THE COMMENTARY
The broken-toothed old foreigner crossed the sea importantly from a hundred thousand miles away. This was raising waves when there is no wind. Daruma had only one disciple, and even he was a cripple. Well, well!
"Raising waves where there is no wind: is a favorite expression in Zen, signifying that there is no problem of life. Things are as they are, and as they are becoming, and once you realize this in its active, not resigned, meaning, there is really nothing to worry about. Further, our ordinary way of thinking about life in general is like an ingrown toe-nail. And last, the Buddhas and the Patriarchs of Zen are doctors who cause the disease they pretend to cure. So, since this is the best of all possible worlds, why all the fuss about Daruma and Ekai [Mumon] and the Mumonkan?
Case 42, Mumonkan, R.H. Blyth
Discussion:
Irreverence is not central to Zen. Irreverence is central to man's study of Zen. It should be clear, that what a man means by certain speech is not the same as what a Zen Master means by the same speech, which isn't the same at all. Another way the same thing: to men, what is sacred is not ridiculous, but to a Zen Master there is no such differentiation. It is only possible to be irreverent when there is something to venerate, and to Zen Masters there is nothing to venerate.
Irreverence is not central to Zen. Irreverence is central to man's study of Zen. It should be clear, that what a man means by certain speech is not the same as what a Zen Master means by the same speech, which isn't the same at all. Another way the same thing: to men, what is sacred is not ridiculous, but to a Zen Master there is no such differentiation. It is only possible to be irreverent when there is something to venerate, and to Zen Masters there is nothing to venerate.
But men venerate everything! Their past, their desires, their dreams of heaven and gods and miracles that will save them from the demons they have venerated into being! What a fantastical dance that men do, venerating evil in order to venerate good! I would suggest a hobby to these people, only they would likely venerate that too!
The beauty of this problem, were I to venerate the problem itself, is that it invents the disease and then wonders at a cure. What shall we do about suffering? How can we overcome tragedy? How do we learn to accept the sorrow and loss of life?
There is no such thing as suffering. It is a trick we play on ourselves, aided by our other favorite tricks, memory and attachment. We invented these games to help us rise from animal to Man, and yet here we are, bound now by our own games.
I talk too much. So did Daruma.
