Zen

THE LANGUAGE OF EXISTENCE

Chapter 6: Be a rare person

 

 

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OUR BELOVED MASTER,

A MONK ASKED BANKEI, "THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS SINCE ANCIENT TIMES WERE GREATLY ENLIGHTENED THROUGH DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL PRACTICES. I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU, TOO, ACCOMPLISHED THE GREAT TEACHING THROUGH VARIOUS DIFFICULT PRACTICES. BUT FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, WHO DON'T CULTIVATE PRACTICE, AND ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED, JUST REALIZING THAT MY VERY STATE IS THE UNBORN, ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND DOES NOT REALLY SETTLE ANYTHING."

BANKEI REPLIED:

"IT IS LIKE THE CASE OF TRAVELERS WHO CROSS THE PEAKS OF HIGH MOUNTAINS WHERE THERE IS NO WATER, AND BECOME THIRSTY. SOMEONE SEEKS OUT WATER IN A DISTANT VALLEY, BREAKING HIS BACK SEARCHING HERE AND THERE. FINALLY, HE FINDS WATER AND BRINGS IT BACK TO GIVE TO THE OTHERS TO DRINK.

"EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NOT STRUGGLED SO, THOSE WHO DRINK ARE REFRESHED, JUST THE SAME AS THE ONE WHO WENT THROUGH THE TROUBLE BEFORE. AS FOR THOSE WHO ARE DOUBTFUL AND WILL NOT DRINK, THERE IS NO WAY FOR THEIR THIRST TO BE QUENCHED.

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T MEET SOMEONE WITH ENLIGHTENED EYES, I MISTAKENLY WORE MYSELF OUT. I FINALLY DISCOVERED THE BUDDHA IN MY OWN NO-MIND, AND AM TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT THE BUDDHA OF THEIR OWN NO-MIND, WITHOUT THEM HAVING TO DO ANYTHING DIFFICULT -- JUST LIKE DRINKING WATER AND HAVING THEIR THIRST QUENCHED.

"USING THE ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND INHERENT IN EVERYONE, JUST AS IT IS, HAVING FOUND PEACE AND BLISS, WITHOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF CONFUSION -- IS THIS NOT A SACRED TRUE TEACHING?"      AT ANOTHER TIME SOMEONE ASKED BANKEI, "IS THE COMPLETE ILLUMINATION OF THE EYE OF REALITY ACCOMPLISHED WITH TIME AND SEASON, OR IS IT REALIZED EVEN IN ONE DAY?"

BANKEI REPLIED, "IT IS NOT A MATTER OF TIME AND SEASON; IT IS ACCOMPLISHED ONLY WHEN THE EYE OF THE WAY IS CLEAR, WITHOUT ANY GAP. IT IS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE PRACTICE OF SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION TO NURTURING IT."

Maneesha, Bankei is one of my most favorite Zen masters, but that does not mean that I agree with him on every point. With the essentials I am in absolute agreement, but with the non-essentials I disagree. And it has to be remembered by you that to love a man does not mean to agree with him or to disagree with him. Agreement and disagreement are far below the world of love. I love Bankei just for his own sake. He is a unique enlightened man with a tremendous vision of reality, but on the non-essentials I don't agree with him.

Perhaps the times have changed. Perhaps I am a different kind of person, and perhaps the people who are hearing me are a totally different world. I respond to Bankei according to you, I see Bankei in the context of you; otherwise Bankei has no meaning. We are discussing him for the simple reason that he may give some light to you on the path. Even if a slight glimpse of the ultimate is attained through him, it is more than enough.

I will tell you where I agree and where I don't agree, but as far as my love is concerned it is absolute. I love the man and respect him. But it is natural that as time changes, language changes. Symbols change, metaphors change, and everything that was said a thousand years ago cannot be repeated exactly, except by parrots.

Bankei had a great school of his own. He is still followed by thousands of people. I have met a few of Bankei's disciples, and when I told them that I agree on the fundamentals but I don't agree on the non-essentials, they could not believe me. They said, "If you love the master, if you have some feeling for him, then how can you disagree?"

My position is totally different. If you love a person only then do you have the right to disagree. If you don't love a person, what right have you got to disagree? Only love gives you the freedom of agreeing or not agreeing. Without love there is no freedom. You are forced to agree as all the religions of the world are doing -- forcing people in psychological ways to believe in certain things and not to believe in certain other things.

