meditative Worship Service, 11am – noon.
A hymn, a 20-min sit, sharing, a reading, discussion, a hymn, a shorter sit, closing.

Dec 27
TUESDAY Morning Zen, 8:30am – 9:30am.
1 sit, discussion.

CASE:

Blue Cliff Record #16: Jingqing’s Instruction on Pecking and Tapping

Jingqing, b. 867, was a dharma heir of Xuefeng and dharma brother of Yunmen. On the Caodong (Soto) side.

A monk asked Jingqing, “I, your student, am picking from inside the shell. I beg you, Master, please peck from outside.”
Jingqing said, “But will you be alive or not?”
The monk said, “If I were not alive, people would all laugh.”
Jingqing said, “You fool in the weeds!”

At this holiday season, with solstice celebrating rebirth of the sun, with Christmas celebrating birth of faith, hope, and love, in flesh among us, with Hanukkah reminding us that sometimes the light endures beyond expectation, may the sunlight and lamplights of life and love shine in our hearts, shine on our homes, and shine through our practice.

Compassion isn’t just offering kind words. Compassion is offering your very being.

– Ezra Bayda and Josh Bartok

THIS WEEK

READING:

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special,
Chapter: “Can Anything Hurt Us?”, p. 75.

MEETINGS:

All meetings at:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Common Room
4225 NW 34th St
Gainesville, FL 32605

Dec 16
FRIDAY Evening Zen, 7pm to 8:45pm.
Two sits, chants, dharma talk.
Zen Interviews with Meredith available.

Dec 10
SATURDAY Morning UU Meditative Worship Service, 11am – noon.
A hymn, a 20-min sit, sharing, a reading, discussion, a hymn, a shorter sit, closing.

Dec 20
TUESDAY Morning Zen, 8:30am – 9:30am.
1 sit, discussion.

CASE:

Blue Cliff Record #8 and Book of Serenity #71: Cuiyan’s “Eyebrows”

Towards the end of summer [1], Cuiyan instructed the assembly, saying,”All summer I’ve preached to you, my brothers. Look here, are Cuiyan’s eyebrows still there? [2]”
Baofu said, “The robber’s heart is terrified!”
Changqing said, “They are well grown!”
Yunmen said, “Kan!” [3]

Notes:
[1]: Summer-sesshin for 3 months.
[2]: According to the popular belief a great criminal should lose his eyebrows
as a sign of his coming punishment in hell.
[3]: Literally kan means “barrier” (cf. Mumonkan). In those days this Chinese
word colloquially meant also, “Watch out!” or “There!”

Discipline is essential — but it can all too easily become stoic, militant, even grim.

Spiritual work is serious — but not somber.

– Ezra Bayda and Josh Bartok

THIS WEEK

READING:

Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special,
Chapter: “The Eye of the Hurricane”, p. 67.

MEETINGS:

All meetings at:
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Common Room
4225 NW 34th St
Gainesville, FL 32605

Dec 9
FRIDAY Evening Zen, 7pm to 8:45pm.
Two sits, chants, dharma talk.
Zen Interviews with Meredith available.

Dec 10
SATURDAY Morning UU Meditative Worship Service, 11am – noon.
A hymn, a 20-min sit, sharing, a reading, discussion, a hymn, a shorter sit, closing.

Dec 13
TUESDAY Morning Zen, 8:30am – 9:30am.
1 sit, discussion.

CASE:

Book of Serenity, #82: Yunmen’s: “Voice” and “Color”

Yunmen instructed the assembly and said, “‘To realize the way through hearing a voice, to enlighten the mind through seeing color’ — Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara comes with some small change and buys poor rice cakes.
If he throws it away, he will get nice manju cakes instead.”