Isan's Bottle

The Reading:

THE CASE 
When Isan was with Hyakujo he was the tenzo [who looks after the food].  Hyakujo wanted to choose a master for mount Daii, so he called the head monk and the rest of them, and told them that an exceptional person should go there.  Then he took a water-bottle, stood it on the floor, and asked a question.  "Don't call this a water-bottle, but tell me what it is!"  The head monk said, "It can't be called a stump."  Hyakujo asked Isan his opinion.  Isan pushed the water-bottle over with his foot.  Hyakujo laughed, and said, "The head monk has lost."  Isan was ordered to start the temple.

Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

What are we to make of this contest?  What could anyone say to answer Hyakujo?  There are so many using the word Zen now, it is common in the West to hear Zen attached to any number of things, to find books about meditation to inner peace or guides to enlightenment.  These are often quite long books, too.  Often when I pick them up to glance at the back cover, scan the table of contents, or browse the index, I find little reason to purchase such books.  What answer do all these have to give Hyakujo and his little bottle of water?

The head monk has lost.  He is not the only one.

Two Tigers

The Reading:


Karin [the head monk from Isan's Bottle] was visited once by Haikyu, a scholar connected with the Obaku Branch of Zen.  It was Kaikyu who collected Obaku's Den-shin-hoyo, and wrote a preface for it.  Haikyu said to Karin, "You have no attendants?"  "Yes, I have two, but I can hardly show them to visitors."  "Where are they then?"  At this Karin shouted, "Daiku!  Shoku!"  and, to the amazement of Haikyu, two great tigers came out from behind the temple.  Karin said to them, "We have a visitor, so go back."  The two tigers roared, and went off again.  But from this rather doubtful-sounding anecdote comes the fact that a Zen attendant monk is called niku, or "two Emptinesses, also written as "two tigers."  Niku also means "meat".

-Introduction to Isan's Bottle, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

Blyth an exceptional scholar!  This reading is an wonderful example of two problems.  First, there are clearly scholars of Zen who are not even attendants.  Why would this matter?  Zen, more than most things, is a foreign language.  Zen does not contain any words or sentences, yet scholars try to examine Zen, to document it, who have nothing but words and sentences.  It was as if they thought that Zen Masters did not use words or sentences because they lacked learning.  But this is not the case.  So Japan is a foreign country, and Zen is foreign too, a Persian with a red beard.  It is very difficult to understand the perspective of life in a foreign country, and impossible to understand Zen.  What does it mean that attendants are simply "meat"?  That is a Zen joke.  But they are also tigers.  They are also Profound Emptiness.  They are trying to find the Way, but they are not walking it yet.

On the other hand, scholars are not trying to find it, they are not walking it.  Scholars, even dear Mr. Blyth, seek words and sentences.  What fantastic things are words and sentences!  Worthless!

Hyakujo Speaks

The Reading:

"Hyakujo, famous for his "no working, no eating" has appeared in Case 2... Hyakujo told Isan that true enlightenment is the same as illusion, remembering the same as forgetting, sages the same as fools."

-Introduction to Case 40, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

What is the old fox up to now?  Hyakujo is always teasing us with his Zen, with jokes that sound like riddles and riddles that sound like jokes.  How odd it would be to hear these words from so many modern, not to mention historical, spiritual leaders.  Saints are the same as sinners.  Prophets are the same as fantasists.  Wise men the same as idiots.  Priests and holy men the same as charlatans.  

It is one thing to hear this from non-believers, but from the holies themselves?

Yet if you doubt Hyakujo, then you throw out the fox with the bath water, and how can you when there was a funeral?

Ummon and a Mistake

The Reading:

THE CASE


A monk once asked about "The radiance shines" and so on, but before he could finish the first line Ummon interrupted him, and said, "Aren't these the words of Chosetsu Shusai?"  The monk replied, "Yes, they are," Ummon said, "You made a slip of the tongue."  Afterwards, Shishin brought the matter up, and said, "Telll me, how did the monk make a slip of the tongue?"


THE COMMENTARY


If in regard to this episode you have grasped Ummon's unapproachable method, and know how the monk made his slip of the tongue, you are in a position to be a teacher of men and gods, but if not you are not yet clear about it, you have not even saved yourself.

Case 39, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

It is easy to ask questions about Zen, but difficult to give answers.  Ummon question contains the answer, just as Mumon's commentary mocks the answer.

This reminds me of an old question about learning... how do you learn?  By being told the answer?  When you know the answer without understanding the problem, you are like a dog taught to bark  when commanded.  Look what Ummon saves you from!  You could be a dog, barking about Zen.  Look what Mumon saves you from, Ummon!

Joshu's Oak Tree

The Reading:

THE CASE
A monk asked Joshu, "What did Daruma come to China for?"  Joshu answered, "The oak tree in the (temple) front garden."

Case 37, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

There are many lectures in this Case.  There is a lecture about the difference between a Zen Master sweeping the floor and a common monk sweeping the floor.  There is the lecture about the purpose of Zen lectures.  There is also a handy little lecture I've prepared about the importance of landscaping in Zen temples.  Let us set them aside, and today, as it is spring here, go and sit somewhere, perhaps a coffee shop, and spend your time looking at trees.

If you are mostly quiet, and you enjoy yourself, then perhaps you can put Joshu's words in your mouth and understand his answer.

Nansen's No Way

The Reading:

THE CASE


Nansen said, "The mind is not the Buddha, knowledge is not the Way."

Case 34, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth

Discussion:

The religions all have sacred texts, and sacred knowledge to be gleaned from them.  What does Zen have?  Nothing.  What is a Zen Master the master of?

As Confucius remarked, "What you know, you know.  What you don't know, you don't know."  How close to the Way!