Their ways of forcing are very subtle, they are using your whole unenlightened unconscious mind. Your greed is expanded up to heaven. What is heaven or paradise except your greed multiplied by thousands? And what is hell except your fear? And what are all the priests of all the religions of the world doing? They are doing the same thing whether they are Mohammedans or Hindus or Christians or Jews. They are giving you a consolation in your misery, in your suffering; they are consoling you that it is not going to last forever -- this world is miserable but beyond this world open the doors of paradise and eternal pleasure, so just have a little patience. Karl Marx was not wrong when he said that religions have functioned as the opium of the people. I am not a Marxist but this statement I cannot deny, he is absolutely right. Religions have proved to be opium.

In Indian villages where women go to work in the fields, or somewhere where a road is being made, or a bridge is being made, and the women working have small children.... One day I was just walking by the side of the river, a bridge was being built and there was a small child under a tree, so happy, so joyous, so ecstatic. I could not believe... what could be the cause of it? So I waited by the side of the tree. His mother was working on the bridge, and she came back to give some milk to the child. I said to her, "You have a really great child. I have never come across such a psychedelic child in my whole life."

She said, "It is nothing. We poor people, what can we do? We cannot afford somebody to take care of the child, so we give the child some opium. Whether he is hungry or thirsty, whether it is hot or cold, it does not matter. In his opium, he is enjoying paradise."

All the religions have been giving opium to their followers and hell to those who don't follow them. But it is not the way of authentic religion to use people's psychology -- their fears, their greed, their ambitions. It is not the way of love. It is very cruel because if you use people's greed you are not going to transform them. And you will be afraid if somebody else tries to transform them, because you cannot afford that they should drop their greed and their fear.

Very few people in the whole of history have been able to drop their fears and look directly into reality. There is no hell and there is no heaven, but there is a beautiful existence, so beautiful that your dreams cannot dream it. You have to realize it.

The authentic experienced master will not ask for your belief or disbelief, he will ask only for your inquiry. He will tell you that the well is not far away, so don't remain thirsty. If you are clinging to your suffering, nobody except you is responsible. You can drop all your suffering, all your misery, if you can just drop your mind. It is all mind phenomena.

I love Bankei. He was asked:

THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS SINCE ANCIENT TIMES WERE GREATLY ENLIGHTENED THROUGH DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL PRACTICES. I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU, TOO, ACCOMPLISHED THE GREAT TEACHING THROUGH VARIOUS DIFFICULT PRACTICES. BUT FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, WHO DON'T CULTIVATE PRACTICE, AND ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED, JUST REALIZING THAT MY VERY STATE IS THE UNBORN, ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND DOES NOT REALLY SETTLE ANYTHING.

For centuries there have been seekers divided on this point. There are seekers who say that enlightenment comes gradually. You have to work for it, you have to do many kinds of practices for it. It is a faraway star and the journey is tedious, and you almost have to pass through self-torture in the name of disciplining yourself. The other school says that enlightenment is always sudden. It is not a question of traveling anywhere or going anywhere, it is simply a question of awakening to your own self.

Perhaps in the night, in your dream you may have been visiting a faraway star. But as you wake up, you know you have not gone anywhere, you have always been here. Your mind feels misery, suffering; it feels all kinds of emotions, attachments, desires and longings, but it is all the projection of the mind. Behind the mind is your real self which has never gone anywhere. It is always here and here.

So the question of enlightenment, whether it is gradual or sudden, is a very complicated one. Those who say it is gradual, they make steps, procedures, disciplines to be followed. And in this way, perhaps, after many lives you may become a buddha. The people who believe in sudden enlightenment have no discipline, no rules, except for a simple thing -- wake up, don't remain a somnambulist. Don't act out of sleep, act out of awakening!

So on the path of sudden enlightenment all that is needed is to go withinwards, to look inside and to find the point which can be aware twenty-four hours. And the point is there, you are just keeping your back towards it. Wherever you go, it is always with you. It is the very center of your existence; without it you cannot exist for a single moment.

The question is not of some gradual attainment or achievement. The question is of a great turning in. Our eyes look outside, our desires reach for the stars. Turning in means no desires, no greed, no paradise, no God -- just looking into your own space, what is hidden in you. From where comes this life? From where comes this consciousness?

As you go deeper within yourself, you will find the center, and not only of yourself. It will be the center of the whole existence. At the center we meet, on the periphery we are separate. We are separate only in our bodies, in our minds, but beyond body and mind we are just an ocean of consciousness. There is no `I am', there is simply pure awareness with no distinctions, no divisions.

