Zen Enlightenment Commentaries

[Guest guest]

Dear Lists,

 

I'm posting these because I feel they're especially good. Any errors are

due to OCR software - I've done my best at manual correction, but did not

proofread too strenuously.

 

These are all from "The Three Pillars of Zen," 25th Anniversary Edition, by

Roshi Philip Kapleau.

 

With Love,

 

Tim

 

TO LORD NAKAMURA, GOVERNOR OF AKI

PROVINCE / You asked me how to practice Zen with reference

to this phrase from a sutra: "Arouse the Mind without its abiding

anywhere." There is no express method for attaining enlighten-

ment. If you but look into your Self-nature directly, not allowing

yourself to be deflected, the Mind Bower will come into bloom.

Therefore the sutra says: "Arouse the Mind without its abiding

anywhere." Thousands of words spoken directly by Buddhas and

patriarchs add up to this one phrase. Mind is the True-nature of

things, transcending all forms. The True-nature is the Way. The

Way is Buddha. Buddha is Mind. Mind is not within or without

or in between. It is not being or nothingness or non-being or

non-nothingness or Buddha or mind or matter. So it is called the

abodeless Mind. This Mind sees colors with the eyes, hears sounds

with the ears. Look for this master directly!

 

A Zen master [Rinzai] of old says: "One's body, composed of

the four primal elements," can't hear or understand this preaching.

The spleen or stomach or liver or gall bladder can't hear or under-

stand this preaching. Empty space can't understand it. Then what

does hear and understand!" Strive to perceive directly. If your

mind remains attached to any form or feeling whatsoever, or is

affected by logical reasoning or conceptual thinking, you are as

far from true realization as heaven is from earth.

How can you cut off at a stroke the sufferings of birth-and-death!

As soon as you consider how to advance, you get lost in reasoning;

but if you quit you are adverse to the highest path. To be able

neither to advance nor to quit is to be a "breathing corpse." If

in spite of this dilemma you empty your mind of all thoughts and

push on with your zazen, you are bound to enlighten yourself and

apprehend the phrase "Arouse the Mind without its abiding any-

where." Instantly you will grasp the sense of all Zen dialogue as

well as the profound and subtle meaning of the countless sutras.

The laymen Ho asked Base: "What is it that transcends every-

thing in the universe!" Base answered: "I will tell you after you

have drunk up the waters of the West'River in one gulp." Ho

instantly became deeply enlightened. See here, what does this

mean? Does it explain the phrase "Arouse the Mind without its

abiding anywhere," or does it point to the very one reading this!

If you still don't comprehend, go back to questioning. "What is

hearing now!" Find out this very moment! The problem of birth-

and-death is momentous, and the world moves fast. Make the most

of time, for it waits for no one.

 

Your own Mind is intrinsically Buddha. Buddhas are those who

have realized this. Those who haven't are so-called ordinary sen-

tient beings. Sleeping and working, standing and sitting, ask your-

self, "What is my own Mind!" looking into the source from which

your thoughts arise. What is this subject that right now perceives,

thinks, moves, works, goes forth, or returns! To know it you must

intensely absorb yourself in the question. But even though you

do not realize it in this life, beyond a doubt you will in the next

because of your present efforts.

 

In your zazen think in terms of neither good nor evil. Don't

try to stop thoughts from arising, only ask yourself: "What is my

own Mind!" Now even though your questioning goes deep, you

will get no answer, and eventually you will reach a cul-de-sac, your

thinking totally checked. You won't find anything within that can

be called "I" or "Mind." But who is it that understands all this!

Continue to probe more deeply yet and the mind that perceives

there is nothing will vanish; you will no longer be aware of question-

ing but only of emptiness. When awareness of even emptiness nir-

appears, you will realize there is no Buddha outside Mind· and

no Mind outside Buddha. Now for the first time you will discover

that when you do not hear with your ears you are truly hearing,

and when you do not see with your eyes you are truly seeing Bud-

dhas of the past, present, and future. But don't cling to any of

this, just experience it for yourself!

