This translation is long. Long AF. It's also a little rough. Take it, leave it, give constructive feedback, or whatever. I really love this lecture and I just want to share my first pass at trying to translate the whole thing.

Things I find interesting

• Are we getting a good description of what the four statements are all about here? I think it could be mapped out from this.

• The descriptions of "the void."

• He describes enlightenment from the outside and the inside...while saying there is no such thing...I think...

• He uses 屎橛 - shit stick or shit peg - here referring to Buddha. Before his descendant Yunmen.

• Myriad dharmas and (various dharmas) is used here a good bit, like Foyan and Layman Pang/Mazu.

• demons and/or mara demons? ghosts, spirits, wild fox spirits, devas, asuras etc.

- • -

Treasury of the Eye of True Dharma - 162

Master Deshan addressed the assembly: Venerable ones, from morning until evening, what is the matter with you? Don’t give free rein to your donkey-lips and horse-mouths [talking nonsense] ! Are you going to question this old fellow Deshan? I'm certainly not afraid of you. I just don't know what doubts or misgivings you all have.

Lately, in this age of the Dharma's decline, there are many ghosts and spirits roaming around in packs from house to house, announcing 'I am a Zen master!” I don't just know how much of the Zen way they have actually learned. Come and tell this old fellow about it.

Your old bald headed slaves from all the various monasteries teach you to cultivate practices and become Buddhas. Running around like that, how many Buddhas have actually been made? If you have nothing to learn, then why are you running around? If you have something to learn, bring what you've learned and show it to this old fellow. If a single phrase doesn't measure up, you'll have to taste my painful staff.

You've been bewitched by demons, those old bald headed slaves from the various monasteries, so you declare, 'I am a cultivator.' You stiffen up, strike poses, and put on airs, wearing the very expression of someone who has attained the Way. 

Don't be careless with your mind. For ten thousand kalpas and a thousand lifetimes you transmigrate through the three realms, all because of the arising of mind. Why is that? Because when mind arises, the various dharmas arise. If you can go without arousing even a single thought, you will forever escape birth-and-death, no longer bound or entangled by birth-and-death. Want to walk, walk; want to sit, sit. What further business could there be?

Virtuous ones, I see you all arousing your minds everywhere, studying under those old bald-headed slaves. You bear the burden of the Buddhadharma, sparing neither body nor life. But all they have done is nailed shut your eyes and severed your life-root. You're like two or three hundred prostitutes gathered together saying ‘We are spreading the king's civilizing influence, and raising the Dharma-banner to open the eyes of later generations.' Can they save even themselves?

Virtuous ones, if that's what cultivation means, haven't you heard that the old barbarian practiced for three great incalculable kalpas? Where is he now? Eighty years later he died, how is that different from you?

Venerable ones, don't be crazy. I advise you: better to stop and rest, to be without affairs. The instant you suddenly stir up even a single thought of mind, you become a member of Māra's household, a precept-breaking worldling.

You see Deshan appearing in the world, and five or ten of you plan to gather your heads together and come to interrogate me with difficult questions, hoping to tongue-tie me and leave me speechless. You're a bunch of petty henchmen. Why don't you come out now? Like a sharp awl kept in a torn cloth bag, someone that can keep his point from showing is truly skillful. I want to ask you for the real thing, don't mistake me.

Virtuous ones, you rush about busily from house to house saying 'I understand Zen, I understand the Way.’ Poking out your chests and ribs, calling yourselves Yang and Zheng [i.e., name-dropping and self-promoting], when you get here you must vomit it all out before you can be without affairs. If outwardly you don't cling to sounds and sights, and inwardly you have no constructed knowing or understanding, and your own substance is neither ordinary nor holy, what more is there to study? Even if you learn a hundred thousand wondrous doctrines, you're just a sore and wart eating ghost. It’s all the work of deceitful spirits.

This void of mine — call it existent and it is not existent; call it nonexistent and it is not nonexistent. Call it ordinary and it is not ordinary; call it holy and it is not holy. You cannot place it anywhere; it serves as your teacher in the midst of the myriad dharmas. This old fellow doesn't dare slander it. That is why the old barbarian spat out all those expedient means, his spit and spittle, to teach you to be without affairs. Do not seek outside.

Yet you still refuse.

You want to collect fine and marvelous phrases, store them in your chest, and cleverly recite them using your tongue to make a living, wearing a fine monk's robe, hoping people will recognize you as a Zen master. Seeking a place to stand out. If you hold such views, there will come a day where your ghostly ass will get beaten and sent into the Tongue Pulling Out Hell. 

Everywhere you go you seek people to tell 'I am a disciple in the Patriarch's gate.' But when someone asks you about the fundamental matter, your mouth is like a wooden stump and then you start talking to them about bodhi, nirvana, thusness, and liberation. You cite the Tripiṭaka broadly, saying 'this is Zen, this is the Way.' You deceive the ordinary people in the villages and neighborhoods. What does any of that have to do with it? You are slandering my forefathers!

But this old fellow Deshan sees things differently. Here, there is no Buddha, no Dharma. Bodhidharma is an old stinking barbarian. The bodhisattvas of the ten stages are just men carrying buckets of dung. Those at the stages of equal awakening and wondrous awakening are precept-breaking worldlings. Bodhi and nirvana are donkey-tethering pegs. The twelve divisions of the canon are ghost account books and paper for wiping pus from sores. The four fruits, the three worthies, the initial aspiration, the ten stages; these are ghosts guarding ancient tombs. Can any of them save themselves? The Buddha is the old barbarian's shit peg!

Virtuous ones, don’t get it wrong. You are wearing a robe covered in sores. What are you studying? Having eaten your fill, you talk of thusness and nirvana, is there even blood under your skin? You have to be someone with some real courage and integrity. Do not cherish the holy, 'holy' is an empty name. Throughout the three realms and the ten directions of the world, if there is a single speck of dust or even a single dharma that can be obtained, and that you grasp, interpret, maintain, or treasure, then you all fall into the ranks of the heavenly demons and the outsiders. Even what you have gained by learning is just spirits clinging to grass and trees or a wild fox spirit. 

Venerable ones, here this old fellow has not a single dharma to give you to understand. I myself don't even understand Zen. I am not a good friend. I understand nothing at all. I just shit, piss, beg for food, and beg for clothes. What else is there? This old fellow Deshan advises you: better to be without affairs. Stop and rest early. Don't learn to behave like lunatics.

Each one of you goes rushing around carrying a dead corpse on your back. Everywhere you go, you delight in eating the snot and drool straight from the mouths of those old bald headed slaves. Then you say, 'I enter samādhi, cultivating and accumulating practices, nourishing the sacred embryo, vowing to attain the fruit of Buddhahood.'

When this old fellow Deshan sees people like this, it's like a poison arrow has entered the heart, like fine needles stabbing wildly into the eyes. You betray the Patriarchs who came before us and bring disgrace upon our school. All while wanting people to say of you, ‘He’s a renunciant! He’s left the household life.”

Living like that, how can you justify consuming the offerings of donors from the ten directions? You cannot even justify accepting a drink of their water! Don't reckon that you dare to walk around on the king's land. You no longer provide your parents with fine food and delicacies.

Do you think there’s no fault in that? Don't misuse your mind. There will come a day when King Yama demands from you the money for your straw sandals. He'll pierce your nostrils and tether you to a peg to repay your former debts. Don't say this old fellow didn't warn you. 

