Ummon

The Reading:

My work here is something that I can not help. When I tell you to penetrate into all things and to be nonattached to them, I have already concealed what is within you. Yet you all continue looking for Chan among my words, so that you may achieve enlightenment with myriad deviations and artificialities. You raise endless questions and arguments. Thus you merely gain temporary satisfactions from verbal contests, repeatedly quarrel with words, and deviate even further from Chan. When will you obtain it and rest?

.

A monk asked, "How should one act during every hour of the day such that the ancestors are not betrayed?"
Yunmen said, "Give up your effort." The monk said, "How should I give up my effort?" Yunmen said, "Give up the words you just uttered."

Discussion:
!

P'ei Hsiu: On Huang-Po

The Reading;

Holding in esteem only the intuitive method of the Highest Vehicle, which cannot be communicated in words, he taught nothing but the doctrine of the One Mind; holding that there is nothing else to teach, in that both mind and substance are void and that the chain of causality is motionless.  Mind is like the sun journeying through the sky and emitting glorious light uncontaminated by the finest particle of dust.  To those who have realized the nature of Reality, there is nothing old or new, and conceptions of it do not attempt to explain it, establish no sects and open no doors or windows.  That which is before you is it.

Discussion:

When students praise the Master, there is no more pointing to Zen.  When students praise the teaching, there is then something to be taught.  Do not attempt to explain it!  It is marvelously difficult to grasp intellectually!

Baso's Zen is the Fist

The Reading:

A monk asked Baso, "What is the Buddha?" Baso answered, "Mind is the Buddha." The monk asked, "What is the Way?" "No-mind is the Way," answered Baso. The monk then asked, "Are the Buddha and the Way somewhat different?" Baso replied, "The Buddha is like stretching out the hand, the Way is like clenching the fist."


Discussion:

If you think Zen is also the hand, then what is the fist?

Isan's Laughter

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 87: Sozan: With or Without

Sozan came to Isan and asked, 
  "I have heard that you said, 'Words of being and words of non-being are just
   like wisteria wound around a tree.' If suddenly the tree falls down and the
   wisteria withers, where will the words go?"

Isan burst into great laughter. Sozan said,
  "I sold my clothes and other belongings, and made an arduous journey of one
   thousand miles to come to you. Why does Your Reverence make light of me?"

Isan called his attendant and said, 
  "Bring some money and give it to this reverend monk for his travel expenses."
Finally he said,"Some day a one-eyed dragon will let you open your eyes."

Later Sozan went to Myosho and told him about this. 

Myosho said,"I can say that Isan is completely right, but he did not meet one who could appreciate him."

Sozan asked again,"If the tree falls down and the wisteria withers, where will the words go?"

Myosho said, "It would make Isan laugh again all the more."

Upon hearing this, Sozan gained realization. Then he said,
  "From the beginning, there was a sword behind Isan's laughter."

Discussion:

First sell all your cloths and other belongings, then hear the laughter, then receive a death blow from the Swords that Makes Alive Again.  Isan was too kind!  His laughter was Sozan's medicine.

Carry it around with you?

The Reading: 

Shoyoroku - Case 57: Gon'yo's One "Thing"

Venerable Gon'yo asked Joshu,
  "How is it when a person does not have a single thing?"
Joshu said,
  "Throw it away."
Gon'yo said,
  "I say I don't have a single thing. What could I ever throw away?"
Joshu said,
  "If so, carry it around with you."

Discussion:

Joshu's Zen, what is it pointing at?  

Is there anything here?

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 51: Hogen's "Boat or Land"

Hogen asked Senior Monk Kaku,
  "Did you come by boat or by land?"
Kaku said,
  "By boat."
Hogen said,
  "Where is the boat?"
Kaku said,
  "The boat is on the river."
After Kaku had withdrawn, Hogen asked a monk nearby,
  "You tell me, did that monk who was here just now have the eye or not?"


Discussion:

How do we tell the difference between a Zen Question and any other kind of question?  When someone offers us a Question or an Answer, how do we know?

