Zen

THE LANGUAGE OF EXISTENCE

Chapter 7: Now you have it

 

 

Energy Enhancement                Enlightened Texts                Zen                 The Language of Existence

 

 

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

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.

TURNING AWAY AND TOUCHING ARE BOTH WRONG, FOR IT IS LIKE A MASS OF FIRE. JUST TO DEPICT IT IN LITERARY FORM IS TO RELEGATE IT TO DEFILEMENT.

IT IS BRIGHT JUST AS MIDNIGHT. IT DOESN'T APPEAR AT DAWN. IT ACTS AS A GUIDE FOR BEINGS -- ITS USE REMOVES ALL PAIN.

ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT FABRICATED, IT IS NOT WITHOUT SPEECH. IT IS LIKE FACING A JEWEL MIRROR: FORM AND IMAGE BEHOLD EACH OTHER. YOU ARE NOT IT, IT ACTUALLY IS YOU.

IT IS LIKE A BABE IN THE WORLD, IN FIVE ASPECTS COMPLETE. IT DOES NOT GO OR COME, NOR RISE NOR STAND.

ULTIMATELY IT DOES NOT APPREHEND ANYTHING, BECAUSE ITS SPEECH IS NOT YET CORRECT. IT IS LIKE THE SIX LINES OF THE DOUBLE SPLIT HEXAGRAM: THE RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE INTEGRATE. PILED UP, THEY MAKE THREE; THE COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION MAKES FIVE. IT IS LIKE THE TASTE OF THE FIVE-FLAVORED HERB, LIKE THE DIAMOND THUNDERBOLT.

Maneesha, Zen is more like poetry, like music, like dance. It is not a philosophy; hence, no conceptual thinking can comprehend it. Mind is absolutely impotent as far as Zen is concerned. You have to go beyond mind to have some taste of Zen. Going beyond the mind simply means dropping all thoughts, creating a vacuum -- a nothingness. But that nothingness is not empty; it is just like the sky. It is full of nothingness.

And when your eyes are without any dust and your mind is without any thoughts, you see clearly, straight into reality. It is not a question of belief. You don't have to believe what you will be seeing, you have simply to clean your inner eye, your vision, and the reality will appear on its own accord, not according to anybody's belief. Hence, those who have beliefs never attain to reality.

I am making a statement against all religions. They are all based on belief -- believe first, then you will know. But once you believe you have closed the doors of inquiry, once you believe you have accepted your ignorance, your blindness. You have accepted that somebody else has known -- "What is the need for me to know? I have just to believe in Jesus Christ or Krishna or Buddha." But when Buddha drinks the water, your thirst is not quenched; and when Jesus eats, your hunger does not disappear. Even these ordinary things, mundane, you have to experience individually -- what to say about the ultimate experience? And Zen is the name of the ultimate experience.

You cannot depend on anybody. You cannot believe anybody's experience. You have to drop all beliefs, all thoughts, all philosophies, all religions, and you have to go, utterly innocent, inside your own being.

From there the door opens and life takes a new color, a new radiance, a new joy. Your words are no more empty, they contain overflowing significance. Your gestures become meaningful for the first time. Your actions have a poetry of their own. Your very movement is a dance because you have known the innermost blissfulness. It starts overflowing you in your actions, in your words, in your silences. It starts overflowing and reaching to others. You become almost a fountain, showering all around.

Or you can say you become a beautiful lotus spreading, radiating its perfume all over the space; whether anybody is there or not is not the point. Even in the faraway forest the rose will spread its joy, its fragrance. Perhaps a passer-by may be enriched by it, but it is not the point, whether anybody gets it or not.

When truth is realized, the overflowing of it is intrinsic. This you have to understand before I take up Tozan, because Tozan is one of the great masters. All his statements are just an overflowing of his experience; he is not quoting scriptures, he is simply sharing his experience.

And whenever somebody is sharing his own experience it is not a question of belief or not -- just enjoy it. Perhaps in your enjoyment you may get some glimpse, very invisible... some click, not available to the outside world. Perhaps for a moment the heartbeat stops, or takes a totally different rhythm.

If Zen was a philosophy it would be very easy to convey it. If it was a religion it would not be difficult -- there are thousands of scriptures depicting religion. But it is something more miraculous than anything else in the world. You can taste it, you can drink it, you can relish it, you can dance out of sheer joy, but you cannot say it.