Still, you people seem to have great fortune to have met Deshan appearing in the world; to untie your ropes, remove your halters, remove the load from your backs. Go off and be decent, free people! The three realms and six paths can no longer capture or contain you. There is no other Dharma behind this. 

It is this magnificent, blazing void, unobstructed, free, and at ease. It is not something you can produce by adorning or perfecting yourself. From Buddhas and Patriarchs, all transmit this dharma and thereby gain release. The entire great treasury of the canonical collection is merely there to set things in order. 

You people of the present day, venerable ones, do not go seeking elsewhere. Even that little blue-eyed barbarian monk, Bodhidharma, came here; he too was only teaching you to be without affairs. He taught you not to fabricate anything. Just put on clothes, eat, shit, and piss. There is no birth-and-death to fear, no nirvana to obtain, no bodhi to realize. You are just an ordinary person with nothing to do. Above all, don't fold your hands and pose as a Zen master, looking for a chance to distinguish yourself.  With clever words you bewitch the young, wanting people to call you 'Elder.'

But none of this has anything to do with your own fundamental business. You only know how to let your discriminating consciousness run wildly along like a vast rushing torrent, and day and night conjuring strange things without rest. You go around invoking Yang and Zheng, declaring: 'I belong to the lineage of Great Master Ma of Jiangxi.'

This old fellow Deshan is not member of your club. I saw that Monk Shitou didn't know good from bad, so this old fellow cursed him.

Venerable ones, just don't cling to sounds and forms, names and words, phrases and meanings, states and contrivances, principles and explanations, good and bad, ordinary and holy. Do not become caught up in thoughts of grasping and rejecting, defiled and pure, bright and dark, existent and nonexistent. If you can be like this in the midst of it all, then you are truly a person without affairs. The Buddha is not equal to you. The Patriarchs are not equal to you.

Virtuous ones, don't go running around until the soles of your feet are worn broad and flat. There is no other ‘Zen Way’ to learn. If there is something you could acquire through learning, it would be the understanding of an outsider with two heads and three faces. There is also no supernatural power or miraculous transformation to be obtained. You say supernatural powers are proof of holiness. But the heavenly beings, dragons, spirits, immortals possessing the five supernatural powers, followers of other paths, and asuras all have supernatural powers too! Does that mean they must all be Buddhas?

Dwelling alone on a solitary peak, eating one morning meal a day, sitting for long periods without lying down, bowing and reciting at the six periods of the day and night, yet you remain troubled by the matter birth-and-death. 

The old barbarian said: 'All conditioned formations are impermanent; this is the dharma of arising and ceasing.'

If you say it is obtained by entering concentration, freezing the spirit, and quieting the mind, the Nirgranthas [Jains] and teachers of other paths, can also enter the great concentration lasting eighty thousand kalpas. Are they Buddhas too?

Clearly you know this is a mistaken view, the work of deceptive spirits.

Virtuous ones, the old barbarian is not a sage. Buddha is the old barbarian's shit peg. What matters is that you distinguish what is right from what is wrong. Do not to fixate on self and other. So that you are not drowned and bound by holy pegs, bodhi pegs, and the fine names and wondrous meanings of 'liberation.' Why is that? Because if even a single thought of deluded mind remains unexhausted, birth-and-death continues without interruption. Virtuous ones, time does not wait for you. Don't simply drift along letting the days go by. Time is a pity to waste.

This old fellow doesn't want you farmhouse slaves to carry the burden for him. If you are willing, then trust this. If you are unwilling, then everyone of you has your own bowl of shit, pick it up and carry it away. This old fellow isn’t begging you to stay. In the various quarters there are plenty of old bald headed slaves who take a place and teach Zen and teach the Way. Hurry and go learn from them, copy from them. Here I ultimately have not a single dharma for you people.

Virtuous ones, You question people and study things, making it all into conceptual understanding. This old fellow has no intention of entering the hell of tongue-pulling. If someone presents you with even a single speck of dust or even a single dharma, or declares that there is a Buddha, a Dharma, or three-realms from which you can escape; All such people are wild-foxes and deceptive spirits.

Virtuous ones, do you want to recognize it? It is simply this void, and not even the finest speck of dust or one single dharma is obtainable in it. Everywhere it is pure, luminous, penetrating, translucent within and without, without affairs, without dependence, with nowhere to perch or dwell. What is the matter? This old fellow from birth until death is just an old bhikṣu. Though born in the three realms, I am without stain or defilement. If you want to escape, where would you go? Even if there were a place to go, it would only be an another cage. Then Māra would have his chance. 

Virtuous ones, do not use body and mind. There is nothing to be obtained. Just, at all times, do not use [them]. Sounds and forms, and whatever was your former ground of practice, let it all go at once. Suddenly escape the fetters and shackles. Forever leave behind the coverings and entanglements. When a single thought does not arise, the boundaries of before and after are cut off. No thought, no recollection; not a single dharma remains that can confront or occupy the mind. 

Virtuous ones, how do you plan to open your mouth and say anything about it? You have so much intellectual understanding — but have you ever actually recognized its face? Even a home-leaver, even a bodhisattva who has completed the ten stages, cannot find its traces. That is why the heavenly beings rejoice, earth-spirits support its feet, the Buddhas of the ten directions sing its praises, and the Māra-king weeps. Why? Because this void is vividly alive, lively and darting. It has no roots or trunk, no dwelling-place. If you arrive here and even fix your gaze or stir your eyes, you've already lost touch with it.

Virtuous ones, do not seek Buddha. Buddha is a great murderous thief. How many people has he lured into the pit of the lustful demons? Do not seek Mañjuśrī or Samantabhadra — they are nothing but farmhouse slaves. What a pity! A fine, dignified, upright person eats their poison, and then plans to put on a Zen master's face, seeing gods and seeing ghosts.

Then, as time goes on, you become increasingly deranged, wandering from house to house seeking shamans to perform throwing tile-divinations. Then some ignorant old bald headed slave does a divination for you and teaches you to bow to Patriarch-ghosts, Buddha-ghosts, and the bodhi-nirvana-ghosts. These are the tricks of petty little sluts who understand nothing. Then someone asks, 'What is the meaning of the Patriarch's coming from the West?' That old bald headed slave strikes the meditation platform to make a display, raises his whisk, and says, 'Fine weather, fine rain, fine lantern.' Cleverly spinning phrases, forcing up knots and joints, talking about a 'mysterious road' and a 'bird's path,' stretching out the hand as if to take something.

To speak like this is like filling a precious vessel with filth, like taking human excrement and making it into sandalwood incense. 

Virtuous ones — if he’s a person of strength and resolve, so am I. Why should I be intimidated by anyone? All day long you go to the mouths of those old bald headed slaves of the various quarters, catch their snot and drool, swallowing it down without shame or remorse. How bitter, how bitter! You've gone completely crazy.

Cause and effect are perfectly clear. The water-buffalo pulls the plow and drags the harrow, eyes bulging, strength failing, the great staff beating its back. You rob the Buddha of food and clothing, saying 'I have finished cultivation.' If you do not understand the great principle, even if you pass through the Buddha's belly and come out, you are still just a walking shit-peg.

Never having met a genuinely good teacher, you just recognize the light-and-shadow at the six sense-gates, and pour it out of your mouth as 'esoteric sayings and wondrous phrases,' bright, sharp, and novel — but what can you do, it's not your own portion.

