The Ch'an Bums

[Simple_Jack]

From Nan Huaijin's "Working Toward Enlightenment" trans. by Thomas Cleary:

 

(pg.201)

 

....The truth in this is summarized in the following phrase: "You must activate your mind without dwelling anywhere." The Sixth Patriarch awakened to the Path by hearing this line from The Diamond Sutra. For example, when we hear someone else talking, aren't our minds born? After we have finished listening to them talking, our minds drop it, and we are fundamentally "activating mind without dwelling anywhere," aren't we? So why do we need to preserve mind?...In The Record of Pointing at the Moon, Volume 7, it records this story: One day a certain Master Lou-tzu was passing by a house of song, and he heard the sound of someone inside singing the words: "Since you have no-mind, I'll quit too." At the time he was tying his shoe, and when he heard this line of the song, he was enlightened. What did he awaken to? Fundamentally we have no-mind: after every sentence we say, it does not remain anywhere. Since you have no-mind, I will quit, that's it! This is also the truth of emptiness.

Even though emptying out past, present, and future still does not reach the final destination, almost no one can cut off past, present, and future and consistently maintain this. The basic reason is that people have no clear recognition of "subject" and "object"...

...

 

(pgs.212-213)

 

....The Record of Pointing at the Moon, Volume 2, contains this passage: "Manjushri asked the maiden Anditya, 'What is the meaning of birth?'...The maiden said, 'If you can know clearly that the four causal elements of earth, water, fire, and wind have never been mixed together, and yet they are able to follow what is appropriate to them, this is the meaning of birth.'....Our bodies are made up of the four elements gathering together and building a house. Though these four kinds of things have joined together and turned into a body, earth is still earth, water is still water, fire is still fire, and air is still air. None of them infringes on the other, each rests in its own place. "Yet they are able to follow what is appropriate to them": they still match up and join together, and give form to this phenomenon of life.

The link between the mental and the material is all right here. We see these four elements as joined together, but in reality they have not been joined together at all. To say they have not joined, but they are still able to follow what is appropriate, is the same as the statement in The Surangama Sutra: "The pure fundamental state pervades the universe. It follows the minds of sentient beings, and responds to their contents, and becomes manifest according to their karma."

You should not just study Buddhism -- you should take its principles and apply them to your own body, to seek realization. If ordinarily you only know to sit in meditation and hold to an experiential realm, this is like a blind cat guarding a dead rat, and you will be a blind cat forever. You should study this: "They have never been mixed together, and yet they are able to follow what is appropriate to them." This is the truth of where birth and death comes from.

...

 

(pg.264-265)

 

....Tung-shan said: "In the age of the End of the Dharma, many people have dry [sterile] wisdom." In this present age of ours, the Correct Dharma is not there anymore. People do not have real meditative accomplishments. They can expound theoretical principles so that it all seems like the Path, but they themselves have not experienced it. This is dry [sterile] wisdom, and it is useless.

Tung-shan said: "If you want to distinguish the real from the false, there are three kinds of leakages." Do you want to tell if someone is enlightened or not? There are three kinds of problems: once you see them, you will know.

Tung-shan said: "The first is called leakage of views. Your mental workings do not leave the station you have attained, and you fall into a sea of poison." People who do not have a thorough, penetrating view of truth cannot jump out of the limits of what they have attained. They just stay within those limits, and are poisoned -- poisoned with that little bit of seeing truth.

Tung-shan said: "The second is called the leakage of sentiments. You are stuck in going toward and turning away, and your perception is one-sided and withered." In other words, these are subjective sentiments and feelings. You attain a little bit of an experiential realm, and you have feelings toward that realm. You think: "Ah! How comfortable it is when I begin sitting. Hey! This is it." Some people think: "Our old teacher has probably never gotten to this: he knows nothing about this experience of mine." In fact, you have already fallen into the leakage of sentiments. The "sentiments" referred to here are not what is commonly called emotions. It means getting bogged down in the level that you have attained...Tung-shan said: "The third is leakage of words. You delve into the subtleties but lose the guiding principle, the source. Your potential is benighted from beginning to end, and defiled knowledge flows on and on." Here "words" includes all Buddhist studies and learning. If you rely on texts to interpret meanings, if you roll around in learned thinking, and fail to understand the true seeds of the Buddha Dharma, how can this create a basis for the functioning of your potential, for the adaptive use of methods of cultivating practice? How can you realize the fruit of enlightenment? If you fall to the leakage of words, you will never understand the key to success at all.

In the age of the End of the Dharma, in this evil world of the five corruptions, people who cultivate practice are revolving in these three kinds of patterns. Tung-shan told his disciples that they must know about these three kinds of leakage.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[C T]

....Tung-shan said: "If you want to distinguish the real from the false, there are three kinds of leakages." Do you want to tell if someone is enlightened or not? There are three kinds of problems: once you see them, you will know.