That is the only difficulty with Zen -- you cannot say it. And unfortunately man has become too much language-oriented; he has forgotten other ways of communication. There are many other ways of communication. The idea that language is the only way of communication has made humanity very poor, very prosaic. It has lost the mystery of poetry, it has lost the meaningless, but utterly significant, music of existence. Now dance has become a discipline, outwardly practiced, rehearsed, but not something growing from within you and spreading out.

Discussing Tozan, you will have to remember that he is trying his best to say that which cannot be said. Every master has tried to say it; nobody has ever succeeded. One wonders why, if it cannot be said, why people should try to say it. One of the most prominent philosophers of the modern world, Wittgenstein, has written perhaps the most profound book of this century. In one of his books, TRACTATUS, he comes to the point where he is almost turning into a mystic. He says, "That which cannot be said should not be said."

I was a student -- he was alive -- and I wrote him a letter saying, "You have contradicted yourself: `That which cannot be said should not be said.' You are also saying something about it."

He must have been a man of tremendous honesty; immediately a letter came with an apology. He said, "It is true. I never thought about it, that even to say that nothing should be said, you have already said something."

One has to understand that all the mystics of the world have been in a tremendous difficulty. They know it cannot be said, but still they say -- they try at least their best. My own understanding is, it cannot be said but it can be heard. That is the reason why the mystics go on speaking, knowing perfectly well it is not possible to put it into language, but hoping that somebody may hear it between the words, between the lines, in the gestures, in the eyes of the master, in his presence, in his intimacy.

Perhaps just as a flame can jump to another unlit candle if you bring them close enough, intimate enough... The master's work is to bring the disciple close enough to his inner flame, which is a fire. Because it is a fire, only the daring ones come very close to the master, because it is going to burn you completely and utterly. It is going to be your death -- and a resurrection.

The old, ancient Sanskrit scriptures say that the master is a death, but that is incomplete. The master is also the eternal life, beyond death. But of course, first comes the death. The disciple comes close to the master and dies into his fire, into his love, and is resurrected in a totally new being: fresh, innocent, and a child of eternity. That's what Tozan's first statement is.

TOZAN SAID:

THE TEACHING OF THUSNESS HAS BEEN INTIMATELY COMMUNICATED BY BUDDHAS AND PATRIARCHS. NOW YOU HAVE IT, SO KEEP IT WELL.

Every word is so full of significance.

THE TEACHING OF THUSNESS...

It is a very strange way, particularly for people who are not acquainted with the world of Zen. Thusness is as important, or perhaps more important, than the so-called gods of all your religions. `Thusness' means this moment your silent existence is all there is to discover.

Its splendor is great, but you will have to pay for it. You will have to pay for it with your mind, with your personality. You will have to go beyond your facade, your so-called cultured personality, your knowledge cultivated by others and from others. You will have to lose all this garbage... you will have to be utterly empty. In that emptiness you will feel for the first time the experience of thusness.

Thusness can also be translated as `thisness'. It can also be translated as `suchness'. The original word used by Gautam Buddha is tathata. Just being in the moment -- no past, no future -- just being here, one-pointed, and the door of all the mysteries of existence opens.

The teaching of thusness is the teaching of all the great masters, and it has been intimately communicated because there is no other way. I am communicating it this very moment, but not through my words, in the silences, in the gaps. When you feel simply this moment in its utter purity, you have become intimate with all the buddhas -- past, present, future.

The word `buddha' is very significant; it means one who has attained to thusness. Just because of thusness, Buddha's other name is Tathagat. `Tathagat' means one who lives moment to moment, who knows nothing of the past and who knows nothing of the future, who is utterly settled and centered here and now.

The moment you are centered here and now you are an intimate of all the buddhas. The moment you are intimate with reality, obviously you are intimate with all the masters and all the mystics.

This very moment you are connected with existence, but you go on roaming in the mind and you completely forget that behind the mind and beyond the mind there is a witness which is watching silently. You come across these experiences every day but you don't take much note of it.

For example, I was a student of a Mohammedan teacher and he was very strict; he was known in the school as the most strict person. The first day of his class he entered and said to us, "I want you to remember always, don't ask me for leave because you are having a headache or stomachache. Anything that I cannot see, I don't believe." Students do that continuously: "I have a headache so I want to go home."

That very evening... He used to go for an evening walk, and just in front of his house there were two kadamb trees, very beautiful trees, so I waited in one tree with a big rock in my hand. He returned -- it was getting dark -- and I dropped the rock on his head. He freaked out.

I said, "Shut up! Now do you believe in headaches?"