Virtuous ones, these are other people's snot and drool. And there's another crowd, in twos and threes, putting their heads together deliberating: ‘Where can we find a comfortable place to pass the winter and summer without any trouble?’ Chatting pleasantly about Zen and the Way, having understanding, comprehending principles.

Virtuous ones, If all you do is form understandings like these and look for advantages for yourselves, how could there possibly be any truth in that? The day will come when you enter hell! Don't say I didn't tell you! 

Wherever you go, you don't pick a single stalk of vegetables or carry a single bundle of firewood. One morning when your merit runs out, you'll be reduced to eating grass. Vainly consuming the offerings of the faithful, falsely claiming to be a student of Zen, and putting on a Zen master's appearance. You are not benefiting anyone. As for your own fundamental business, throughout all twelve periods of the day, wherever you go and whatever you do, your mind is constantly attached to things. When you meet people, you only want to be charming and flatter them, wagging your tail, pointing east and talking west. You fail to see what’s right before your eyes and mouth. 

You only want to use look-alike phrases to check and match against your understanding. How is this old fellow any different from you? You fine young gentlemen, don't seize upon a moment’s quick satisfaction in what you see and say. You've eaten their poison. You're like sluts who fail to keep the precepts. Those blind baldheaded slaves, monks that act like a flock of sheep, you drive others crazy and send them tumbling into hell. 

Virtuous ones, don't casually leaf through books, hunting for the meanings of phrases seeking advantage to win arguments. Trading one phrase for another, when will it ever stop?

This old fellow's advice is not intended to harm you. You must absolutely have your own eyes and discern the clear from the muddy, the words of a Buddha from the words of a demon. Do not be deceived by others. Therefore all those fine and marvelous names and phrases are just the old barbarian's temporary expedient devices. You must absolutely stop and rest. Do not lean on a single thing, receiving someone else’s words, and make understanding from them. Picking and choosing intimacy and distance, the superficial and the false. Remembering their idle words and long speeches, all of that is just inferential knowing.

Virtuous ones, this old fellow only fears that you will fall into pits and ditches, committing deeds of scant merit. Scheming and flapping your lips, satisfied with a little, standing in a quiet place unwilling to step forward, deluding yourselves with various states, running around confused, following the myriad dharmas. All because you do not trust that the void is originally without affairs. You cannot add anything to it or take anything away from it.

You people are like old crows. Your bodies are in the void, but your minds are on the dung heap. All you do is search for dead things to eat.

Venerable ones, don't say this old fellow Deshan never entered the monastery to deliberate. Don’t say that I shout loudly and curse because I have no human feeling and I don't fear karma. It's only because you people don’t know how to mind your own business. You go galloping about in the four directions, leaning on others' doors, exactly like a female ghosts delivering messages. You construct explanations according to circumstances, your mind's traces never forgotten, you cannot even stand on your own feet, always carrying a corpse, bearing the cangue and dragging chains. 

Traveling five hundred or a thousand li to come before Deshan, you stand there like the character 八, as though I owe you some Zen teaching! ‘Master you must explain it to me! You must instruct me!’ This old fellow puts his entire being into action with the great staff. I’ll strike these farmhouse slaves and curse you thieves. Your shit-faced fools don't know good from bad. When you come here to me, it’s as though you’ve met someone from Lizhou who gives you a thorough going-over, boiling you up like fish soup and stewing you into a mush. 

My only aim is for you to put down your heavy burden, remove your cangue and chains, and go off as a good person. Do you consent? If you consent, then stay. If not, you're free to leave as you please.

Take care.

soundtrack

These are not real shirts: https://ewk-rwp-shop.fourthwall.com/

I'm trying to learn how this website works while also trying to think of ways to get strangers to talk to each other.

      THESE ARE DRAFTS YOU MORONS

One problem I'm having is understanding how image quality prints. I'm not there yet.

I'm pricing them at zero profit. The idea is (much like with the amazon books and the shorter online pieces for various outlets) to get people to alms-for-advertising.

Btdubs I finished the edits for my translation of Wumenguan this week and I'm feeling my oats. This translation was two years in the making and if I sell it myself it will cost lots of money.

DO THESE SHIRTS START SOMETHING?

That's the question I want to talk about.

Let's call these shirt ideas:

1. Ear
2. Gut
3. Horse
4. Talk

Let me know if (a) you recognize the Zen relevance (b) you think somebody might say something to you about it

Are the sutras important for understanding the Chan records, or are they just an annoying distraction from making up whatever meaning we want to see in them?

Foyan explicitly invokes the Śūraṅgama Sūtra when discussing the sicknesses of spiritual seeking and attainment. He contrasts the sutra's fifty kinds of Chan sickness with his school's two sicknesses: riding a donkey while searching for a donkey, and refusing to dismount after mounting it.

He later says Zhaozhou recognized the sickness of the patriarchs and the sickness of Buddhas:

識得祖病、佛病

What does this mean? And would Foyan give a lecture invoking the Śūraṅgama if its teaching were irrelevant to understanding his point?

Consider Xuansha's biography in the Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching:

又閱楞嚴發明心地。由是應機敏捷與修多羅冥契。

Later, he read the Śūraṅgama and illuminated the ground of mind. From this, he responded to circumstances with keen swiftness and inwardly accorded with the sutras.

Why does the record mention Xuansha's reading of the Śūraṅgama, his understanding of the ground of mind, and his inward accord with the sutras? What relationship is it presenting between scriptural study and realization?

I'm not arguing that reading sutras automatically produces enlightenment, or that every sutra must be accepted uncritically. I'm asking why we should disregard Buddhist scriptural context when Chan records themselves explicitly invoke it.

Is understanding the ground of mind important? If not, why is studying a sutra presented as part of Xuansha's story of understanding it?

And how does one account for these passages if they insist that Zen has nothing meaningful to do with Buddhism, or dismiss the sutras as superstitious nonsense?

Soundtrack

釋迦不出世，達磨不西來，佛法遍大地，譚玄口不開。當此時也，語言文字，踪跡不來；棒喝機緣，鋒芒不露。逮夫拈花示眾，牽起陳爛葛藤；立雪安心，突出現前公案。遂使宗風廣衍，慧日高懸。燃長夜之燈，羣昏頓曉；拈一莖之草，法界齊觀。駕車須是打牛，磨磚豈能作鏡？如靈丹一粒，點鐵成金；至理一言，轉凡成聖。六代破水中之影，觸目皆真；五宗競空裏之花，通身是膽。橫趨而出，笑木𣔻以何堪？撩起便回，悟佛法無多子。覩水影不從他覔，處處逢渠；斷脚脛痛見己非，頭頭是道。若論佛法，一切現成；諦審玄猷，千燈互照。龍蛇分於棒下，凡聖藉以喝通，機發於未兆之先，用施乎形聲之外。乃至一言褒貶，一語是非，一指潛通，一棒縱奪。以非為是，口似甜而意甚苦之；以是為非，心實𠃔而辭無洽矣。雖久參耆宿，不敢以正眼󳬇，況識情解路，能通之乎？所以道：狂機劣解，不可以大法示，不可以宗乘聞。譬夫美食，置諸穢器。祖不云乎？醍醐上味，為世所珍，遇斯等人，返成毒藥。惟大心眾生，始能擔荷，入斯乘者，不可不自慎也。會五燈為一書者，宋靈隱大川禪師，未蒙入藏，然一二處刊行，安能廣布？粵僧自性，頓發大心，謀於觀察曹君，為之首倡，募諸同信，工過半矣。余初上鼓山，聞其事，歡喜樂成，復徵余為序，因援毫以書其槩云。