In the moment of enlightenment even the trees and the birds and the mountains -- everything becomes enlightened. There is a saying of Gautam Buddha, "The moment I became enlightened, the whole universe became enlightened." It could be disputed, because we can see that we are not enlightened, but his meaning is totally different. He is speaking for himself. From that moment everything becomes enlightened because he has seen the very root from where life arises and goes on eternally arising, with no beginning, no end.

Bankei was asked, "In the ancient times sages used to practice difficult and arduous disciplines and then finally after many years, after many lives, they became enlightened. But in your case it seems to be different. You have not practiced any discipline, you have not tortured yourself by fasting. You have not distorted your body by yoga. How did you become enlightened?"

BANKEI REPLIED: IT IS LIKE THE CASE OF TRAVELERS WHO CROSS THE PEAKS OF HIGH MOUNTAINS WHERE THERE IS NO WATER, AND BECOME THIRSTY. SOMEONE SEEKS OUT WATER IN A DISTANT VALLEY, BREAKING HIS BACK SEARCHING HERE AND THERE. FINALLY, HE FINDS WATER AND BRINGS IT BACK TO GIVE TO THE OTHERS TO DRINK.

EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NOT STRUGGLED SO, THOSE WHO DRINK ARE REFRESHED, JUST THE SAME AS THE ONE WHO WENT THROUGH THE TROUBLE BEFORE.

I don't agree on this point. Everybody has to find his own enlightenment. Nobody can give it to you.

Bankei is saying that somebody else can bring the water. About water it is okay, it is something objective and outside. Water can be brought, but nobody can bring enlightenment to you.

It has to be very deeply understood that enlightenment is an individual revolution. Somebody can give you a challenge, somebody can provoke you to the search, somebody's presence may infect you, but nobody can give you enlightenment.

If it was something that could be given, it would have been very easy to make the whole world enlightened. It could be patented, marketed -- then you just go to the M.G.Road and have a little drink of enlightenment; then the rich will gather great amounts of enlightenment and the poor will suffer.

At least as far as enlightenment is concerned, don't make it a material, quantitative phenomenon. It is a subjective, qualitative experience just like love. Can you give love to somebody? There is no way. You can love somebody, but you cannot give love to somebody.

Love is your inner experience, so deep that you cannot even define what it is. All the poets, all the philosophers have been trying to define what love is. And thousands of years of search and enquiry have resulted only in the simple statement that love is indefinable. You can sing it, you can dance it, but you cannot define it. Exactly the same, on a higher level, is enlightenment.

According to me love is the lowest rung of the ladder and enlightenment is the highest. They have a similarity on many points. They both happen suddenly -- you fall in love and if somebody asks you why, you simply shrug your shoulders. You cannot answer why. Love is not something to be questioned. You don't know yourself, it just happens.

Enlightenment is the same kind of phenomenon on a higher peak. It just happens. It happens when you are silent, looking inwards. Just like lightning, you suddenly become aware, full of light, luminous. It is not an answer to any question. All questions and all answers dissolve into the luminous splendor of your own inner being.

I differ from Bankei in saying that nobody else can give it to you. If somebody has found it, perhaps he can inspire you -- not by his words, but by his very being, by his every gesture, by his every look. You can see that a different kind of presence surrounds the man, a different kind of silence radiates from him. You can have a taste from somebody else, but nobody can give it to you.

It used to happen that seekers would come to Gautam Buddha. A great philosopher of those times, Maulingaputta, came with his five hundred disciples. He himself was a well-known teacher, and he had come to challenge Gautam Buddha to a debate; that's why he had brought all his disciples.

In India it was a common phenomenon that has now disappeared... it was so beautiful -- but now to challenge somebody seems to be a way to create enemies. For centuries it was not considered that way in India; challenging was simply a matter of coming face to face, with inquiring, penetrating questions, and finding out who has gone deeper. The one who went deeper was victorious. It was a very loving phenomenon, very friendly.

Maulingaputta said to Gautam Buddha, "I have come here to pay my respects to you and also to challenge you."

Buddha said, "I love your challenge. But you will have to fulfill a condition which I have been keeping my whole life. I cannot make any exception."

At that time there were ten thousand monks, disciples of Buddha. Maulingaputta said, "Any condition, and I am ready to accept it."

So Buddha said, "The condition is that you have to sit by my side for two years, silently -- no question, no answer. After two years I will tell you, now you can question."

Bankei's lineage comes from Mahakashyap. Mahakashyap was a rare being, nobody had ever heard him speak. He never asked any question, he never answered anybody, even a hello was too much. People simply passed by his side as if he was not. He had a special tree where he used to sit whenever Buddha was speaking. When Buddha said to Maulingaputta, "You have to sit for two years silently by my side and then you can have any inquiry, any debate, any discussion, any question," there was suddenly a great outburst -- Mahakashyap laughed loudly.