Tung-shan said: "The first is called leakage of views. Your mental workings do not leave the station you have attained, and you fall into a sea of poison." People who do not have a thorough, penetrating view of truth cannot jump out of the limits of what they have attained. They just stay within those limits, and are poisoned -- poisoned with that little bit of seeing truth.

Tung-shan said: "The second is called the leakage of sentiments. You are stuck in going toward and turning away, and your perception is one-sided and withered." In other words, these are subjective sentiments and feelings. You attain a little bit of an experiential realm, and you have feelings toward that realm. You think: "Ah! How comfortable it is when I begin sitting. Hey! This is it." Some people think: "Our old teacher has probably never gotten to this: he knows nothing about this experience of mine." In fact, you have already fallen into the leakage of sentiments. The "sentiments" referred to here are not what is commonly called emotions. It means getting bogged down in the level that you have attained...Tung-shan said: "The third is leakage of words. You delve into the subtleties but lose the guiding principle, the source. Your potential is benighted from beginning to end, and defiled knowledge flows on and on." Here "words" includes all Buddhist studies and learning. If you rely on texts to interpret meanings, if you roll around in learned thinking, and fail to understand the true seeds of the Buddha Dharma, how can this create a basis for the functioning of your potential, for the adaptive use of methods of cultivating practice? How can you realize the fruit of enlightenment? If you fall to the leakage of words, you will never understand the key to success at all.

In the age of the End of the Dharma, in this evil world of the five corruptions, people who cultivate practice are revolving in these three kinds of patterns. Tung-shan told his disciples that they must know about these three kinds of leakage.

Excellent advice.

[Yascra]

You are violating the copyright by posting this.

 

Actually that holds true for the quotes as well.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Yascra

[Simple_Jack]

From Nan Huaijin's "Working Toward Enlightenment" trans. by Thomas Cleary:

 

(pg. 185)

 

Later the Second Patriarch passed on the Dharma to the Third Patriarch Seng-ts'an [d. 606]. After he had given him the robe and bowl emblematic of the succession, the Second Patriarch went everywhere eating and drinking and acting wild. A great scholar like him, who had become a monk and then concentrated his mind on his religious efforts, who had been given the Dharma and the seal of approval by Bodhidharma -- but after he had passed on the robe and bowl, in his later years his life was completely different, he drank wine and ran around like crazy in the brothel districts. People would ask him, "You are a patriarch of the Zen school. How can you hang around in the wineshops?" The Second Patriarch would say, "I am taming my mind. What business is it of yours?"

[Apech]

--- Moderator Message ---

 

Simple_Jack having been warned about posting links to copyright material you are now making extensive quotes. Please bear in mind the following advice:

 

http://www.iuniverse.com/ExpertAdvice/PublishingLaw/FAQ.aspx#FAQ13

 

"As a general rule, you may quote or closely paraphrase (a) up to 250 words from a book, ( b ) 10 percent of the text of an article, letter or diary, and © not more than two lines from song lyrics or poetry."

In view of this please avoid making any more quotes in this way or your posts will be hidden.

---Apech for Mod Team ---

[Simple_Jack]

The Buddha Dharma is in the world

Awakening is not apart from the world

If you seek enlightenment apart from the world

It is like seeking rabbit horns.

 

-- Sixth Patriarch

Edited June 17, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[GrandmasterP]

Horned rabbits here......

https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OR2gU9faOojoOvzUgLgD&ved=0CFwQ7Ak&biw=1024&bih=644&q=jackalope%20taxidermy%20image

[Simple_Jack]

From "The Original Face: An Anthology of Rinzai Zen" trans. by Thomas Cleary, pgs. 52-53:

 

In the school of the ancestral teachers we point directly to the human mind; verbal explanations and illustrative devices actually miss the point. Not falling into seeing and hearing, not following sound and form, acting freely in the phenomenal world, sitting and lying in the heap of myriad forms, not involved with phenomena in breathing out, not bound to the clusters and elements of existence when breathing in, the whole world is the gate of liberation, all worlds are true reality. A universal master knows what it comes to the moment it is raised; how will beginners and latecomers come to grips with it? If you don't get it yet, for the time being we open up a pathway in the gateway of the secondary truth, speak out where there is nothing to say, manifest form in the midst of formlessness. How do we speak where there is nothing to say? "A mortar runs through the sky." How do we manifest form from formlessness? "The west river sports with a lion."