 

See here, what is your own Mind! Everyone's Original-nature

is not less than Buddha. But since men doubt this and search for

Buddha and Truth outside their Mind, they fail to attain enlighten-

ment, being helplessly driven within cycles of birth-and-death, en-

tangled in karma both good and bad. The source of all karma

bondage is delusion, that is, the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions

[stemming from ignorance]. Bid yourself of them and you are eman-

cipated. Just as ash covering a charcoal fire is dispersed when the

fire is fanned, so these delusions vanish once you realize your Self-

nature.

 

In zazen neither loathe nor be charmed by any of your thoughts.

With your mind turned inward, look steadily into their source and

the delusive feelings and perceptions in which they are rooted will

evaporate. This is not yet Self-realization, however, though your

mind becomes bright and empty like the sky and you have awareness

of neither inner nor outer and all the ten quarters seem clear and

luminous. To take this for realization is to mistake a mirage for

reality. Now even more intensely search this mind of yours that

hears. Your physical body, composed of the four basic elements,

is like a phantom, without reality, yet apart from this body there

is no mind. The empty-space of the ten quarters can neither see

nor hear; still, something within you does hear and distinguish

sounds. Who or what is it! When this question totally ignites you,

distinctions of good and evil, awareness of being or emptiness,

vanish like a light extinguished on a dark night. Though you are

no longer consciously aware of yourself, still you can hear and

know you exist. Try as you will to discover the subject hearing,

your efforts will fail and you will find yourself at an impasse. All

at once your mind will burst into great enlightenment and you

will feel as though you have risen from the dead, laughing loudly

and clapping your hands in delight. Now for the first time you

will know that Mind itself is Buddha. Were someone to ask, "What

does one's Buddha-mind look like! I would answer: "In the trees

fish play, in the deep sea birds are flying." What does this mean!

If you don't understand it, look into your own Mind and ask your-

self: "What is he, this master who sees and hears!"

Make the most of time--it waits for no one.

 

TO THE LAYMAN IPPO (HOMMA SHOKEN) /

You are meeting him face to face, but who is he? Anything you

say will be wrong. And if you hold your tongue, you will be equally

wrong. Who is he, then! On top of a flagpole a cow gives birth

to a calf. If you come to Self-realization at this point, you need

do nothing further. If you cannot, look inward to behold your

Buddha-nature. Everyone is perfectly endowed with this Buddha-

nature. Its substance is the same in ordinary human beings as in

Buddhas, with not the slightest difference in degree. But because

man can't bring himself to believe this, he binds himself to delusion

with the rope of unreality by saying: "The realization of my Self-

nature is beyond me. It is better that I recite sutras, bow down

before Buddhas, and enter the Way gradually through the grace

of all Buddhas." Most of those who hear this accept it as true. It

is as though one blind man were leading many blind men in the

wrong direction. These people do not really believe sutras and

Buddhas--on the contrary, they set no store by them. [For if they

truly accepted them, they would know that] merely reciting the

sutras is no more than looking at them from the outside, and speak-

ing of "Buddha" but another way of speaking of the essence of

Mind. A sutra says: "Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, these

are not to be discriminated from one another." Accordingly, a

man who does not believe in the reality of his own Mind but says

he believes in Buddha is like one who puts trust in a symbol while

spurning the real thing. How then can he realize this Mind! One

who wants only to recite sutras is like a hungry man who refuses

food offered in the belief that he can allay his hunger by merely

looking at a menu. Each sutra is but a catalogue of the Mind-nature.

One of the sutras says: "The teachings of the sutras are like a

finger pointing to the moon." Can the Buddha have intended that

you acknowledge the finger and not perceive the moon? Everybody

contains within himself the [substance of the] sutras. If you catch

even a glimpse of your Self-nature, it is the same as reading and

understanding all the sutras simultaneously, none excepted, with-

out so much as holding one in your hand and reading a word.

Isn't this real sutra-"reading"! Look, that green bamboo grove

over yonder is precisely your own Mind, and this mass of yellow

flowers is nothing less than the supreme wisdom of the universe!