The whole assembly felt very strange because this man had never talked to anybody, and there was no special reason that he should laugh. But he must have been a reincarnation of Sardar Gurudayal Singh, or vice versa. Sardar is the only man in the whole world who can laugh before a joke is told. It does not matter, what matters is the laughter. Why not enjoy it, why wait? It is a deep trust that something good will be coming.

Maulingaputta said, "Why is this fellow laughing?"

Buddha said, "You can ask him yourself. He is a rare person, he never speaks. In the twenty years he has been with me he has never asked any question. It is for the first time that suddenly he has exploded in laughter."

So Maulingaputta asked Mahakashyap, "Why did you laugh?"

Mahakashyap said, "I laughed because this fellow Gautam Buddha is a tricky guy. He tricked me with the same trick; he told me to sit for two years and I have been sitting for twenty years! Now the desire to question or to debate has been left miles back. So if you want to ask, ask now; otherwise you will be sitting just like me. And there are many other monks who will be witnesses to what I am saying."

Buddha had a lotus flower in his hand. At that moment he called Mahakashyap and gave the lotus flower to him with the words, "What I have been able to say, I have said to everybody. And what I have not been able to say, I transfer it to you."

This is called in Zen the transmission of the lamp. Nothing is said. But in twenty years of silence one becomes enlightened oneself. It is not something that Buddha has given. Buddha has simply created a situation.

Maulingaputta remained silent for two years and he even forgot the time, that two years had passed. It was Buddha who had to remind him, "Maulingaputta, now two years have passed. Come on and confront me."

He came and touched Gautam Buddha's feet and he said, "I am sorry, I was arrogant. I did not understand what enlightenment is. Now don't make me more ashamed. Just being in silence for two years all thoughts have disappeared. A deep silence reigns inside and I have found myself and the beauty and the truth and the good -- all together in my own being. Now there is no seeking, no search. Mahakashyap was right."

After touching the feet of Gautam Buddha, he touched the feet of Mahakashyap. It is on this account that Mahakashyap is thought to be the first Zen master. He was a disciple of Buddha, but he started a new tradition, of people who simply sit silently for years.

You remember Basho -- and today there are many poets here, they will understand Basho -- perhaps one of the greatest poets the world has produced.

SITTING SILENTLY

DOING NOTHING

SPRING COMES

AND THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF.

The whole philosophy of Zen is contained in this simple statement, this small haiku.

SITTING SILENTLY

DOING NOTHING

SPRING COMES

AND THE GRASS GROWS BY ITSELF.

You don't have to do anything. Enlightenment is not your doing. And it is not a gift. You already are enlightened, just you have not looked in the right direction. The difference between the enlightened being and the unenlightened is not much; it is negligible. One has looked into himself, the other has not looked into himself. This is not much of a difference. At any moment the other can also look into himself. Perhaps when your eyes are tired of looking outside, you close them in utter boredom and tiredness and look inside.

You have searched much and found nothing outside. You look in and suddenly all that you were seeking is already there. You have come with it into the world, it is your intrinsic quality.

Bankei is saying that someone else can bring the water, but it is not a right way of explaining it.

He says:

AS FOR THOSE WHO ARE DOUBTFUL AND WILL NOT DRINK, THERE IS NO WAY FOR THEIR THIRST TO BE QUENCHED. BECAUSE I DID NOT MEET SOMEONE WITH ENLIGHTENED EYES, I MISTAKENLY WORE MYSELF OUT. I FINALLY DISCOVERED THE BUDDHA IN MY OWN NO-MIND, AND AM TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT THE BUDDHA OF THEIR OWN NO-MIND, WITHOUT THEM HAVING TO DO ANYTHING DIFFICULT -- JUST LIKE DRINKING WATER AND HAVING THEIR THIRST QUENCHED.

On this point I am in absolute agreement. Bankei himself became suddenly enlightened although he had been trying. I have to remind you of Gautam Buddha himself. For six years continually he tried all the methods and all the disciplines available in those days, but nothing happened. He became so tired, so utterly bored, that one full-moon night sitting under a tree, he dropped even the desire for enlightenment. He had dropped all other desires. The only desire that he had been carrying for six years -- on that full-moon night he dropped that too. Utterly desireless he slept a tremendously deep sleep. And as he woke up in the morning, the last star was setting, and as the last star disappeared, he became enlightened.