During your daily activities responding to circumstances in the realm of distinctions, don't think of getting rid of anything, don't understand it as a hidden marvel -- with no road of reason, no flavor, day and night, forgetting sleep and food, keep those sayings in mind. If you still don't get it, we go on to speak of the tertiary, expounding mind and nature, speaking of mystery and marvel: one atom contains the cosmos, one thought pervades everywhere. Thus an ancient said:

 

Infinite lands and worlds

With no distinctions between self and others

Ten ages past and present

Are never apart from this moment of thought

 

Chizen brought some paper seeking some words, so I dashed this off, senile and careless, after looking at it once, consign it to the fire.

 

-- National Teacher Shoitsu

[Simple_Jack]

From Nan Huaijin's "To Realize Enlightenment" trans. by Thomas Cleary:

 

(pg.116-117)

 

People who study Zen are always talking about having no-mind, and working on no-mind at all times. Zen master T'ung-an Ch'a had a verse about this:

 

Don't say that having no-mind is the Path

Having no-mind is still separated

from it by a barrier.

 

Having no-mind is still far from the Path, but we cannot even accomplish having no-mind. But what is genuine "no-mind"? For example, when we are walking along and we happen to bump into someone else, we might say: "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it." This use of the same Chinese term wu-hsin, "having no mind," to mean an action was not intentional is obviously not the same as the having no-mind of the Buddhist Path; rather it means not keeping track of things or being absent-minded. Forgetful people also do not keep track of things....

...

 

(pg. 217)

 

....These realms of delusion are even simpler to understand if we express them in a saying of the Zen School: "Giving rise to mind and setting thoughts in motion is the deva delusive demon. Not giving rise to mind or setting thoughts in motion is the delusive demon of the skandhas. Giving rise [to mind] and yet not giving rise [to mind] is the delusive demon of affliction." If you cannot act the master, any thought whatsoever is a deva delusive demon. If your mind is sunk in oblivion all day long, this is the delusive demon of the skandhas.

[GrandmasterP]

Simple Jack buddy.

Enough with the cut and paste already!

Anyone wants to read Cleary can and should buy or borrow the books.

If you have points to make based on Cleary's work then your ideas supported by inter-text reference might be a better way forward.

Gives us chance to understand what you think rather than what Cleary has to say.

Nobody writes books for their work and ideas be passed off free via serial quotation.

There'd be fewer books published if that was prevalent and we'd all be the poorer for that.

Edited June 19, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Simple_Jack]

From "Master Yunmen: From the Record of the Chan Teacher "Gate of the Clouds" trans. by Urs App, pg. 133:

 

Having entered the Dharma Hall for a formal instruction, Master Yunmen said:

"Today I'm getting caught up in the words with you: Shit, ash, piss, fire! These dirty pigs and scabby dogs can't even distinguish good from bad and are making their living in a shit pit! Let me tell you: you must grasp the whole universe, the earth, the three vehicles', twelve divisions of teachings, and the verbal teachings of all buddhas of the three realms and all the masters in the whole empire at once right on your eyelashes! Even if you were able to understand this here and now, you'd still be a fellow out of luck who is jumping into a shit pit for no reason at all. If [anyone like that] should ever come by my assembly of patch-robed monks, I'd beat him up till his legs break!"

Three monks then stepped forth simultaneously and bowed. The Master said: "A single indictment takes care [of all three of you]."

[dawei]

Simple Jack buddy.

Enough with the cut and paste already!

Anyone wants to read Cleary can and should buy or borrow the books.

If you have points to make based on Cleary's work then your ideas supported by inter-text reference might be a better way forward.

Gives us chance to understand what you think rather than what Cleary has to say.

Nobody writes books for their work and ideas be passed off free via serial quotation.

There'd be fewer books published if that was prevalent and we'd all be the poorer for that.

 

~~~ ADMIN COMMENT ~~~

 

I want to comment on this issue as we are getting some concerns of such cut/paste.

 

In general, I agree with the sentiment that cut/paste is not offering any discussion.

 

But Pinned Threads are generally reference material and less discussion.

 

I am going to say that such posts, within reasonable word limits are ok in pinned topics.

 

In a regular topic, I would say there will be less tolerance by all at simply cut/paste without some discussion.

 

~~~ ADMIN OUT ~~~

[Simple_Jack]

The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, pg. 45-46, translated by Jeffrey L. Broughton:

 

Dhyana Master Yuan says: "If you know that all dharmas are ultimately void, then knower and known are also void; the knowing of the knower is also void; and the dharmas that are known are also void. Therefore: 'Dharmas and knowing are both void; this is called the voidness of voidness.' Therefore, the Buddha Store Sutra [Fo-tsang ching] says; 'The Buddhas of the past preached that that all dharmas are ultimately void. The Buddhas of the future will preach that all dharmas are ultimately void.'"