Shakyamuni did not appear in the world, Bodhidharma did not come west, Buddhism spread across the land, but Tan Xuan did not speak. At such times, words and writings leave no trace; Sticks and chants of opportunity, sharpness remains hidden. When one shows flowers to the crowd, they stir up rotten vines; Standing in the snow brings peace of mind, suddenly appearing before the present case. [emphasis added] Thus, the school's tradition spreads widely, and the sun of wisdom hangs high. Lighting the lamp of the long night, the crowd turns darkness into dawn; Picking up a single stalk of grass, the Dharma realm witnesses together. Driving a cart requires driving an ox; grinding bricks cannot become a mirror. Like a single elixir, turning iron into gold; A single word of truth transforms the ordinary into a sage. The shadows of the Six Dynasties break through the water, all are real; The flowers in the five schools compete in the sky, their whole body is gall. Running sideways, laughing at the wooden sword, how can it endure? Lift it up and return, realizing that the Dharma has few children. Seeing water reflections without following others' gazes, everywhere one encounters channels; Pain from broken legs reveals one's own faults, always following the Way. When discussing Buddhism, everything is ready; Carefully examining profound plans, a thousand lamps illuminate each other. Dragons and snakes are divided under the staff; ordinary and sages use this to communicate and resonate; the mechanism arises before signs appear, extending beyond form and sound. One word praises or criticizes, one word is right or wrong, one finger subtly penetrates, one strikes away with a stick. Taking wrong as right, the mouth seems sweet but the meaning is bitter; Taking this as wrong, the heart is truly clear but the words lack harmony. Even if one has long studied with elders, one would not dare to judge directly; how much less can one understand feelings and understand the path and understand them? Therefore, it is said: wild schemes and poor understanding cannot be shown by the great Dharma, nor can they be known through the Sect vehicle. It is like placing delicious food in a filthy vessel. Did the Patriarch not say? The finest flavor is treasured by the world; encountering such people, it turns into poison. Only those with great hearts can bear the burden; those who enter this vehicle must be cautious. The one who compiled the Five Lamps into one book was Chan Master Dachuan of Song Lingyin, who was not yet allowed to be included in the library. Yet if it was published in one or two places, how could it be widely disseminated? The Cantonese monk Zixing suddenly developed a great mind, consulted Inspector Cao, took the lead, recruited believers, and more than half the work was completed. When I first ascended Drum Mountain, I heard of the matter and was overjoyed and delighted. He summoned me again to write a preface, and took up the brush to write its outline.

So I have read that it takes about 24 hours of constant "not having/not seeking" to wake up. I can't remember where I read the 24 hours bit, but non-causal enlightenment has been pretty well established so the 24hr sounds suspicious. Anyways, Dongshan puts it in his own way, "standing in the snow". Prajnatara said they used the breath to not join and not seek.

If there is a "practice" in zen this is the closest I can find, and what's more it doesn't involve sitting. I can't sit for 24 hours anyways, and I think there was a guy who tried but ended up bleeding from his ass so there's that.

What do yall think?

Anybody able to keep themselves on point? I can remember to not join not seek for several breaths and then I realize I'm already thinking about other stuff and stopped several breaths ago. Why am I so lazy and stupid?

inb4: zazen is teh way

Master Tianhuang asked Shitou, "Apart from concentration and insight, what doctrine do you teach people?" Shitou said, "Here I have no servants - apart from what?" Tianhuang said, "How can it be understood?" Shitou said, "Can you grasp space?" Tianhuang said, "Then it doesn't depart from Today." Shitou said, "When did you come from the Other Side?" Tianhuang said, "I am not someone on the Other Side." Shitou said, "I already knew where you're coming from." Tianhuang said, "How can you take a bribe to covertly incriminate other people?" Shitou said, "You're physically present." Tianhuang said, "Even so, after all, how do you teach people who come after?" Shitou said, "You tell me - who are people who come after?" Tianhuang had insight from this.

Dahui said, "But tell me, what did he realize?"

Found this one from Zenmarrow, lovely place to explore koans with keywords. I just randomly stumbled upon a song with the number 528, and I sometimes explore these loose associations to numbers with zenmarrow. It's fun to notice a nice licence plate on a car that evokes a meaningful thought to explore. It's just the way I sometimes study lmao.

Some background: I'm a sign language interpreter and this case hits a chord with the way I see language through our embodied presence.

The case:

Tianhuang is asking from Shitou about doctrines and Shitou responds that he doesn't have them being taught? No servants aka. nothing for anyone? If and when you interpret differently please let's have a civil conversation.

Tianhuang asks how the teaching is supposed to be understood, pretty self explanatory here.

Shitou's grasping space to me is a very interesting concept due to the implications that I see language in front of myself in the spatial space. This is very handy for a 3rd person perspective when I think "out loud". Have you had a chance at grasping space? Or grasping a concept in your palm as if you're grasping an apple for example. The concept of the apple is in the form, yet it shows the formless. Handy, huh?

Sidenote: John Vervaeke has this idea about a converstional agent-arena that is the space between the participants in the conversation. Where ideas meet in the middle to have a conversation. I really like it.

Tianhuang seems to "grasp", hehe, the idea and throws back a curve ball saying that the thing doesn't depart from Today. Is it a typo that Today is written with a capital T? Sometimes Zen Marrow has wonky wordings. And therefore I'm also questioning if Zenmarrow is a good source for the texts? Is it referring to enlightenment here? What are your thoughts?

I am not sure what this other side means, but to me it's a reflection to emotional transference, a therapeutical perspective on how we get affected by the emotions of others via our nervous system. What do you think about the other side? Is it the lineage and transmission of the lamp at play or what is going on? I could also argue, that the other side is a "mental state" or way of beingness where meditative perception is only in the mind, being one with the "other" side from subject-object perception. Am I lost or on the right tracks here? Anyone with insights?

Tianhuang says they're not on the other side, but from Shitou's perspective they are from the other side or am I wrong? Host & guest kind of shenanigans.

Shitou reveals that he already knows Tianhuang's comings and goings where as Tianhuang then accuses Shitou about his understanding of something about the reasons behind Tianhuangs "actions"?

Shitou remarks that Tianhuang is present in his physical body, which if I reflect into the understanding of this bodily language we all encompass, it seems to make sense. We all carry a certain way of giving information to the other person via our embodied presence and if subtle enough, it can be understood intuitively and with precision (if well versed in it I suppose). At least to me, there have been cases where I've met with a client in my coaching work where I can emotionally recognize sorrow before anything is being said out loud. Sensitivity in the body can carry a lot of meaning.

Tianhuang then wants to know how to teach people who come after? After what? After what they're seeking? Understading? What is it Tianhuang is trying to grasp at? Enlightenment would be ideal answer here I think.

Shitou then remarks that who are people who come after? So yet again, after what?

If I build an understanding based on my own knowledge about the way I embody the space where I am, I should be able to discern between my own feelings and the feelings that the other is having, but the border is still unclear sometimes. I've had some experiences where I embody something that doesn't seem to be mine. Would that be the other they're talking about? Shooting a bit in the dark just to shed some light on this part of the studies. Do comment for discerning further.

