seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

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Unfortunately, the golden age of Chan quickly passed once religious phonies began to imitate the acts and answers of their enlightened colleagues. (Even today, some monks try to pass themselves off as enlightened. A few years ago I read about a poor fellow in a California Rinzai monastery who feigned a bizarre `enlightened' act: he came to darshan with a tomato hidden in his robe and then, by way of answer to his koan, threw it at his master. I forget what his master did to him but I do recall that it wasn't pleasant.) To prevent this imitation enlightenment, darshan became private but at the expense of the necessary stress of humiliation. Soon books which listed the various koans and their answers, complete with editorial commentary, were in circulation. Monks actually began to study koans! This means that koans were no longer koans. Between the good answers and the good actors, it became necessary to have many `satoris'... one koan after another. Even satori was seen to come in varying degrees of quality! There were lesser and greater satoris. This means that a monk could strive to experience something less than no ego. A negative ego? But this is preposterous! Clearly, the system was in disarray. Nobody needs more than one koan because nobody needs more than one satori. Some koans and mantras can never be solved. For example, "Does a dog have Buddha Nature?" A man can stretch himself considerably trying to answer this but he cannot get inside a dog's head. Is the Buddha Nature present only in minds that can conceive of it? (This is a variation on the ancient question, "Why did God create conscious men?" and its answer, "To be worshipped by them." C. G. Jung agreed with this response.) What degree of consciousness is necessary in order to worship God? Is the Buddha Nature present in animals that have no egos to transcend and therefore are able to experience reality directly and at all times? A dog with his limited brain may have no sense of self... no ego and therefore no need for religion or salvation...but is this the same as Buddhahood? And what about dolphins and whales? They have a large, well developed cerebral cortex. They are perhaps as intelligent as we. Maybe more. Do they see themselves as individuals struggling to find happiness and meaning in life? Do such creatures look up at the starry sky and marvel at its beauty? Do they pray? Do they thank God for an inlet filled with krill? Is there a Jesus of the dolphins? A Buddha of the whales? If we do not know whether a living dog has Buddha Nature can we say with certainty that a stone statue of a dog has no Buddha Nature? (Yes, we can.) The question, then, as originally posed is reasonable but insoluble. It is not, therefore, a proper koan but pondering it can carry a person a very long way into shame, humility and compassion. To say simply that a proper answer is a meaningless "Mu" negation leaves out too much of the deliberation. Other kinds of questions and answers came into vogue. In these exchanges the ego and its insipid questions were shown to be disgraceful frauds which did not deserve the dignity of a response. "What is Buddha?" The standard answer: "A pound of flax seeds." Or, CHAPTER 18 SATORI, THE KOAN, AND MONASTIC POLISHING S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM 184
"Are there any teachings which go beyond those of the Buddha and the Patriarchs?" "Yes, those that deal with sesame buns." One remarkable exchange deserves repeating: A novice approached a master and begged him for instruction. "Before I can teach you anything you must say one word of truth," said the master. The novice thought for a moment. "Buddha!" he responded. Angrily, the master dismissed him. "Come back when you can speak a word of truth!" The novice thought and thought and decided on a better answer. The next day he returned to the master, knelt at his feet, and whispered, "Compassion." But again the master dismissed him. The novice struggled to find a more impressive answer, one that would surely be undeniable in its truth. Thinking he had found it in the word "Love", he returned to the master. As he began to kneel, the master suddenly kicked him. "Ouch!" cried the novice. "Sit down," said the master. "You have finally uttered a truthful word." (A spontaneous response, by definition, is not corrupted by the ego.) During the dismal period which followed the Golden Age, Chan Master Da Hui wisely advocated a method known elsewhere as mantra yoga. Accordingly, a candidate for satori was given a `koan' exactly as he would be given a mantra. He was expected to recite it constantly, to fix his attention on it while he ate, walked, or worked, until his mind would automatically finger it, endlessly circulating it as a rosary. Eventually the threshold of meaning would be crossed. When the meaning dropped away, the ripe mind would drop away with it. Da Hui objected to the practice of many Chan masters who resorted to long, mindblanking meditation sessions as replacements for the bankrupt koan exchange system. He thought that it led to quietism, an other worldly approach to life that functioned as little more than a retreat from society. A Chan man should be able to withstand societal pressure. `Going to market with one's shirt open,' (being a casual, unselfconscious person) was and still is the only acceptable attitude. Da Hui's objections to long periods of sitting may have been prompted by considerations of health. Hemorrhoids are a distressing fact of life in hard-cushion `sitting' monasteries. SOTO ZEN In any school, satori is experienced only by a ripe mind and a ripe mind is a mind which at the very least understands the First Noble Truth of Buddhism: Life is bitter and painful. How or where this truth is learned is unimportant. Monasteries, we find, often see themselves as dispensaries of this great truth. CHAPTER 18 SATORI, THE KOAN, AND MONASTIC POLISHING S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM 185
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THE SEVENTH WORLD OF CHAN BUDDHISM
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Table of Contents PART I: ORIGINS C
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As their population increased, so d
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from the womb of their Holy Mother
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fade quickly in early morning body-
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doctrine of Karma meant nothing les
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The other method of salvation, the
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As H.G. Wells reconstructs Siddarth
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CHAPTER 2 CHINA How wonderful! How
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in its concealed vitality, a new mo