It was not those six years of training that made him enlightened, it was that relaxed night, that utter let-go. There was no desire, no ambition, the mind had no function at all. When you don't have any desire, any ambition, any longing, mind disappears, because mind is nothing but a combination of all these things. It is not an entity in itself, it is only a combination, just like my fist. A fist is not an entity, it is just the five fingers closed. You open the fingers and the fist has disappeared.

Mind is not a reality. It is not a fact, it is simply a combination of all desires. Even a single desire is enough to keep it breathing. But when the last desire drops, and that can only be the desire of enlightenment... in the morning he woke up without a mind. In the morning he was a no-mind, so silent, so peaceful. Watching the last star disappearing, he also watched himself disappearing. He remained just a watcher.

This state of watchfulness is your pure consciousness. And it is not yours, it is the universal consciousness. You can call it awakening, you can call it buddhahood, you can call it enlightenment, names don't matter.

USING THE ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND INHERENT IN EVERYONE, JUST AS IT IS, HAVING FOUND PEACE AND BLISS, WITHOUT THE DIFFICULTIES OF CONFUSION -- IS THIS NOT A SACRED TRUE TEACHING?

AT ANOTHER TIME SOMEONE ASKED BANKEI, "IS THE COMPLETE ILLUMINATION OF THE EYE OF REALITY ACCOMPLISHED WITH TIME AND SEASON, OR IS IT REALIZED EVEN IN ONE DAY?"

BANKEI REPLIED, "IT IS NOT A MATTER OF TIME AND SEASON; IT IS ACCOMPLISHED ONLY WHEN THE EYE OF THE WAY IS CLEAR, WITHOUT ANY GAP. IT IS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE PRACTICE OF SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION TO NURTURING IT."

He is making a great statement. He is saying that it is not a question of time, it is not a question of season.

In my village one old priest was very much respected as a wise man. I used to go to him. And to any question that I ever asked him, he would say, "Wait. At the right time, in the right season, you will find the answer."

I came back from the university and I went to see the old man; he was dying. I said to him, "You have been deceiving me. I have been waiting for the right moment and the right season. It has not come. And I want to ask you, at least while you are dying, to be honest. Tell me, has your right time come?"

He had tears in his eyes. He said, "Forgive me, I used to say that to everyone, just to avoid their question -- because I don't know the answer. I am myself as ignorant as anybody but people think I am a wise man, and by and by they have convinced me that I am a wise man. I too have started believing in it."

I said, "At least now drop that belief. Die as ignorant as you are. Your whole life you have been dishonest, but even a single moment before death, if you are honest, perhaps the right time and the right season may come suddenly." And actually it happened. He closed his eyes, and I was sitting by his side and I saw the change happening around his energy; there was a freshness, a different fragrance. His old face became so beautiful -- wrinkled with age, but now showing a maturity.

He opened his eyes and he took my hand in his hand and he said, "I cannot be more grateful to anybody in my life than to you, although you have not done anything. But seeing the fact that death is coming, I closed my eyes and for the first time I looked inwards. It was there, it has always been there." He died an enlightened man. He lived unenlightened, in misery, in suffering, but he died enlightened, in tremendous joy.

He told me, "Nobody should weep or cry; nobody should be sad or serious because my death is an illumination. What life has not been able to give me, my death has given to me. Celebrate! Tell the people that my death has to be celebrated."

And when I told the people, they wouldn't believe me. I said, "Whether you believe me or not, that old man's last wish should be fulfilled. If you cannot celebrate I will have to bring my friends, and we will celebrate."

I had to gather people, and they were hesitant because death is not celebrated, death is a calamity. But the death of an enlightened being, and particularly a death which makes a man enlightened, has to be a festival. It is far more valuable than birth. Birth brings you life. Enlightened death brings you eternal life, a timeless ecstasy, a blissfulness that never ends.

Daio wrote:

THE SPHERE OF PERFECT COMMUNION

IS CLEAR EVERYWHERE.

THE WATER IS ALIVE,

THE WILLOW EYES ARE GREEN.

WHY ARE PEOPLE THESE DAYS

IN SUCH A GREAT HURRY?

IN EACH LAND,

THE SPHERE OF PERFECT COMMUNION.

THOSE WHO GO RIGHT IN

ARE RARE.

Daio is saying: everything is so beautiful, the stars and the trees and the birds, why can't you simply sing and dance and join into the cosmos? Where are you hurrying to? Wherever you go you will be frustrated, because the thing that you are trying to find is hidden within you.

This very moment can become your illumination. Not a single step has to be taken.