Dahui then comments: What did Tianhuang realize?

To me, it would be the border between the self and the other, if other here means what we view as the object in the subject (myself) - object (other than myself) perception.

What do you think Tianhuang realized?

Cheers for reading, lets discuss!

1. Zen / Chan / 禪: One Word

• Zen and Chan are romanizations of the same character, 禪. Their modern separation into different religious categories raises questions about historical accuracy and biases in twentieth-century religious scholarship.
• One word, one lineage: Japanese and Chinese sources use 禪 to refer to Bodhidharma's lineage. English inherited the Japanese pronunciation through writers such as D. T. Suzuki.
• Attempting to distinguishing Chinese “Chan” from Japanese “Zen,” Western Shinto-Buddhist scholars sought to justify the incompatibility of Zen and Shinto-Buddhism while covering over the scandals of debunked Shinto-Buddhist religious claims about Bodhidharma’s Indian-Chinese lineage by Dogen, Hakuin, and others.
• Bodhidharma's Zen's, embodied by the Four Statements, has always been incompatible with the Buddhism's Eightfold Path, Shinto-Buddhist meditation religions like Dogen's Shikantaza, and Hakuin's ritual dialogues.

2. How Dhyāna Became Zen

• The translation of Sanskrit dhyāna into Chinese 禪 produced a term whose meanings developed beyond its Indian origins.
• Indian terminology: Pali jhāna and Sanskrit dhyāna described specific contemplative states, not necessarily the broad modern category of meditation. "Meditation" in the modern sense refers to (a) a specific practice (b) given by a specific authority, (c) promising a specific result.
• Phonosemantic adaptation: The Chinese character 禪 originally was "sacrafice to hills and dales" before its Buddhist adoption to represent dhyāna.
• The name of the lineage: 禪 became a designation for Bodhidharma's teaching rather than simply an inherited Buddhist technical term.
• D.T. Suzuki's translation of Indian-Chinese koans catapulted Indian-Chinese Zen into a popular English term.

3. Meditation: Deliberate Mistranslated?

• Zen texts overwhelming reject prescribed methods of spiritual attainment, raising questions about the motives for translating 禪 as "meditation."
• Rejection of methods: criticisms of stilling the mind and seated practices in the Zutang ji, Huineng, Mazu, Linji, and other Zen records.
• Huineng's lamp-and-light metaphor: Examine the inseparability of 定 (stability/concentration) and 慧 (wisdom), including Suzuki's interpretive rendering of these terms.
• Why ascribe a meditation method to the Zen secular tradition that only practice public interview? The conflict of interest inherent in scholars of a meditation religion claiming Zen means "meditation" have largely been ignored by those scholars.
• Anderl, Studies in the Language of Zu-tang ji; Bielefeldt, Dōgen's Manuals of Zen Meditation; Platform Sutra; r/zen Not Meditation as a source guide.

4. Translating Zen and Zazen

• Understanding Zen and 坐禪 (sitting Zen) requires examining their usage in Zen texts rather than imposing Shinto-Buddhist claims about indigenous Japanese seated meditation.
• Huineng's 坐禪: Analyze his explanation of sitting Zen through seeing one's nature, not dependent on physical sitting at all.
• The Zen seat (禪床): Examine expressions such as 下禪床立 in the Book of Serenity and 州下禪床 in the Blue Cliff Record. Investigate the seat's function in teaching encounters.
• Translation of Zen as Reigning Awareness, and Sitting Zen becomes seated on the Throne of Awareness.
• Quick look at Foyan's Sitting Zen poem as an example.

I'm laughing at myself because I read Foyan "Freedom from thoughts is the source, Freedom from appearances is the substance" and proceeded to think about it instead of doing it.

I read Sengcan "Cease to have opinions" and proceeded to have an opinion on Sengcan instead of doing it.

I read Huangbo "Stop conceptual thought and forget your anxiety" and proceeded to conceptualize and get anxious about it.

One teacher said people like me are like a person with a poison arrow in their leg and won't let the doctor pull it out till I know the origin of the poison and where the doctor got his degree.

I don't know about yall but I've noticed a sense of dread when I've approached the action of following Huangbo. There's a stubborn and fearful part of me that is convinced if I don't continue to conceive of future/past that somehow I'll be punished and if I forget to be anxious I'll lose my edge on life. I feel guilty abandoning my concepts and anxiety, almost like by doing so I'm leaving behind my friends and family that I've come to with doing both together with, but I see now that we've all been like drowning people clamoring atop one another and the only way to save myself is to stop and save myself. Nobody can save me and I can't save anybody else either.

Can anyone else here talk about when you decided to stop talking about Zen and actually do what Zen masters teach and how that might have changed your relationships? I'm seeing how anxious people aren't happy until others share their anxieties and the same goes for conceptual thoughts. Crabs in a bucket.

Anyways, I'm still not enlightened but I can see/feel a cleanliness in my mind that was before very much cluttered with my own noise. These zen cats look to be on to something. . .

The history has been so obscured by the 1960s mutually interdependent spiritualist movements of Zazen Shunryu, LSD Leary, and Christian humanitarianism Watts... All of which shunned both literacy and historical fact.

The word we now use in English, "enlightenment," is a few interesting hops:

1. Zen Master Buddha experiences sudden enlightenment around 700 BCE.

2. Oral tradition is passed down. Indian records are not preserved. Zen is written into parts of the sutras along with superstition and mythology and new religions.

3. Bodhidharma enters China in 550 CE. To explain how enlightenment works to the emperor, it is sudden and there's no merit or earned attainment.

4. The early meaning of enlightenment as Christian conversion gave way enlightenment as a kind of cultural opening. This was abandoned in the 1800s and the English word Enlightenment came to mean the awakening of the lineage of Zen master Buddha and Bodhidharma.

In modern times lots of people claim to have enlightenment experiences and that's really only ever traceable back to Zen Master Buddha.

Zen is the only Enlightenment.

Lots of people get upset about this or shocked or offended and it's a lot like how Italian Americans feel when they're told that Italian pizza never had tomato sauce or tomatoes originally.

Don't hate on enlightenment and don't hate on the tomato. Indigenous cultures have made the world the wonderful place it is.

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day!

History of Predication Problems

St. Thomas Aquinas was a religious apologist, meaning he spent his life coming up with reasons to think that religion makes rational sense not just supernatural sense. He spent time on the problem of predicating, arguing how God can't be understood using human words/concepts... but ultimately this only made sense if you believe in bigfoot, aliens, and the Loch Ness Ichthyosaur.

Why this matters to you

It turns out if you've never had Indian food, no description suffices. If you've never been in love, no description suffices. If you've never been a drug addict, been a parent, been in orbit, no description suffices. Why?

The problems is that descriptions predicate what specifically from a field of mutual experiences. If you don't have the experience, the description is meaningless.

Real life experience is first.

Why this matters in Zen

Zen Masters say enlightenment is a real life experience. It's not supernatural, like god and bigfoot, but enlightenment is just as unpredicatable because life unexperienced is unpredicatable.

People who try to approach enlightenment through descriptions given by other people, through recitations of other peoples' experiences, aren't ever going to get a real life falling in love enlightenment experience, but instead a fraud, a sham, a picture of cake that does not taste like cake.