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favor. (Unhappily, as we shall see,
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demand, or, perhaps, respectfully r
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demonstrated divine affection; and
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Believing that human nature was inh
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after a specific individual can, wh
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The Confucians also mocked the old
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Preferring to be absolutely certain
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male, earth and sky, dark and light
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As farmers, they of course studied
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emember. How much credence can we a
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Again, as there is no willful, exte
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CHAPTER 4 ORIGINS OF THE TWO MAIN S
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ecstatic beggars ambling through th
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As monasteries and shrines competed
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Though he could see Infinity in a s
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When, however, the fellow failed to
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was necessary, went back to South C
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intelligentsia sought refuge in Con
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She must have paid a fortune for it
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Even though Titans are noticeably h
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with the cosmos - encounters which
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The name Devil comes from the wretc
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challenge. To live in the Six World
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CHAPTER 6 THE GAP BETWEEN THE SIX W
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himself as being under siege from e
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advise him to seek sanctuary in a m
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CHAPTER 7 A WORKING MODEL OF THE PS
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that because something conforms to
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and protect them, they very likely
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follow a prescribed moral code that
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survival value. With this friend th
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Even today, a man will spend consid
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CROSS-SECTION: MODEL OF PSYCHE The
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in which we simply live out the lif
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pride, anger, security, jealousy, a
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honest, loving, witty, and good hum
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feel if we discover that our trust
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CHAPTER 9 HIGH PRICE OF DESIRE It s
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including veterans' organizations)
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the legend, "Even when you're baaaa
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Mr. Doe tells himself that he does
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Since his ex-wife and kids live in
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court press.) His new attachments w
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When evaluating dreams we must reca
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PART III: PRACTICE CHAPTER 10 FIRST
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Again, meditation requires that the
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Some people find it easier to count
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Zen is a branch of the Mahayana, an
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FIRST STEP ON THE EIGHTFOLD PATH CH
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Now, the question is this: Which ba
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It is necessary to appreciate the d
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punishment in the sense of physical
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through his troubles. It's another
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And if a single confession of past
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At the turn of the century, a famou
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and death' the moment we enter Nirv
Page 133 and 134: Insofar as these events concern our
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Page 137 and 138: Usually our love-affairs with thing
Page 139 and 140: The chronic annoyance of trivialiti
Page 141 and 142: After Dad has sympathized with Sonn
Page 143 and 144: conviction, "The friend of my frien
Page 145 and 146: Chan requires us not only to analyz
Page 147 and 148: Of all the projections one individu
Page 149 and 150: ego is so important." The layman, l
Page 151 and 152: Of greater importance to the person
Page 153 and 154: Buddhists because it is virtually i
Page 155 and 156: 1. Non-killing 2. Non-stealing 3. N
Page 157 and 158: Salesmen frequently have difficulty
Page 159 and 160: would not be able to perform such g
Page 161 and 162: CHAPTER 15 RIGHT LIVELIHOOD "The pr
Page 163 and 164: killing of animals being unambiguou
Page 165 and 166: SIXTH STEP ON THE PATH CHAPTER 16 R
Page 167 and 168: What if we don't have a whole house
Page 169 and 170: When we finally decide to get in sh
Page 171 and 172: By Right Effort we mean that we cre
Page 173 and 174: sanitized in translation and appear
Page 175 and 176: men and women involved would have q
Page 177 and 178: the gentle monk came outside and sa
Page 179 and 180: There is another revolving sensatio
Page 181 and 182: length of time he'll require. He pe
Page 183: Eventually he realizes that he is b
Page 187 and 188: The rules which govern eating defy
Page 189 and 190: CHAPTER 19 RIGHT MEDITATION EIGHTH
Page 191 and 192: cannot describe either the rush of
Page 193 and 194: The hands may either be held high a
Page 195 and 196: for as long as possible - the durat
Page 197 and 198: OTHER FORMS OF MEDITATION The word
Page 199 and 200: Pay attention to one clock only. As
Page 201 and 202: volume and harmony until it seemed
Page 203 and 204: Fasting, never a gentle exercise, c
Page 205 and 206: So far, so good. The characters and
Page 207 and 208: What type of prayer is permissible?
Page 209: CONCLUSION I remember once being ta
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