Letting Go in Action: the Practice of Zazen

[Mark Foote]

I'm hoping this is relevant to a number of recent threads, most of them about trance.

 

I have the first second draft of a walk-through of Gautama the Buddha's first four meditative states, how they are induced, what that's about. Yes, I wrote it for myself, but I thought there might be folks here who would be interested. I close the piece with this:

 

'I have lately written about "Waking Up and Falling Asleep", emphasizing only the sense of location and the role of the ability to feel in the sense of location. Several people read what I had written, and said that my instructions were useful to them in getting back to sleep when they woke up too early in the morning.

 

One person wrote me to say that he had found his sense of location shifting in his body as he lay awake in the early hours of the morning, and through staying with his sense of location he was able to return to sleep. He wrote again after several weeks to say that he had continued to have success in returning to sleep through staying with his sense of location, almost every night.

 

He also mentioned that he tried the practice in the daytime, and discovered a profound feeling of peace in the midst of his day.

 

What I have written here I feel is an explanation of the context of the experience that my friend had, which I also have had. The common thread in our experiences is a freedom in the location of awareness that somehow draws feeling from throughout the body into a relaxed movement of breath.

 

The benefit to us both is being alive to our own nature, at rest or in motion. Being alive to one's own nature I would describe as the practice of zazen.'

 

Letting Go in Action: the Practice of Zazen

 

Lem'me know what you think! - Mark

Edited April 18, 2013 by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

3rd draft, I deleted the lines quoted above. Here's a better sample of what the piece is about:

 

"In a poem from the fifth century C.E., the Buddhist monk Fuxi elaborated on how relaxed extension stretches the ligaments between the sacrum and the pelvis, and how gravity generates activity in the legs and in the pelvis that frees the experience of location and turns off volitive activity in the movement of breath:


The empty hand grasps the hoe-handle
Walking along I ride the ox
The ox crosses the wooden bridge
The bridge is flowing, the water is still

('Zen's Chinese Heritage', Andy Ferguson, pg 2)


'The ox crosses the wooden bridge' describes an effect of the rhythm of stretch and activity as the weight of the entire body rests in the ligaments that connect the sacrum and pelvis: each step of an ox on a wooden bridge reverberates to the headtop and throughout the body of any rider, from the spine to the surface of the skin, and the same is true for the individual whose weight rests in three directions between the sacrum and pelvis.

The phrase 'the bridge is flowing' could be said to describe a moment before sleep when the location of awareness seems to shift in place in the body, while 'the water is still' could describe the cessation of volitive activity in the body at that same moment. For most people, the loss of volitive control in the activity of the body is associated with falling, and as a consequence many people experience a 'hypnic jerk' or sudden muscular contraction as they begin to fall asleep. Fuxi suggests that an awareness that shifts location freely in the body can come about as a matter of course, as the ability to feel informs the sense of location and the weight of the relaxed body generates stretch and activity in the movement of breath. He depicts a process of gradual stages whereby a muscular contraction is avoided, at the moment when a shift in the location of awareness with a cessation of volitive activity registers in the sub-consciousness.

Although Fuxi outlines the stages of a process, and the process may be said to be gradual, the transition from a waking state to a state between waking and sleeping must be said to be sudden, marked by a sense of location that can shift and a cessation of any voluntary activity in the body."

 

I'd like to thank everybody on Tao bums for the inspiration that their heart-felt words have provided me, and for the good sentiments that many people have expressed toward what I've written; it's been a great help!

[Mark Foote]

malikshreds, thanks for giving it a try. The piece is organized as an instruction in the practice of zazen, but the practice of zazen that Shunryu Suzuki referred to when he said:

 

"only zazen can sit zazen!"

 

or that Kobun Chino Otogawa referred to when he said:

 

"you know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around."

 

That practice of zazen, like the practice of Tai-Chi, is about a calm and relaxation that moves beyond comfort and beyond happiness, just by virtue of the place we find ourselves in. If you feel you need to understand something in your practice, I'm pretty sure you will find it in this piece; outside of practice, it's not really useful at all.