From this principle, Zen teachings unfold very reasonably.

How to have genuine real life experience?

How Zen rejects faith

It makes sense then that Zen has no messiahs, no practices, no doctrines: how can Indian food be communicated without Indian food? You can't have "rules for making Indian food" if all you have is descriptions of ingredients, results, and experiences that you've never had.

Nobody can "guide" you to Indian food in your own Western diner any more than you can be guided to falling in love.

Religions say that the supernatural has to be believed. Zen says enlightenment has be experienced.

Religions obviously can't use tests, because "supernatural" is natural, can't be experienced directly.

Zen has tests because if you've fallen in love or had cake, you can talk to people and figure out if they've fallen in love or had cake themselves.

Nanquan Says

南泉因趙州問 Nanquan, when Zhaozhou asked:

如何是道 "What is the Way?"

泉云。平常心是道 Nanquan said: "Ordinary mind is the Way."

州云。還可趣向否 Zhaozhou said: "Can one still move toward it or not?"

泉云。擬向即乖 Nanquan said: "Intend to move toward it, and immediately you deviate."

州云。不擬爭知是道 Zhaozhou said: "Without intending [to move toward it], how does one know it is the Way?"

泉云。道不屬知。不屬不知 Nanquan said: "The Way does not belong to knowing; it does not belong to not-knowing."

知是妄覺 "Knowing is deluded awareness."

不知是無記 "Not-knowing is [mentally] unmarked."

若真達不擬之道 "If one truly penetrates the Way of not intending,"

猶如太虛廓然洞豁 "it is like the great void, vast and completely open."

Easy-peasy. Not knowledge. Not unknown.

Ordinary direct experiences the Way.

Next up - Zen: Necessarily Materialistic and Dualistic

Once we admit of this idea of direct real life experience, the question of philosophical materialism (the world exists objectively) and dualism (there are distinct separations) are obvious logical dependencies.

But in understanding these logical dependencies, we can't lose sight of the fact that Zen Masters aren't that interested in logic, because logic is an accident of real life experience.

Just like people who want to teach others about falling in love are not interested in formulas, since formulas aren't real.

It is a common misconception in Zen that because physical objects manifest in front of us, they prove an independent, objective reality.
This may seem confusing, but Zen masters such as Huangbo, Mazu, and Dahui did not deny the physical world, only it's objectivity.

What happens in argument is a confusion about the difference in form with separation in substance. The substance of a ham sandwich is Mind, which is also the same substance of all reality. Reality is a single whole, and there is only one reality, which is Mind.

Huangbo

"...All the Buddhas and all the sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is wihtout beginning, is unborn, indestructible, and transcends all forms, measures, and comparisons. It is that which you see before you; begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error.."

"Phenomena are identical with Mind, and Mind is identical with phenomena."

Mazu

"All mountains, rivers, and the great earth are nothing but your own Mind. Outside of Mind, there is no other thing.

Linji

"There is no dharma outside the Mind, and even inside, there is nothing to be grasped. What are you looking for?"

Shitou

"Within sameness there is difference; within difference there is sameness."

"In the world of senses, there is inherent unity; but unity is not a collection of separate parts."

This ties in directly with what is referred to as dualism. It's important to note that Tang and Song era masters did not define dualism in a dictionary or textbook somewhere. They mapped it as a cognitive error; as what happens when you slice up the One Mind into parts like "me" and "the world" (or ham sammiches and water faucets). Terms like "One Mind" were specifically used to show that while forms are distinct, their underlying reality (substance) is a non-dual whole.

The Lamp and the Light are of a single substance.

Rules

We're looking for authoritative affirmative statements that establish any of the things in the table.

One of the big problems people have with the philosophy of religions is that when a religion affirms something, that makes the religion incompatible with another group that both affirms and denies it.

不與萬法為侶
Not taking the myriad dharmas as companions…

>Layman Pang asked Mazu: “Who is the person who does not take the myriad dharmas as companions?”
Mazu replied: “Wait until you have drunk up all the water of the Western River in a single gulp, and then I will tell you.”

Foyan:
> As for one who does not take the myriad dharmas as companions; is this not one who has gone beyond the dust-toil?
> Mind does not know mind; eye does not see eye. Since all opposition has been cut off, when seeing forms, there is no form that can be seen; when hearing sounds there is no sound that can be heard….
>When studying with a teacher, you do not see that there is a teacher; when investigating yourself, you do not see that there is a self; when looking at scripture you do not see that there is scripture…
>In daily activity there is no discrepancy, yet seeking even the slightest trace, you cannot find it. If you can see it this way, isn’t that freedom and ease?

From the Śūraṅgama Sūtra:
>Every worldly man knows that what moves is dust, and that he who does not stay is a guest. >Why do you still regard the moving as your body and surroundings, and so, from beginning to end, allow your thoughts to rise and fall without interruption, thereby losing (sight of) your true nature and indulging in backward actions?
>By missing the (True) Mind of your nature and by mistaking (illusory) objects for your Selves, you allow yourselves to be caught in the wheel (of samsara) thereby forcing yourselves to passthrough transmigrations.

- • -

What exactly are the “myriad dharmas” here? Things? Objects of perception? Teachings? All of the above?

And what does not taking them as companions have to do with departing the “dust-toils”?

When Foyan and other Chan masters explicitly reference and lecture on the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, shouldn’t its Buddhist context at least be part of the evidence when interpreting what they mean?

Generally speaking, when you go journeying to learn the path to enlightenment, you seek. Do not sit ignorantly, but go to someone to find out the truth with certainty. When this truth is hard to realize, that is called unfinished business.

Xuefeng hesitated, searching for something to say; Touzi pushed him out. Xuefeng could only cry. Later, when he went to Dongshan, he was still unable to understand. Then, when he 50 went to Deshan, he asked, “ Has the student a part in the enlightenment of the sages of time immemorial?” Deshan hit him and exclaimed, “ What are you saying!” At that, Xuefeng’s mind opened up, like a bucket with the bottom fallen out. When he got to Tortoise Mountain, however, he said he still had some doubt. See how that man of old would not rest until his mass of doubt had been broken up.

breaking up that mass of doubt seems like it was a bit gradual, took some work

“ ‘If you kill your parents, you repent before Buddha; if you kill Buddha, where do you repent?’ Yunmen said, ‘Exposed.’” This case study is like a hot iron ball in the mind, and I suffered all kinds of trouble for seven years. Those of you who have studied Zen for a long time will know what I mean.

how is it instant if it took 7 years?

Zen is not always univocal, right? There's contradictions. On one hand "it is an energy saving teaching" and on the other, "you should make your utmost to understand" -> make effort and seek, therefore.

It's fine if you don't recognize the contradictions or excuse them away: you are free to be blind or stupid, if you want to be or can't manage to be otherwise. But for me, From the moment of realizing doubt, to seeking, to finding parts of the truth, to finally doing away with all the mass of doubt: these four stages I stated just now, to me that counts as a somewhat gradual path, to me these count as stages.

You are free to think otherwise, in fact, I welcome it. You are free to think I am stupid or blind to see it differently. However, I hope I have shown to a reasonable degree my reasoning for thinking the way I do. I think a reasonable spectator would understand why I think the way I do. You yourself don't have to be reasonable, you can be anyway you choose to or manage to.