 

As for the practice of bowing down before Buddhas, this is merely

a way of horizontalizing the mast of ego in order to realize the

Buddha-nature. To attain Buddhahood one must come to Self-

realization through his own efforts no matter what his talents or

capabilities may be. Unfortunately, most who understand this and

practice zazen begin to dawdle along the way and thus never come

to complete realization. Then there are those who take the state

of no-thoughts and no-awareness, where all reflection and discrimi-

nation stop for a time, to be true realization; others think it sufficient

Zen practice to remember every single koan; still others insist that

the true way of the Zen devotee is not to violate the precepts, or

else to dwell in forests to escape from the problem of good and

evil in the world; while still others maintain that the right way is

to avow that there is no truth to be realized, or that there is no

other truth to grasp than that of drinking tea when tea is offered

or eating when food is served, or of shouting "Katsu!" when asked

about Buddhism, or of leaving suddenly with a flourish of the ki-

mono sleeve, pretending to repudiate everything, while calling any-

one who practices zazen seriously and seeks out accomplished Zen

masters a bore. If such individuals can be called truth-seekers, then

a child of three can be said to understand Zen. Again, there are

those who think that when one's mental functions have ceased,

leaving one like a decayed tree or cold stone, one has attained

no-mindness; while still others maintain that in the practice of Zen

a decisive point has been reached when one feels a deep void

with awareness of neither inner nor outer, the entire body having

become shining, transparent, and clear like a blue sky on a bright

day.

 

This last appears when the True-nature begins to manifest itself,

but it cannot be called genuine Self-realization. Zen masters of

old would call it the "deep pit of pseudo-emancipation." Those

who reach this stage, believing they have no more problems in

[the study and practice of] Buddhism, behave haughtily through

lack of wisdom; engage eagerly in debates on religion, taking de-

light in cornering their opponents but becoming angry when cor-

nered themselves; appear perpetually discontented while no longer

believing in the law of causation; go about telling jokes in a loud,

jabbering voice; deliberately disturb and ridicule those who study

and strive earnestly, calling them clods whose practice is not Zen.

This is as though a lunatic were to laugh at a sane person. The

conceit of these idiots knows no bounds and they fall into hell as

quick as an arrow. The first patriarch, Bodhidharma, said: "One

who thinks only that everything is void but is ignorant of the law

of causation falls into everlasting, pitch-black hell." These would-

be teachers sometimes sound like Zen masters, but they are unable

to free themselves of their delusive feelings and perceptions. Most

beginners mistake the barest manifestation of truth for Self-realiza-

tion. An ancient Zen master [Rinzai] said: " 'The body of the True-

nature' and 'the ground of the True-nature,' these, I know for

certain, are shadows [that is, concepts]. You must find the subject

that casts the shadows. It is the very source of all Buddhas."

 

Certain people say: "In the practice and study of Zen we acquire

various ideas about it, and such notions [we are told] are a kind

of mind illness; for this reason Self-realization through Zen is diffi-

cult. But what if we don't realize our Self-nature, or understand

[the Truth] through reading the sutras? Need we fear retribution

if we don't sin? What if we never attain Buddhahood! As long as

we don't tread the Three Evil Paths, why need we strive for Buddha-

hood?"

 

Answer: The source of all sin is delusion. Without Self-realization

it can't be destroyed. In the bodies of human beings are six sense-

roots, in each of which lurks a seducer. These six seducers each

carry three kinds of poison;: greed, anger, and folly. There are

no human beings free from these three poisons. They are the causes

of which the Three Evil Paths are the effects. Necessarily the effects

Bow from the causes. One who says, "I am free of sin" is ignorant

of this law. Even one who commits no sin in this life has these

three poisons 'a priori'. What, then, of those who add new transgres-

sions!

 

Question: If all human beings are heir to these three poisons,

is it correct to say that even Buddhas, patriarchs, and holy sages

cannot avoid treading the Three Evil Paths?

 

Answer: When one realizes his Self-nature the three poisons are

transmuted [in such a way that greedy actions turn] into observance

of the precepts, [anger into] mind stability, and [folly into] wisdom.