 

Ok, the truth is, you would be right if you said there was no real organization in the piece. These are my instructions to myself, and I had to follow what I needed to hear next, as far as the organization. I make a leap of faith to assume that others will experience the same necessity in their practice, when they really get down to being where they are with all their senses.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Mark Foote

[exorcist_1699]

"In a poem from the fifth century C.E., the Buddhist monk Fuxi elaborated on how relaxed extension stretches the ligaments between the sacrum and the pelvis, and how gravity generates activity in the legs and in the pelvis that frees the experience of location and turns off volitive activity in the movement of breath:

 

 

The empty hand grasps the hoe-handle

Walking along I ride the ox

The ox crosses the wooden bridge

The bridge is flowing, the water is still

 

('Zen's Chinese Heritage', Andy Ferguson, pg 2)

 

 

'The ox crosses the wooden bridge' describes an effect of the rhythm of stretch and activity as the weight of the entire body rests in the ligaments that connect the sacrum and pelvis: each step of an ox on a wooden bridge reverberates to the headtop and throughout the body of any rider, from the spine to the surface of the skin, and the same is true for the individual whose weight rests in three directions between the sacrum and pelvis.

 

---------------------

 

 

 

Fu Da-xi (傅大士 , 497-569 A.D.) , born at Yiwu of Zhejiang province ( nowadays a place so famous that anyone doing China trade knows ) ,is a figure with a life full of anecdotes and miracles . More importantly , he is the forerunner of the Chinese Zen and earliest advocator of the trinity of Confucian, Taoism and Buddhism that no Buddhist or Taoist dares to ignore ; in fact,even today he is repeatedly admired and referred to by countless people.

He wrote many famous poems, one of them is the quoted one:

空手把鋤頭 , 步行騎水牛

人從橋上過 , 橋流水不流

Andy Ferguson's translation is clearly literal wrong , not to speak of the underlying meaning...

By the way, Fu is a married guy who practice at home, not a Buddhist monk .He and his wife have many anecdotes that are repeatedly eulogized by people .

Edited April 26, 2013 by exorcist_1699

[Mark Foote]

 

Fu Da-xi (傅大士 , 497-569 A.D.) , born at Yiwu of Zhejiang province, wrote many famous poems, one of them is the quoted one:

空手把鋤頭 , 步行騎水牛

人從橋上過 , 橋流水不流

Andy Ferguson's translation is clearly literal wrong , not to speak of the underlying meaning...

 

I appreciate the history as I know none of it.

 

Can you give a translation of the poem, or a link or reference to a translation that you feel is more accurate? Thanks much!

[ChiDragon]

空手把鋤頭,
步行騎水牛

人從橋上過,
橋流水不流

Holding a hoe with my bare hands.
Ridden on a buffalo as my walking steps.

I am crossing the bridge,
The bridge flows instead of the water.

Edited April 27, 2013 by ChiDragon

[Taomeow]

Thank you for the interesting article, Mark.

 

 

the practice of zazen that Shunryu Suzuki referred to when he said:

 

"only zazen can sit zazen!"

 

or that Kobun Chino Otogawa referred to when he said:

 

"you know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around."

 

LOL, I had this conversation this morning:

 

"Was it your boss who called just now?"

"Yes."

"Um... I though I heard you tell him that he's losing it?.."

"You heard right."

"Weren't you going to be all zen with him?"

"I was."

"So what happened?"

"The zen that wouldn't zen."

[dawei]

I appreciate the history as I know none of it.

 

Can you give a translation of the poem, or a link or reference to a translation that you feel is more accurate? Thanks much!

 

Empty hands holding a dictionary end up with empty meaning...

 

It is not about empty hands but the hoe itself (or the inability to hold it) due to its emptiness. It is not about an empty hand but an empty hoe in the end.

 

It is not about the walking along or walking steps of some person... it is the walking of the buffalo ! Amazing how we have to insert ourselves (as humans) in the meaning.