He looked at me surprised, a little bit shocked. He said, "Listen, we can negotiate. If you have a headache just raise one finger and I will allow you to go out, but don't make it a public thing. I will not say anything about this rock that you have thrown on me. It is a compromise."

I said, "I never compromise. In the first place, I don't believe that you have been hurt."

He said, "You are strange..."

I said, "You are strange. Remember in the morning, at the beginning of the class, you said you don't believe in headaches? I am going to make this incident public knowledge."

But it is something far more important than just an incident. When you have a headache, how do you know? There must be a watcher behind the head who knows the headache. The headache itself cannot know; there must be a witness, a watcher, who knows the headache, who knows the stomachache, who feels emotions and can watch those emotions.

When you are full of anger, if you sit down and watch you can watch the anger clouds all around you, dark. When you are in love you can watch a certain perfume, a certain beauty, a certain blissfulness all around you. Every moment in ordinary life you are coming across the witness but you have never recognized it, you have just not taken note of it. At this very moment I am speaking to you, you are hearing me. Just look a little more back -- there is a witness who knows that you are hearing. That witness is your eternity.

"By all these mystics, the message has been conveyed intimately" means, they have brought people closer to them. All their words are nothing but fishermen's nets. Through their words they bring you closer. If their words trigger something in you, you feel pulled, magnetized, and the closer you come the less you are. And when you have become really intimate, you disappear -- you, as you have known yourself -- and the one who is behind, who you had never taken note of, comes in front. For the first time you know you are only a witnessing consciousness, everything else is a clothing.

Your inner center, which is the connecting link with the universal heart from where you get your life, your love, your joy, is to be found in witnessing. The master is a witness. Becoming intimate with him, the fire of witnessing simply jumps in a single, instantaneous moment. Where there was all dark suddenly becomes light; where there was all misery suddenly becomes a tremendous joy overflowing you, and a great longing arises in you.

Just as before you wanted more money, more power, more prestige, now there is only one longing -- how to spread this fire. Because unless a person is burned completely, all his falsities gone, he will never know the beauty and the truth and the splendor of existence, which was available to him every moment.

THE TEACHING OF THUSNESS HAS BEEN INTIMATELY COMMUNICATED BY BUDDHAS. NOW YOU HAVE IT...

Tozan must be talking to his disciples.

I am saying to you, you have it. I am not simply reading Tozan. On my own accord I am saying to you: you have it. Take note of it and don't forget it. In ordinary life go on remembering that you are a buddha. Nothing else is needed, this very remembrance that you are a buddha is going to transform all your activities.

I am reminded of a great mystic, Nagarjuna. He used to live naked, and even kings and queens used to touch his feet. He was absolutely a beggar -- he had not even a begging bowl. So while he was visiting the capital the queen presented him with a golden begging bowl studded with diamonds. With tears she asked him not to reject it.

Nagarjuna said, "I will not reject it, I will not hurt your feelings, but it will be very difficult for me to keep it for long -- a naked man, and I have to sleep also. Anybody can steal it. I sleep under the sky, I sleep under a tree... It is not going to be with me for long."

But the queen said, "It does not matter, I will prepare another better than this. Now it is a question of my prestige. So if it is lost, whenever I see you again you will get another."

Nagarjuna said, "I have no objection."

A thief was hearing all this and said, "My god. A golden bowl worth millions of rupees, studded with diamonds, and this naked man... it is absolutely unsuitable, it does not fit." So he followed Nagarjuna thinking, "Let this fellow go to sleep..." Nagarjuna was staying in ruins outside the town where doors were missing, where walls had fallen -- and this thief was hiding behind a wall.

Nagarjuna was watching -- "Somebody is following me. Obviously he cannot be following me to these ruins. He must be following for the begging bowl." Then he saw the thief hiding behind a wall. He threw the begging bowl outside the window and told the man, "Take it. I will not force you to become a thief, I give it to you as a gift."

Do you see how the buddhas behave? "I will not force you to become a thief because that will be my crime, not your crime. I give it to you as a gift. Just take it and run away." The man could not run away, could not believe it. He was almost frozen. He had never seen such a man, who can throw a thing worth millions of rupees just as if it is nothing, and he is saving him from being a thief. He is giving it to him as he would give a friend a gift.

Something triggered in the thief's heart. He said, "Can I come inside and touch your feet and sit by your side just for a few minutes? I have never seen such a man like you."

Nagarjuna said to him, "That was exactly the purpose of throwing the bowl, to bring you in. Come in, sit down."

He followed everything. He asked Nagarjuna, "How could you manage to throw such a precious thing? I am a thief, to be honest. I cannot be dishonest to a man like you. And you have been so compassionate that you don't want me to be a thief, but that is my profession."