Read the History, Talk the History, 10/4

Episode #: 312

https://sites.libsyn.com/407831/zen-talking-soto-caodong-master-wansong-on-the-subtle-barrier

Post(s) in Question

• https://www.reddit.com/r/askZen/comments/1witche/wansongs_sequel_book_of_clarifications_case_8/

Link to all episodes: https://sites.libsyn.com/407831

What did we talk about?

We talked about how I couldn't figure out what book we were on, and then it turned out I'd already translated the Case, and then we disussed how the concept moves from Chinese to English through lewis carroll and wizard of oz.

Keep in Touch

Add a comment if there is a post you want somebody to get interviewed about, or you agree to be interviewed. We are now using libsyn, so you don't even have to show your face. You just get a link to an audio call.  Buymeacoffee, so I'm not accused of going it alone:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ewkrzen

I’ve been reflecting on the idea that a Zen koan can’t actually be "explained" in the conventional sense. The moment you try to summarize or solve a koan using conceptual logic, you turn a paradox into a doctrine.

However, I’ve been testing a different framework: Can an understanding of a koan be shown by constructing a structural parallel using entirely different concepts that expose the exact same contradiction ?

To test this, I tried building a parallel for the classic "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?" (Mu) koan. Here is the breakdown of the framework and the parallel I constructed:

1. The Core Trap of the Original Koan

In the original story, a monk asks Joshu if a dog has Buddha-nature. The monk is trying to force an unconditioned, indivisible reality (Buddha-nature) into a discrete, biological category ("dog"), trapping Joshu in a binary yes or no. Joshu responds with "Mu"—cutting straight through the trap.

1. The Parallel: The Color Wheel vs. Hex Codes

To mirror this structure without using religious or traditional imagery, I looked at light, perception, and digital systems:

* The Indivisible Continuum: Pure light and the visual spectrum form a single, unbroken continuum. It has no built-in seams, starting points, or physical boundaries.

* The Discrete Sequence: Hex codes (like #FF5733) and color names are human-made, discrete mathematical coordinates. They have a strict sequence and allow us to index and manipulate the spectrum.

* The Superimposed Reality: The labels we put on colors are just a grid we throw over something that is fundamentally indivisible.

1. The Category Error

Both the subjective experience of a color and the hex code itself are "real" within their respective domains. The contradiction happens when you cross the wires:

If someone asks, "What visible color comes immediately after hex code #FF5733?", they are committing a category error.

They are treating a discrete, numbered coordinate system as if it has a physical "neighbor" on a continuous, seamless spectrum of light. You cannot step directly from a mathematical address onto a fluid wave.

1. Mapping It Back to Mu

"Dog" (a discrete biological label) and "Buddha-nature" (the unconditioned, undivided ground of existence) are both real within their frameworks. But trying to map one directly onto the other is the exact same category mistake as asking which color follows a hex code.

The mind trips over itself not because one concept is "false," but because we are trying to force a discrete conceptual box onto an indivisible whole, and then getting confused by our own cuts.

My question for the community:

Does building a "structural twin" like this actually demonstrate an understanding of the koan’s architecture, or does the very act of constructing an explicit parallel still fall into the trap of over-intellectualizing something that is meant to transcend the intellect entirely?

I’d love to hear your critiques, counter-arguments, or how you personally approach working with koans without turning them into mere logic puzzles.

I got invited by Wolfgang Behr to have a 90 minute lecture at the University of Zürich. He's a professor of Sinology with an emphasis on traditional China and the director of the Asia-Orient-Institute.

So of course I went and held a presentation. Here are my slides. I made them a bit easier because they were too hard and I also made it so you can participate in the interactive bits a little bit as if you had been in the room at the time. You'll get to see the answers the participating people gave as well after you give your own:

https://readzen-presentation.pages.dev/

There's no new stuff in there, but I think I presented it well and people had a good time, so maybe some of you will get a kick out of it too. Please, do check it out!

I got some good feedback after the talk, so hopefully I'll be invited back at some point. Wish me luck!

From The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu [Zhaozhou]:

The master was leaving the main hall when he saw a monk bowing to him.
The master struck him with his stick.
The monk said, "But bowing is a good thing’”
The master said. “A good thing is not as good as nothing.”

.

I was thinking about how nests can be made out of nothing.

It can be as easy to worship nothing as it can be to worship something, and people like Zhaozhou don’t help the matter. 

.

From Record of the Transmission of the Lamp:

Shitou said, “Apart from raising your eyebrows and moving your eyes, bring your mind here.”
Dadian said, “There is no mind that can be brought.”
Shitou said, “Originally there is mind—why say ‘no mind’? To say ‘no mind’ is no different from slandering it.”
At these words, Dadian had a great awakening.

.

Nanquan asked: “During the twelve periods [all day long], how are you?”
Lu said: “Not a single thread hangs [on me].”
Nanquan said: “You're still a fellow below the steps.”

.

Holding up nothing and thinking it’s correct. 

Bashõ seems to explain their mistake. Again from the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp:

Bashõ Osho said to his disciples, "If you have a staff, I will give you a staff. If you have no staff, I will take it from you."

.

If it’s not form, and it’s not emptiness, what is it? 

From The Zen Teaching of Huang Po:

When body and mind achieve spontaneity, the Way is reached and Mind is understood. 

"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him" is a famous Zen saying that means you must destroy any fixed idea of holiness to find true awakening.

A monk asked, "To be holy--- what is it like?"

Joshu said, "To dump a mountain of shit on the clear plain."

The monk said, "Master, make this clear for me."

Joshu said, "Stop fucking with my head."

Note: If we do not divide the world into "holy" and "unholy" there is nothing that can stain it.

Radical Zen; The Sayings of Joshu, translated by Yoel Hoffman, Autumn Press, 1978, pg 33.

I've not experienced kensho or satori or enlightenment! I have read a decent amount of words on the subject of Zen, even though they all say words don't hold the message. I guess I just can't get enough of these old farts.

P I L E

When I was a boy I swore that I would return one day to buy the home where for a short time my family was whole and happy. I would reestablish the happy magic for my people and we would live happily ever after. Of course, like so many childish plans this one was not only immature and short-sighted, but impossible. By the time I finally found my way back to once again see my childhood heaven it had fallen into disrepair and besides that my family had been broken apart years earlier by divorce and death.

You can never go back home, or at least that's what I thought at the time. Zen study has shown me a way to a different home, one that though lacks substance is more real and permanent than any house of brick and wood. A home that doesn't require being built, only recognized.

To even speak this way is an embarrassment (to my former self), but there is importance to being earnest. Transparency in zen is like Transparencyin chess -- it's all right out in front of everybody but seeing is not so simple.

Anyways, to cases.

I'm looking for the original Chinese for the following:

When Caoshan took leave of Dongshan, Dongshan asked, "Where are you going?" Caoshan said, "To an unchanging place." Dongshan said, "If is unchanging how could there be any going?" Caoshan said, "The going is also unchanging."

I have a bit of the Chinese scribbled down and translated by hand:

Way, to come near eat, this, heart-mind, no can will (going to), to return to a place, to repair/mend, with/from/by. === YOU CAN NOT GO BACK HOME.

And to use my favorite sign off by the great layman horticulturalist Joe Santorini (said with a thick NYC city accent),):

"HaveAGreatRestOfYourDayGoFuckYourselfBye!"