 

IMO, the idea that the bridge flows is silliness. While it beckons back to zen story of "the mind is blowing and not the flag blowing" the construction is more straight forward: It is already stated that one is on 'top' of the bridge (crossing), so when the water is mentioned it is inherent (without saying it explicitly) that the water is meant as 'below' the bridge.

 

Thus, we still get the construction in a poem: What moves above simply means that what is below is not moving (from a relativistic point of view).

 

That is my personal interpretation.

[Mark Foote]

Thanks, ChiDragon, for giving it a shot, and thanks Taomeow for giving it a look. Funny story.

 

dawei, can you put it in four lines, I'd be curious how your muse would put it. Just curious!

 

Here's the explanation I gave to a musician over on Brad Warner's blog (hardcorezen.info), in the comments:

 

 

 

'“The Gateless Gate
Case 38, A Cow Passes Through a Window

 

The Case

 

Wuzu Fayan said, “For example, it’s just like a great cow passing through a latticed window. Her head, horns, and four legs have passed through. Why is it that her tail can’t pass through?”

 

Wumen’s Commentary

 

If in regard to this you are able to turn yourself upside down, attain one single eye, and utter a turning word, you will be able to repay the four obligations above and help the living beings of the three realms below. If you are still unable to do this, reflect again on the tail; then you will be able to grasp it for the first time.

 

The Verse

If it passes through, it will fall into a ditch;

If it turns back, it will be destroyed.

This tiny little tail –

What a strange and marvelous thing it is!”

 

 

And then there’s Foyan describing the two illnesses at his monastery, looking for an ox while riding an ox, and riding an ox unable to dismount. Better never to get on the ox, says Foyan.

 

 

The empty-hand of Fuxi’s poem I describe as action generated through the stretch of ligaments. There are three sets of ligaments, roughly, that connect the sacrum to the pelvis; you can find that online, looks like links may be breaking the site today so I’ll leave it off. These three sets of ligaments support motion in the sacrum that rocks, rolls, and twists, roughly, and generate activity in the muscles of the pelvis and in the legs.

 

The hand is the weight of the relaxed body in the movement of breath that stretches the ligaments at the sacrum and generates activity; the activity generated is actually in support of the alignment of the lower spine in the movement of inhalation and exhalation, and the ability to feel along the legs informs the alignment.

 

Why all the anatomy; doesn’t that drop away at some point? Well, the rest of the ox passes through, but the tail does not. The first four trance states, at least, belong to mindfulness of the body, and the relinquishment of volition in action that constitutes riding the ox depends on the reverberation of pitch, yaw, and roll throughout the body from under the hooves of the ox. So to speak. You know all this intuitively, as a rock musician; the part you quoted is just my description of the source of shake, rattle and roll in a dance like that of the Bushmen, it’s stretch at the sacrum with a rhythm in three directions.

 

If you need to see what’s happening on the cushion to try to find feeling in your legs, as I do, then my descriptions of the relationship of dermatones and the stretch and activity that aligns the spine may be useful to you, as it is useful to me. Nothing happens without everything happening, in my experience, and so I outline the entirety of the first four meditative states; the freedom of mind and movement in the location of consciousness like falling asleep is the real beginning to me. That’s a thing that can be hard to realize when your legs are twisted up in the knot handed down from India, at least for me, so I write to remind myself.'

 

To me, the ox in Ferguson's translation and in the koan is a metaphor for the activity generated through the stretch of ligaments, although to ride the ox requires a state between waking and sleeping so that the involuntary activity doesn't cause a "hypnic jerk" (I talk about that in my piece) that ends the reciprocal stretch and activity. The bridge and the water represent a freedom in the location of awareness that precipitates action as though through hypnosis, and the cessation of voluntary activity in the body, respectively. Because it's a hynogogic thing, it's never quite the same twice, even if Fuxi's poem and Gautama's description of meditative states might make a person imagine it to be so... that's how it is in my experience, when I've had such experience, anyway. Having such experience more lately, and I feel better for it, I think.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Mark Foote

[exorcist_1699]

I think Dawei's understanding is closer; in fact, if you are empty-handed , then you do not have a hoe in hands; if you are walking , then how can you be riding an ox simultaneously ? Zen's method is to force our mind ( daily reasoning and common sense ) into such an non-dualistic dilemma so that its restriction on our real Mind be smashed...