IN EACH LAND,

THE SPHERE OF PERFECT COMMUNION.

THOSE WHO GO RIGHT IN

ARE RARE.

Just go right in, be a rare person! Don't search it outside. This is the whole teaching of all the buddhas.

 

Next: Chapter 6: Be a rare person, Question 1

 

Energy Enhancement                Enlightened Texts                Zen                 The Language of Existence

 

 

Chapters

 

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 1: Remember, remember!
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 1: Remember, remember!, DAIO ONCE SAID TO A MONK: THE PEAK EXPERIENCE, THE FINAL ACT -- AS SOON AS YOU TRY TO PURSUE IT IN THOUGHT, THERE ARE WHITE CLOUDS FOR A THOUSAND MILES. BUT EVEN IF YOU GO BACK UPON SEEING THE MONASTERY FLAGPOLE AT A DISTANCE, OR HEAD OFF FREELY UPON SEEING A BECKONING HAND, THIS IS STILL ONLY HALF THE ISSUE; IT IS NOT YET THE STRATEGIC ACTION OF THE WHOLE CAPABILITY at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 1: Remember, remember!, Question 1
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 1: Remember, remember!, Question 1, DAIO ONCE SAID TO A MONK: THE PEAK EXPERIENCE, THE FINAL ACT -- AS SOON AS YOU TRY TO PURSUE IT IN THOUGHT, THERE ARE WHITE CLOUDS FOR A THOUSAND MILES. BUT EVEN IF YOU GO BACK UPON SEEING THE MONASTERY FLAGPOLE AT A DISTANCE, OR HEAD OFF FREELY UPON SEEING A BECKONING HAND, THIS IS STILL ONLY HALF THE ISSUE; IT IS NOT YET THE STRATEGIC ACTION OF THE WHOLE CAPABILITY at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow, HAKUIN SAID: THE STUDY OF ZEN IS LIKE DRILLING WOOD TO GET FIRE. THE WISEST COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT STOPPING. IF YOU REST AT THE FIRST SIGN OF HEAT, AND THEN AGAIN AS SOON AS THE FIRST WISP OF SMOKE ARISES, EVEN THOUGH YOU DRILL FOR THREE ASAMKHYEYE KALPAS, YOU WILL NEVER SEE A SPARK OF FIRE. MY NATIVE PLACE IS CLOSE TO THE SEASHORE, BARELY A FEW HUNDRED PACES FROM THE BEACH. SUPPOSE A MAN OF MY VILLAGE IS CONCERNED BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW THE FLAVOR OF SEA WATER, AND WANTS TO GO AND TASTE IT FOR HIMSELF. IF HE TURNS BACK AFTER HAVING TAKEN ONLY A FEW STEPS, OR EVEN IF HE RETURNS AFTER HAVING TAKEN A HUNDRED STEPS, IN EITHER CASE WHEN WILL HE EVER KNOW THE OCEAN'S BITTER, SALTY TASTE? at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow, Question 1
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow, Question 1, HAKUIN SAID, 'THE WISEST COURSE IS TO FORGE STRAIGHT AHEAD WITHOUT STOPPING.' BUT IF WE KNEW WHERE STRAIGHT AHEAD WAS, WOULD WE NEED TO WALK IT? at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow, Question 2
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 2: Go like an arrow, Question 2, IS NOT OUR UNCERTAINTY, OUR GROPING, BECAUSE WE HAVE TO DISCOVER FOR OURSELVES WHAT IS STRAIGHT AHEAD AND WHAT IS GOING OFF TRACK? at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside, FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO, SAID RINZAI, THIS MOUNTAIN MONK'S VIEW DOES NOT DIFFER FROM THAT OF SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA. IN ALL THE VARIETY OF OUR DAILY ACTIVITIES, IS THERE ANYTHING LACKING? THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT MANIFESTING THROUGH THE SIX SENSES HAS NEVER BEEN INTERRUPTED. HE WHO IS ABLE TO PERCEIVE IT IN THIS MANNER CAN BE AN UNCONCERNED MAN FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside, Question 1
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside, Question 1, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT NIRVANA, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT OUR MINDS DO NOT KNOW, IT IS EASY ENOUGH TO LISTEN WITHOUT THE MIND -- JUST ALLOWING YOUR WORDS TO FILTER THROUGH OUR CONSCIOUSNESS, TO USE YOUR WORDS TO MEDITATE. HOWEVER, WHEN YOU SPEAK ON AN ISSUE THAT MIGHT AFFECT OUR DAILY LIFE, IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO LISTEN WITHOUT ENGAGING THE MIND. FOR EXAMPLE, APPARENTLY, THE OTHER NIGHT SOME OF US HEARD YOU ENDORSE DRUGS; SOME OF US HEARD YOU SAY THEY WERE OF NO HELP FOR SEEKERS. IF WE USE OUR MIND AT ALL IN LISTENING TO YOU, HAVE WE MISSED THE POINT OF SITTING HERE? at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside, Question 2
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 3: Seek nothing outside, Question 2, SOMETIMES DURING MEDITATION THERE IS THE SENSATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS ARISING AND EXPANDING. IS THAT THE SAME PHENOMENON THAT IS INVOLVED IN WATCHING? at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 4: Beyond life-and-death
