The Meditation on the Four Acts, ascribed to Daruma (Bodhidharma), is very clear in its teaching though not yet specifically Zen, the Zen that we find in the Platform Sutra, Rokuso-dangyo. The four acts are first The Requital of Hatred, not only the hatred of people but of all things around us, the sharp corner of the table, for example. Second, Following Circumstances, which means, "He who would be first among you, let him be the servant of all." Third, Asking for Nothing, which is, "Not my will, but Thine be done!" Last, Accordance with Reality, which means the realization that just as things have no self-nature, neither have we (and just as each thing has existence-value so have we.)
R.H. Blyth, Mumonkan
Blyth likes the parallels between Christianity and Zen, but that's just as if you said you like the similarity in the directions used to get to the jail and the grocery store. "Go down three blocks, take a right, then the next left - it's on the corner." While the grocery store may be on one corner and the jail on the other, what other relationship do they have?
Zen is understanding of being, whereas Christianity is a worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no accord between these views. Zen has no words and sentences. Christianity cannot exist without words and sentences.
What of the Four Acts? Don't attach to Hatred, Power, Things, or Self. Those are good rules. Don't Attach is a good rule, plus it suggests it's own limit... don't attach to Don't Attach.
What interests me here though is how much I don't know. I never heard of the Four Acts before this reading, didn't remember if I knew that Daruma was another name for Bodhidharma, couldn't remember any koan associated with Bodhidharma... each page of Blyth is astoundingly well informed. Again, I wonder why anyone else bothers to write a book about Zen. Go read Blyth, and if you still have questions, go ask Daruma to free you of them.