 

What a strange method it is ! To Taoists, better let the aggregated and refined , becoming more and more delicate qi do the job.....

Edited April 27, 2013 by exorcist_1699

[ChiDragon]

 

空手把鋤頭,

步行騎水牛

人從橋上過,

橋流水不流

 

Holding a hoe with my bare hands.

Ridden on a buffalo as my walking steps.

 

I am crossing the bridge,

The bridge flows instead of the water.

 

The poem is just an ordinary poetic description of a farmer with a buffalo in the scenery of a village. It has no significant philosophical value whatsoever.

Edited April 27, 2013 by ChiDragon

[ChiDragon]

Lao Tze riding on a buffalo empty handed:
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/lin-antique/article?mid=213&prev=214&next=206&l=f&fid=6

[dawei]

dawei, can you put it in four lines, I'd be curious how your muse would put it. Just curious!

 

I can only give an amateur understanding, but the philosophical meaning is almost divine, IMO:

 

Emptiness: Does a hoe work alone? [Together, a hand and hoe produce the result]

Form: Does the buffalo walk alone? [Together, the rider and buffalo describe the path]

Above: Does the bridge alone cross? [When we cross the bridge above, we cross the water below]

Below: Does the water not also cross? [When we cross the water below, do we not also cross by the bridge above]

[Mark Foote]

I can only give an amateur understanding, but the philosophical meaning is almost divine, IMO:

 

Emptiness: Does a hoe work alone? [Together, a hand and hoe produce the result]

Form: Does the buffalo walk alone? [Together, the rider and buffalo describe the path]

Above: Does the bridge alone cross? [When we cross the bridge above, we cross the water below]

Below: Does the water not also cross? [When we cross the water below, do we not also cross by the bridge above]

 

Very interesting.

 

Ferguson's translation puts the bridge as a "wooden bridge". Any trace of that? No mention of the ox on the bridge?

 

Exorcist 1699, to me the poem is about non-volitive action.

 

My friend humbleone was able to witness his mind moving around in his body, when he looked for it at 4am lying in bed. Now I would assert that at that moment his ability to move his body had been relinquished in favor of the disconnect from physical action that happens in sleep.

 

He discovered he could also experience his mind as having location during the day, and realize a kind of peace. This is not thought, this is the experience of physical location in space associated with awareness, and there is a kind of relinquishment of activity like that before sleep associated with the experience.

 

Can this be done in a posture of meditation, standing or seated? Yeah, sure, and postures or poses that are held for any length of time bring forward the role of the movement of breath and the role of the stretch of ligaments and the activity of muscles, even in holding still. To me, the poem describes a gradual settling into the stretch and activity of such a posture or pose, right down to the moment where the sense of location in space starts to shift while the voluntary activity of the body ceases.

[dawei]

Very interesting.

 

Ferguson's translation puts the bridge as a "wooden bridge". Any trace of that? No mention of the ox on the bridge?

 

Wooden... as opposed to what other material for the bridge? I wouldn't really disagree with the addition of 'wooden'.

 

That is true; the ox is not specifically stated as on the bridge; but Ferguson also does not mention if there is a retinue (人從) involved. But I don't see a need to separate out the first half mention of the ox and second half mention of the bridge.

 

 

To me, the poem describes a gradual settling into the stretch and activity of such a posture or pose, right down to the moment where the sense of location in space starts to shift while the voluntary activity of the body ceases.

 

I have Ferguson's book but have not looked at that in quite a while. He only mentions the poem as showing the 'Zen-flavor contradictions'. As to what you share, I have never see or heard that aspect. Interesting to say the least. Thanks.