Nagarjuna said, "There is no harm, you continue to be a thief. Just remember one thing, that you are a buddha."

He said, "My god, I am a thief and you are telling me to remember that I am a buddha!"

Nagarjuna said, "This is enough. You just try, and I am going to stay for two weeks. You can come anytime, day or night, to give me the result, what happens."

After the third day he was there with the begging bowl, asking Nagarjuna, "Please take it back; otherwise I will be murdered. Now the whole town knows that I have got it. I have been hiding it here and there but it can be protected only by a queen or a king."

Nagarjuna said, "You leave it here, it is not important. What is important is, what happened to the discipline I had given to you?"

He said, "You have given me a tremendous discipline. I first thought, `It is so easy just to remember that I am a buddha.' But you are very clever, because when I went to steal something, just the remembrance that `I am a buddha' and I would get frozen, my hands would not move to take anything. For three days I have not stolen a single thing. This is unprecedented in my life. And I don't think that again I will be able to steal. This is a dangerous thing you have said to me, because the moment I find an opportunity to steal something, the remembrance that I am a buddha... I simply relax, I escape -- it is not right for a buddha. I cannot let you down or let the buddha down."

Nagarjuna said, "That is your problem. But take this begging bowl because somebody will take it, and it does not matter who takes it."

He said, "Forget all about it. Just as you remember, I also remember: I am a buddha."

The very remembrance of who you are is going to transform your whole life. You cannot do anything against your consciousness. You have been doing it because you have been unaware. The only secret is to achieve a recognition that inside you there is a witnessing self. The name of the witnessing self is the buddha. In every act, in every word, just remember your inner being -- its blissfulness, its silence, its grandeur, its eternity -- and you cannot be the same man.

This is called the transmission of the lamp. It happens in the intimacy of the master and the disciple. Nothing is said but something is understood. The very energy of the master, the very presence simply penetrates you and awakens you, brings you out of your dreams and your sleep. That is the meaning of the word `buddha': one who is awake.

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.

TURNING AWAY AND TOUCHING ARE BOTH WRONG, FOR IT IS LIKE A MASS OF FIRE.

When you go in, you are entering into a mass of fire. Touching it is dangerous. Turning away from it is dangerous. Just remembering it, that your inner world is not dark but is radiant with thousands of suns, is going to transform your life in every detail.

JUST TO DEPICT IT IN LITERARY FORM IS TO RELEGATE IT TO DEFILEMENT.

IT IS BRIGHT JUST AS MIDNIGHT. IT DOESN'T APPEAR AT DAWN. IT ACTS AS A GUIDE FOR BEINGS -- ITS USE REMOVES ALL PAIN.

ALTHOUGH IT IS NOT FABRICATED, IT IS NOT WITHOUT SPEECH. IT IS LIKE FACING A JEWEL MIRROR: FORM AND IMAGE BEHOLD EACH OTHER. YOU ARE NOT IT, IT ACTUALLY IS YOU.

When you are facing a mirror, you see yourself in the mirror. Tozan is saying,

YOU ARE NOT IT, IT ACTUALLY IS YOU.

It is a complicated phenomenon. When you stand before a mirror, one ray of light is going towards the mirror, making your reflection in the mirror; another ray is coming towards you so that you can witness that the mirror is reflecting you.

But you are neither the reflected one nor the reflection. You are the witness, which no mirror can reflect. A witness is always simply a witness. It cannot be anything, not even a reflection.

IT IS LIKE A BABE IN THE WORLD, IN FIVE ASPECTS COMPLETE. IT DOES NOT GO OR COME, NOR RISE NOR STAND.

It simply is. It neither goes nor comes, it is neither born nor dies, it is neither young nor old, it is neither man nor woman. It is simply a pure witnessing, watching.

You cannot go behind it, or beyond it. You cannot watch your own watching. That will create a logical regress -- what they call in logic `infinite regression'. If you say that you can watch your watcher, that means watcher number one is being watched by watcher number two -- what about number three? Where are you going to stop? Wherever you will stop... you will have to stop somewhere. You will get tired -- millions and trillions, all watching the next. Finally you will have to say that "This is the last." But why go so far away? The first is the last! You cannot go behind it.

Have you seen small children when for the first time they see a mirror? If you have not, you can do the experiment. A small child who cannot stand up yet and moves on all fours, just put a mirror in front of him. First he will be very inquiring -- the fellow is there... He cannot think that it is his own reflection; he has never seen his own reflection. He does not know that mirrors exist.