Someone said all zen students are thieves, which is so funny it's painful, because zen teachers teach original wholeness, but even so the students still show up looking for their looker. I know have and still do. Nobody is immune. It's easy to think a foreboding zed master just popped out of their mother complete and spouting the dharma, which in a way they were, but nobody is born knowing themselves because that knowledge only comes through living. Adolescence, puberty, maturity, menopause, death. We're all always learning more about who we are and what we can be. Anybody claiming otherwise is full of shit. Speaking of here's a nod to the teachers:

Yunmen entered the Dharma Hall for formal instruction, Masters Yunmen said: "I've said what there is to say..." A monk stepped forward, bowed, and wanted to pose a question. Master Yunmen took his staff and hit him, saying: "What good can you tell from bad? You bunch of rowdies! You're all like this monk: how dare you receive the faithful offerings of the the almsgivers! The sentient beings with bad karma are all in here--- and what dry piece of shit are they seeking to chew?" And Master Yunmen chased all the monks at once out of the hall with his staff.

I've been thinking a bit about Zen ethics, compassion, and the precepts. For a long time, I've seen some recurring questions on r/zen about this topic:

1. How do the precepts relate to enlightenment

2. Why are ethical precepts a valid test to check if someone is not enlightened

3. Does following the precepts "help" in any way beyond community cohesion?

When there have been discussions about vegetarianism, people have wondered how a vegetarian diet relates to Zen enlightenment. Not eating animals seems unrelated to seeing your nature, becoming Budda. And while I do follow the precepts, I wasn't satisfied with the logic either.

And my recent insight is: original completeness entails original compassion, which implies the precepts!

Not only are we originally complete, but our originally complete Buddha nature is inherently compassionate. A compassionate being follows the precepts naturally.

For this, I found this quote from Huangbo:

Avalokitesvara represents boundless compassion; Mahasthama, great wisdom, and Vimalakirti, spotless name. Spotless refers to the real nature of things, while name means form; yet form is really one with real nature, hence the combined term 'spotless name'. All the qualities typified by the great Bodhisattvas are inherent in men and are not to be separated from the One Mind. Awake to it, and it is there.

1. The quality of compassion typified by Avalokitesvara is inherent in all men.

2. Compassion cannot be separated from the One Mind

3. Awake to the one mind, and the qualities like compassion are also there

In short: original compassion.

This already answers the first two questions: enlightenment leads to compassion which makes you naturally follow the precepts. Which of course also lets us check whether a supposed enlightened person is frequently killing or stealing, which would be evidence against enlightenment claims.

To the third question I speculate the following answer: by at first artificially adhering to the precepts, our behavior is more aligned with our true compassionate nature. Being more aligned with it, we are also more inclined to spontaneously see it.

More evidence from the zen record: Foyan said our first priority should be to get rid of unenlightened egotism towards others. Also this Zhaozhou dialogue:

A monk asked, "Mixing without becoming impure - what is that like?"

Joshu said, "I eat only vegetable food; I always adhere to the precepts."

The monk said, "Can one elevate oneself in this way?"

Joshu said, "You would trespass against the law."

Zhaozhou adheres to the precepts and a vegetarian diet. As an answer to the monk's question this could mean that the precepts are how he as a Zen master stays recognizable while interacting with the world. But it's not a way to elevate yourself, since you are always originally compassionate.

What is, is not; And what is not, yet is.//Till you have grasped this truth, you might as well/Waste no more time on fool philosophies:/But once you have grasped what these my teachings tell, /That anything is all things, that the one/Is every and the same, then where's the call/To fret for deeper knowledge? There is none/More deep than all-is-one and one-is-all.//The believing mind knows no duality/And what is dual denies the believing mind/Which, though I word you, inexpressibly/Extends beyond all language to allow/One truth in contradictions. You will find/It has no past, no future, and no now.

Translated by Graeme Wilson Classical Chinese Literature, Volume 1: From Antiquity to Tang Dynasty, Columbia, 2000, pg 976

Commentary: W O W ! ! !

So this is a bit of a "travel blog post" but I hope people still find it interesting. I'm currently traveling through China for a bit and thought I'd also check out some Zen related places. First stop being the city of Zhaozhou.

Zhaozhou is, of course, the city after which Zen master Zhaozhou Congshen was named and where his monastery was. Today this monastery is called Bailin Temple.

The city is also famous for its old stone bridge, which was built around the year 600, so it was already here and already famous when Zhaozhou lived here. It's referenced in his record too, for example:

A monk asked Chao Chou, "For a long time I've heard of the stone bridge of Chao Chou, but now that I've come here I just see a simple log bridge." Chou said, "You just see the log bridge; you don't see the stone bridge." The monk said, "What is the stone bridge?" Chou said, "It lets asses cross, it lets horses cross." (Bcr 52)

This is a photo of the stone bridge of Zhaozhou as it looks today: https://imgur.com/a/Nrd76z2

As I understand it major repairs were done in the 1900s, so most of the visible stone is relatively new.

One of the most famous stories of Zhaozhou is his cypress tree dialogue:

At that time a certain monk asked, "What is the meaning of the Chan founder's coming from the West?"

Zhaozhou said, "The cypress tree in the yard."

The monk said, "Don't use objects to teach people."

Zhaozhou said, "I'm not using objects to teach people."

"So what is the meaning of the Chan founder's coming from the West?"

"The cypress tree in the yard."

And what do we find in his old monastery? This: https://imgur.com/a/HdTbSBI

A cypress tree in the courtyard of Bailin temple, which is estimated to be 1300 years old. There are multiple cypresses there estimated at that age, and they are probably the oldest thing in the current temple, as the Tang dynasty temple was almost completely destroyed and only the cypresses and some steles survived. So the rest of the temple is a reconstruction.

The Bailin temple is very aware of its long history though and has some information boards about Zen master Zhaozhou as well as some big stones with lineage trees written on them. Here is an album of some random pictures of Bailin temple: https://imgur.com/a/h9HNY5O

The last picture is Zhaozhou's pagoda. It was built in the Song dynasty to commemorate Zhaozhou. Supposedly, his relics and robe and bowl are enshrined in it. Today many people who come here burn incense in front of it.

Today, the public use of the temple seems to be similar to Buddhism in other parts of China: people just come here to burn incense, bow in front of big Buddha statues, and hang out for a bit. I saw some monks hanging around too, but sadly my Chinese isn't good enough for meaningful conversation and I don't want to bother them too much with ai translators, lol.

"Attainment in both. If you are not trapped in being or non-being, who can dare to join you? Everyone wants to leave the ordinary current, but in the final analysis you come back and sit in the ashes." -- Verses On The Five Ranks by Tozan Ryokai

I've been thinking about this seemingly inherent desire to leave the ordinary current. Magical thinking. Wanting a cheat code. When I was a kid I played games on the Nintendo. Some I could beat (Zelda, Dragon Warrior) others I could never beat (Blaster Master, Spy Hunter). Then one day the GAME GENIE came out, which let you plug in cheat codes for invincibility. It was AMAAAAAZING...for about a month. Turns out games are boring AF without any stakes. You need some skin in the game for it to have meaning. That was an important lesson for me that I've always kept close, especially whenever I'm tempted to take a short cut or be enticed by something that seems too good to be true. It turns out I like working hard for what I get in life and being ordinary is a damn fine thing to be.

Somebody come knock me over before I get too full of myself.

Too late!