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 4: Beyond life-and-death, BUKKO SAID: THE WAY OUT OF LIFE-AND-DEATH IS NOT SOME SPECIAL TECHNIQUE; THE ESSENTIAL THING IS TO SEE THROUGH TO THE ROOT OF LIFE-AND-DEATH. THAT ROOT IS NOT SOMETHING THAT FELL FROM HEAVEN OR SPRANG UP FROM EARTH. IT IS AT THE CENTER OF THE FUNCTIONING OF EVERY MAN, LIVING WITH HIS LIFE, DYING WITH HIS DEATH, BECOMING A BUDDHA, MAKING A PATRIARCH. THESE ARE ALL IN DEPENDENCE OF IT, AND ONE WHO GOES INTO ZEN HAS TO PIERCE AND BREAK THROUGH TO THIS THING at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 4: Beyond life-and-death, Question 1
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 4: Beyond life-and-death, Question 1, I AM SERIOUSLY CONCERNED: LAST NIGHT WHEN YOU WERE SPEAKING OF THE SENSES, AS TRADITIONALLY CLASSIFIED, YOU DID NOT MENTION THE EIGHTH SENSE, THE SENSE OF HUMOR. WHAT HAPPENED? at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 5: The gateway of the buddhas
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 5: The gateway of the buddhas, TOREI SAID: IF YOU WANT TO BE FREE FROM THIS WORLD OF SUFFERING, FIRST YOU MUST CONTEMPLATE IMPERMANENCE. THOSE WHO ARE BORN MUST INEVITABLY DIE. EVEN THE YOUNG ARE NOT EXEMPT; EVEN THE STRONG ARE IN DANGER. EVEN A LONG LIFE DOES NOT LAST MORE THAN EIGHTY YEARS OR SO. IF YOU DON'T ANNIHILATE THE NATURE OF AFFLICTIONS SOMEHOW, AND ARRIVE ON THE PATH OF LIBERATION, EVEN IF YOU ASCEND TO THE RANK OF SOVEREIGN OF A NATION, GREAT MINISTER, DEITY, SPIRIT, OR WIZARD, IT IS STILL EVANESCENT AS LIGHTNING AND MORNING DEW, LASTING ONLY FOR A WHILE at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 5: The gateway of the buddhas, Question 1
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 5: The gateway of the buddhas, Question 1, CAN IT HELP TO CONTEMPLATE ON A CONCEPT? IF THE CONCEPT IS JUST ONE'S INTELLECTUAL UNDERSTANDING, OR SOMEONE ELSE'S INSIGHT, WHAT IS THE VALUE? AND EVEN IF IT IS OUT OF ONE'S OWN INSIGHT, WHAT IS THE POINT? -- IF YOU HAVE KNOWN IT, YOU HAVE KNOWN IT at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 6: Be a rare person
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 6: Be a rare person, A MONK ASKED BANKEI, 'THE ANCESTRAL TEACHERS SINCE ANCIENT TIMES WERE GREATLY ENLIGHTENED THROUGH DIFFICULT AND PAINFUL PRACTICES. I HAVE HEARD THAT YOU, TOO, ACCOMPLISHED THE GREAT TEACHING THROUGH VARIOUS DIFFICULT PRACTICES. BUT FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, WHO DON'T CULTIVATE PRACTICE, AND ARE NOT ENLIGHTENED, JUST REALIZING THAT MY VERY STATE IS THE UNBORN, ENLIGHTENED NO-MIND DOES NOT REALLY SETTLE ANYTHING.' at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 6: Be a rare person, Question 1
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 6: Be a rare person, Question 1, I HAVE MET SOMEONE WITH ENLIGHTENED EYES WHO DOES NOT JUST BRING US WATER TO DRINK, BUT SHOWERS US WITH IT. AND YET, AND YET.... ARE WE SO NEUROTIC, SO COMPLEX, SO FAR REMOVED FROM INNOCENCE, THAT WE CAN ONLY RECEIVE THAT FOR WHICH WE HAVE SUFFERED? at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 7: Now you have it
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 7: Now you have it, TOZAN SAID: THE TEACHING OF THUSNESS HAS BEEN INTIMATELY COMMUNICATED BY BUDDHAS AND PATRIARCHS. NOW YOU HAVE IT, SO KEEP IT WELL. FILLING A SILVER BOWL WITH SNOW, HIDING A HERON IN THE MOONLIGHT -- WHEN YOU ARRAY THEM, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. WHEN YOU MIX THEM, YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE. THE MEANING IS NOT IN THE WORDS, YET IT RESPONDS TO THE INQUIRING IMPULSE. IF YOU ARE EXCITED, IT BECOMES A PITFALL; IF YOU MISS IT, YOU FALL INTO RETROSPECTIVE HESITATION at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 7: Now you have it, Question 1
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 7: Now you have it, Question 1, THOSE DIAMOND THUNDERBOLTS YOU HURTLE AROUND YOU WHEN YOU DANCE WITH US EACH EVENING -- AT THE RATE WE'RE GOING, SOMEONE COULD BE KNOCKED CONSCIOUS! BUT PLEASE, DON'T STOP! at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 8: Please, settle for no-self
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 8: Please, settle for no-self, BUKKO SAID: IT MAY BE ASKED, HOW IS THE SELF TO BE APPROACHED? BY LOOKING INTO IT THROUGH THIS SORT OF INQUIRY: FORTY YEARS AGO, WHERE DID IT COME FROM; AND A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE, WHERE WILL IT HAVE GONE TO? AND RIGHT NOW, WHO IS THE PERSON WHO IS MAKING THE INQUIRY? THAT TRUE FACE WHICH WAS BEFORE FATHER AND MOTHER WERE BORN, WHERE IS IT RIGHT NOW? WHEN SUDDENLY ONE DAY THE LIGHT OF LIFE, NOW SO BRILLIANT, WILL BE WITHDRAWN, WHERE DOES IT GO TO? at energyenhancement.org

    • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 8: Please, settle for no-self, Question 1
      Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 8: Please, settle for no-self, Question 1, LATELY I HAVE FELT AWARE THAT WE ARE JUST BIG VACUUMS, EMPTINESSES, WALKING AROUND WITH A FACADE OF PERSONALITY THAT DOES THINGS AND THINKS THOUGHTS. BUT BUKKO TALKS OF 'APPROACHING THE SELF.' IS THE SELF ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT SENSE OF EMPTINESS? ARE THE QUESTIONS JUST A MEANS TO DISCOVER THERE IS NO SELF? at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 9: Lovers of tao
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 9: Lovers of tao, RINZAI SAID: FOLLOWERS OF THE TAO, I AM TALKING ONLY ABOUT THAT WHICH IS DISTINCTLY SOLITARY AND BRIGHT, AND IS LISTENING TO MY EXPOUNDING OF THE DHARMA. THIS ONE KNOWS NO OBSTRUCTIONS AND IS OMNIPRESENT IN THE THREE WORLDS OF EXISTENCE IN THE TEN DIRECTIONS OF SPACE. IT CAN FREELY AND COMFORTABLY ENTER ALL THE DIFFERENT STATES, WITHOUT BEING INFECTED BY THEM. IN THE SHORTEST INSTANT, IT WILL PENETRATE DEEPLY INTO THE DHARMA-DHATU WHERE IT WILL TALK ABOUT BUDDHAS, WHEN MEETING BUDDHAS; ABOUT PATRIARCHS, WHEN MEETING PATRIARCHS; ABOUT ARHATS, WHEN MEETING ARHATS, AND ABOUT HUNGRY GHOSTS, WHEN MEETING HUNGRY GHOSTS at energyenhancement.org

  • Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 9: Lovers of tao, Question 1
    Talks on Zen, The Language of Existence Chapter 9: Lovers of tao, Question 1, LANGUAGE IS USUALLY ABOUT THE COMMUNICATION OR TRANSFER OF IDEAS; AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF MOST RELIGIONS SEEMS TO BE THAT ONE DOES NOT NEED TO BE GIVEN SOMETHING. HOWEVER, ZEN IS DIFFERENT IN THAT IT APPEARS TO BE SAYING ONE ONLY NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ONE ALREADY HAS. IS THIS WHY YOU HAVE CALLED ZEN 'THE LANGUAGE OF EXISTENCE'? at energyenhancement.org

 

 

 
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