Buddhas, patriarchs, and holy sages are all enlightened, so how

could they possibly sin [that is, act with greed, anger, or folly]?

 

Question: Granting that through enlightenment the three poi-

sons are transmuted [in such a way that greedy actions turn] into

observance of the precepts, [anger into] mind stability, and [folly

into] wisdom, how can one rid the mind of the malady of delusion?

 

Answer: Realization of the Self-nature is the sole cure for all

[mind] illness. Do not rely on any other remedy. Have I not already

quoted to you: "Find the subject which casts the shadows, is it

the very source of all Buddhas"? Your Buddha-nature is like the

jewel-sword of the Vajra king: whoever touches it is killed. Or

is it like a massive, raging fire: everything within reach loses its

life. Once you realize your True-nature, all evil bent of mind arising

from karma extending over innumerable years past is instantly anni-

hilated, like snow put into a roaring furnace. No thought of Buddha

or Truth remains. How, then, can any mind illness persist! Why

can't the karmically begotten delusions and the manifold discrimi-

native thoughts and notions of the unenlightened mind be quelled?

Simply because true Self-realization has not taken place. You can

no more stop yourself from being driven within the Six Realms

of ceaseless change without [first] realizing your Self-nature than

you can stop water from boiling without quenching the fire beneath

it.

 

Fortunately, you believe there is a truth specially transmitted

outside the scriptures and scholastic teachings. Then why bother

about the meaning of these scriptures? Renounce forthwith all such

reflections and see the master directly. What is the master who

at this very moment is seeing and hearing? If you reply, as most

do, that it is Mind or Nature or Buddha or one's Face before birth

or one's Original Home or Koan or Being or Nothingness or Empti-

ness or Form-and-Color or the Known or the Unknown or Truth

or Delusion, or say something or remain silent, or regard it as

Enlightenment or Ignorance, you fall into error at once. What is

more, if you are so foolhardy as to doubt the reality of this master,

you bind yourself though you use no rope. However much you

try to know it through logical reasoning or to name or call it,

you are doomed to failure. And even though all of you becomes

one mass of questioning as you turn inward and intently search

the very core of your being, you will find nothing that can be

termed Mind or Essence. Yet should someone call your name,

something from within will hear and respond. Find out this instant

who it is!

 

If you push forward with your last ounce of strength at the very

point where the path of your thinking has been blocked, and then,

completely stymied, leap with hands high in the air into the tremen-

dous abyss of fire confronting you--into the ever-burning flame

of your own primordial nature--all ego-consciousness, all delusive

feelings and thoughts and perceptions will perish with your ego-

root and the true source of your Self-nature will appear. You will

feel resurrected, all sickness having completely vanished, and will

experience genuine peace and joy. You will be entirely free. For

the first time you will realize that walking on water is like walking

on ground and walking on ground like walking on water; that all

day long there is speaking, yet no word is ever spoken; that through-

out the day there is walking, yet no Step is ever taken; that while

the clouds are rising over the southern mountains their rain is

falling over the northern range; that when the lecture gong is struck

in China the lecture begins in Korea; that sitting alone in a ten-

foot-square room you meet all the Buddhas of the ten quarters;

that without seeing a word you read the more than seven thousand

volumes of the sutras; that though you acquire all the merits and

virtues of good actions, yet in fact there are none.

 

Do you want to know what the Mind is? The layman Ho asked

Baso: "What is it that transcends all things in the universe?" Baso

answered: "I will tell you after you have swallowed all the water

of the West River in one gulp." Upon hearing this, Ho became

deeply enlightened. Now, how do you swallow all the water of

the West River in one gulp! If you grasp the spirit of this, you

will be able to go through ten thousand koans at one time and

perceive that walking on water is like walking on ground and walk-

ing on ground like walking on water. If you imagine I am describing

something supernatural, you will one day have to swallow a red-

hot iron ball before Yama-raja. But if it is not supernatural, what

is it? Face up to this!

 

 

 

-----

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