Dharma Master Tsang says: "The one for whom in all dharmas there is nothing to be apprehended is called the person who is cultivating the path. Why? As one whose eyes see every form, his eyes do not apprehend any form. As one whose ears hear every sound, his ears do not apprehend any sound. The realms that his mind takes as objective supports are all like this. Therefore, the sutra says: 'Mind has nothing to apprehend, and the Buddha gives a prediction [of Buddhahood]. The sutra says: 'No dharma can be apprehended, and even nonapprehension cannot be apprehended.'"

Dhyana Master Hsien says: "The locus that the eyes see is the Reality Limit [bhutakoti]. All dharmas are the Reality Limit. What beyond that are you searching for?"

Dhyana Master An says: "Direct mind is the path. Why? The person who has longed walked the path has direct mindfulness and direct functioning, is not examining voidness any further, and is not looking for devices. The sutra says: 'Direct seeing does not look; direct hearing does not listen; direct mindfulness does not think; direct perception does not activate; and direct speech does not annoy.'"

Dhyana Master Lien says: "The Dharma Nature is insubstantive. Directly function and do not doubt. The sutra says: 'All dharmas from the outset are nonexistent.' The sutra says: 'Because from the outset there is no mind, there is the mind of Thusness; because of the mind of Thusness, from the outset there is no [mind]. The sutra says: 'If all dharmas had always been existent and now for the first time were nonexistent, every one of the Buddhas would have committed a sinful error.'"

...

 

Bodhidharma's Bloodstream Sermon:

 

http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/search/label/Zen%20Patriarch%20Bodhidharma

 

"With the illumination of wisdom (prajna), mind is known as Dharma Nature, mind is known as Liberation. Neither life nor death can restrain this mind, no dharmas (phenomenon) can. It’s also called the King of Great Freedom Tathagata, the Incomprehensible, the Holy Essence, the Immortality, the Great Immortal. Its names vary but its essence is one. Sages vary, but none are separate from his own mind. The mind’s capacity is limitless, and its conditional functions are inexhaustible. With the condition of eyes, forms are seen, With the condition of ears, sounds are heard, With the condition of nose, smells are smelled, With the condition of tongue, tastes are tasted, every movement or states are all one's Mind."

...

 

Bodhidharma's Wake-up Sermon translated by Redpine:

 

"Whoever knows that the mind is a fiction and devoid of anything real knows that his own mind neither exists nor doesn’t exist. Mortals keep creating the mind, claiming it exists. And Arhats keep negating the mind, claiming it doesn’t exist. But bodhisattvas and Buddhas neither create nor negate the mind. This is what’s meant by the mind that neither exists nor doesn’t exist. The mind that neither exists nor doesn't exist is called the Middle Way.

If you use your mind to study reality, you won’t understand either your mind or reality. If you study reality without using your mind, you’ll understand both. Those who don’t understand, don’t understand understanding. And those who understand, understand not understanding. People capable of true vision know that the mind is empty. They transcend both understanding and not understanding. The absence of both understanding and not understanding is true understanding. Seen with true vision, form isn’t simply form, because form depends on mind. And mind isn’t simply mind, because mind depends on form. Mind and form create and negate each other. That which exists, exists in relation to that which doesn’t exist. And that which doesn’t exist, doesn’t exist in relation to that which exists. This is true vision. By means of such vision, nothing is seen and nothing is not seen. Such vision reaches throughout the ten directions without seeing: because nothing is seen; because not seeing is seen; because seeing isn’t seeing. What mortals see are delusions. True vision is detached from seeing. The mind and the world are opposites, and vision arises where they meet. When your mind doesn’t stir inside, the world doesn’t arise outside. When the world and the mind are both transparent, this is true vision. And such understanding is true understanding.

....There’s no language that isn’t the Dharma. To talk all day without saying anything is the Way. To be silent all day and still say something isn’t the Way. Hence neither does a Tathagata's speech depend on silence, nor does his silence depend on speech, nor does his speech exist apart from his silence. Those who understand both speech and silence are in samadhi. If you speak when you know, your speech is free. If you’re silent when you don’t know, your silence is tied. If speech isn’t attached to appearances its free. If silence is attached to appearances, it’s tied. Language is essentially free. It has nothing to do with attachment. And attachment has nothing to do with language. Reality has no high or low. If you see high or low, It isn’t real."

Edited August 22, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[lifeforce]

More contemplative words from Dogen:

 

"put aside the intellectual practice of investigating words and chasing phrases, and learn to take the backward step that turns the light and shines it inward. Your body and mind will drop away of themselves, and your original face will manifest. If you want to get into touch with things as they are, you – right here and now – have to start being yourself, as you are".

[lifeforce]

The Hua-Tou method.

 

https://wenshuchan-online.weebly.com/the-hua-tou-3544138957-method.html