First he will try to touch the fellow. But it is strange, the fellow also touches him. He laughs, the fellow laughs; he mimics, the fellow mimics. A strange fellow! And when he touches there is nothing but glass. Without exception, every child is going to have a look behind the mirror -- where is the other child hiding? He will crawl around the side and look behind.

A Mulla Nasruddin story.... By the side of the road he found a small mirror. He looked into it, and he said, "My god, this looks like my father. I had never thought that he is so fashionable." He could not conceive that it was his own reflection, he had never seen a mirror before -- this was the first encounter.

And of course it looked... the only way for him to conceive it was, it looked like his father. His father was dead; he himself had become very old. It really looked like his father. But he said, "I have never thought that he is so fashionable. He was a very traditional man, very orthodox. But anyway, it is good I have found it. I will keep it as his memory."

So he came home, but he did not want his wife to know about it. But no man has ever been able to hide anything from his wife. Just by the way he entered the wife said, "It seems you have done something wrong."

He said, "My god, I have not done anything wrong."

She said, "I will see. Your face seems to be that of a guilty man."

He went upstairs and put the mirror in an old trunk. And when he had gone out for work the wife went up, opened the box and took out the mirror. She looked into it and she said, "My god. So, he is having a love affair with some ugly looking, tattered woman. Now let him come back..."

If you have never seen a mirror, it is obvious -- you cannot immediately think that it is your reflection.

A drunkard came home. Not to create trouble, he went very silently into his wife's room. He had to go to the bathroom, so he went into the bathroom and there he saw in the mirror that his face had scratches and blood on it, because he had been fighting in the pub.

He said, "This is going to be troublesome in the morning. When the wife sees it, I will be caught red-handed." So he tried somehow to hide those scratches, but he could not find anything other than a lipstick. He managed to cover all the scratches and was very happy at his success.

In the early morning, when the wife went into the bathroom, she shouted, "Who is the person...? It must be you, you idiot! You destroyed my lipstick and you have destroyed the mirror." Because he had made all those lines on the mirror, where his face had been. This face was in a drunken state. Even that much was a great intelligence, to find that this is his face.

We are all drunk, almost living in sleepiness. Our actions go wrong; our intentions go wrong; our life becomes a misery, a pain, an anguish. But the ultimate reason and cause is that we are not aware of our being. Just a single thing contains all the essence of all the religions: awareness of oneself. And then you cannot do anything wrong.

ULTIMATELY IT DOES NOT APPREHEND ANYTHING, BECAUSE ITS SPEECH IS NOT YET CORRECT. IT IS LIKE THE SIX LINES OF THE DOUBLE SPLIT HEXAGRAM: THE RELATIVE AND ABSOLUTE INTEGRATE. PILED UP, THEY MAKE THREE; THE COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION MAKES FIVE. IT IS LIKE THE TASTE OF THE FIVE-FLAVORED HERB, LIKE THE DIAMOND THUNDERBOLT.

The Zen experience is certainly a diamond thunderbolt. It comes like lightning, and suddenly everything that was dark becomes light. And once you have seen yourself, you cannot forget, even if you want to. Have you tried one thing: can you forget your name? Just try. The more you try to forget it, the more you will remember it, because each time, to forget you have to remember.

We have never looked in. Once you look in, a lightning thunderbolt... and the recognition of the face of the buddha within you, your original face. Then even if you want to forget it you cannot. Once a buddha, forever a buddha. It is your essential self. It is not an achievement; it is not something far away, that you have to travel to get it. It is just a question of looking in, where you have never looked before.

All our meditations are devoted to a single thing, looking in.

A poem by Kanzan:

MY MIND IS LIKE

THE AUTUMN MOON,

UNDER WHICH THE GREEN POND

APPEARS SO LIMPID,

BRIGHT AND PURE.

IN FACT, ALL ANALOGIES AND

COMPARISONS ARE INAPT.

IN WHAT WORDS CAN I DESCRIBE IT?

No words can describe the beauty of a moon reflected in the pond.

Daio wrote:

NO LONGER AWARE OF

MIND AND OBJECT,

I SEE EARTH, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS

AT LAST.

THE DHARMAKAYA'S EVERYWHERE.

WORLDLINGS, FACING IT,

CAN'T MAKE IT OUT.

Dharmakaya means your body of religiousness. Those who are looking outwards cannot find it; those who look inwards, they immediately jump into it. It is always there.

 

Next: Chapter 7: Now you have it, 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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