Who was Hogen putting the question to?  Was it Kaku or the monk nearby?

If you know then you know

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 100: Roya's "Mountains and Rivers"

A monk asked Master Kaku of Roya,
  "The essential state is pure and clear. How are mountains, rivers and the
   great earth produced at once?"
Kaku said,
  "The essential state is pure and clear. How are mountains, rivers and the
   great earth produced at once?"

Discussion:

Often people repeat Zen sayings as if they understood them, as if repeating what someone else has said transforms you into them.

When Zen Masters say anything it is as if no one had ever spoken before.

Why is it not yourself?

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 88: "Non-Seeing" in the Ryogon Sutra [1]

The Ryogon Sutra says, 
  "When I don't see, why do you not see what I do not see? If you argue that
   you see what I do not see, that is of course not what I do not see. If you
   do not see what I do not see, then it is quite natural that it is not a
   thing. Why is it not your self?"

Discussion:

I'm reminded of Ikkyū from yesterday:

can you face me
and know nothing 

Where is all this knowing going to take us?

Shopping at Midnight

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 76: Shuzan's Three Verses

Shuzan instructed his assembly and said, 
  "If you attain the first verse, you will be the teacher of buddhas and
   patriarchs. If you attain the second verse, you will be the teacher of
   heaven and humankind. If you attain the third verse, you cannot save even
   yourself."
A monk asked,
  "Which verse did Your Reverence attain?"
Shuzan said, 
  "The moon is set at midnight; I walk alone through the market place of
   the city."

Discussion:

Alone in the market place at midnight... what is he shopping for?

Getting Despised

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 58: "Getting Despised" in the Diamond Sutra [1]

The Diamond Sutra says, "It is about getting despised by other people. If you are to come into hell because of your sins in your previous life, these sins will be extinguished because you are despised by the people of this world."

[1]: see case 97 of Hekiganroku.


Discussion:

As an often despised person I would like to add: Getting despised, but not on purpose.  Occasionally I will earn it, like anyone else.  I tickle the child and his mother.  I'm not an angel.

Mostly though I earn my despising by saying what I think, without rancor or abuse or insincerity.  Some people will say, "Why do they despise you for this?"  I never thought about it. It has always been this way.

If we ask even one question that goes to the heart of desire the whole illusion could shatter.  People are not fools.  They see such questions coming from far off.

The Well and the Donkey

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 52: Sozan's "Dharma-body"

Sozan asked Elder Toku, "'The true Dharma-body of Buddha is like the empty sky. It manifests its form corresponding to things -- just like the moon on the water.' [1] How do you explain the principle of this corresponding?" Toku said, "It is like a donkey looking into a well." Sozan said, "You put it in a nice way, but you were able to say only eighty percent." Toku said, "How about you, Master?" Sozan said, "It is like a well looking at a donkey."

[1]: A quotation from a sutra.

Discussion:

This technique of pointing by showing the reverse of what someone has grasped onto, is there any meaning in it?  First, not everything is used for this reversal technique, and second, consider what it means in this case.  Which are you, the well or the donkey?  Which is the Dharma-body of Buddha?

Do you have my portrait?

The Reading:

Shoyoroku - Case 49: Tozan and the Memorial Service

When Tozan held a memorial service for Ungan before his portrait, he mentioned the episode with the portrait [1]. A monk came forward and asked, "When Ungan said, 'Just this!' what did that mean?" Tozan said, "At that time, I almost misunderstood my master's meaning." The monk said, "I wonder whether or not Ungan really knew that IT is." Tozan said, "If he did not know that it is, how could he say like that? If he knew that it is, how did he dare say like that?"

[1]: Tozan was still a young monk under Ungan. One day, when he was leaving his master, he asked Ungan, "After your passing, if I am asked by someone whether I have your portrait, what should I answer?" Ungan was silent for a while and then said, "Just this."


Discussion:

If you grasp the meaning of Ungan, then his portrait is useless to you.