BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 3

https://youtu.be/hnjeMwxFuBA

CASE 3:

Just out of Bodhidharma's claws, of the NOT KNOWING thing, not a candid stupor or evident ignorance, but the very open state or being where we are not trapped in anybody's play or role, we are getting now closer to the essence of what it is to sit and be.

The luminous commentaries of gerry Shishin Wick don't need my dirty clumsy paws, but as we have to say something, let's give it a quick and radical shot.

MAIN CASE: (...)"Why don't you read the sutras?" The Ancestor replied "This poor follower of the way,when breathing in does not dwell in the realm of skandhas, and when breathing out is not caught up in the many externals. Always do I thus turn a hundred thousand million billion rolls of sutras".

Not dwelling here means not caught, not trapped in the thought that this is real. Skandhas: form, sensation, perception, conception and counsciousness are passing, not fixed, and therefore the self we believe in is also passsing, not fixed. Nothing solid here, ever moving, ever changing. The breath is the door, the gate, the symbolic interface between two apparent separate world: inside and outside. Once we let go of the sense of I, out there drops too. No dwelling. No abiding.

How and where in your life can you find the wanderer? How can you treasure the homeless? What is this this that belongs without having belongings? Being homeless, isn'it the real way home. Always homeless, isn't everywhere home? If sutra lead to sutra, that is heresy, cold stone religion principle and stuff. Painful rigidity rooted in the worship of dead scriptures.

For Dogen, the ancestors, for Bosatsus and sitters, colour of mountains, sound of traffic, taste of noodles, are the true walking-being-standing-moving scriptures. The object of sitting is to allow the world to come and shine as is, the living voice and body of Tatagatha. How can you let ordinary things be your scriptures, your lamp? No need to be holy and religious there, every action is sacred, as is.

In an old journal of mine, I wrote in 2006:" drunk with blossoms and joy and sorrows, I am just going my fucked up way.Nowhere to go, just the endless action of going and being sometimes undone". (thanks Dokan for reminding me, i don't spend my time reading my old junk)

How are you undone?!!!

The koan has a deep resonnace in the sitting paractice too.

Li Po's poem : Zazen on Ching-Ting mountain strikes the bell like this:

Quote:

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The birds have vanished from the sky
now the last cloud drains away

We sit together
The mountain and me
until only the mountain remains

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Shinjin datsu raku, falling away of body and mind, body and mind cast away, reveals the mountain state being of every single particle in this universe, from junk to star. Me gone, I gone; It remains. It shines. It sings. It is. Thusness, as-it-is-ness, makes you a poor follower of the way, broke maybe, but what did you loose? Loosing is essential here, what are the beliefs, the treasured dreams, the ideas, the concepts about yourself and others that you have dropped? What is left once you sit on the cushion? Who is sitting on the cushion?

The world turns into a true sutra as soon as you walk in. Walk in with a sutra in your hands or on your lips, what does the world look like?

Outside the scriptures does not mean rejecting scriptures. Of course, we cherish and read sutras, but they are not only found in temples and books. The sutra we recite, maintain, read and receive, what is it? Can you see-hear-smell-touch-taste it? Can you be it?


gassho

T.

Quote:

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How are you undone?!!!

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Thank you Taigu; i taste what you teach !
Today is garbage day. This morning as i kicked the bag to the curb there was a robin sitting on the ridge of our roof, singing his little heart out; welcoming the new light of today. Do you mean pushing that tall wheel containing the sutras at Narita-san was for naught? :shock: :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taigu

How are you undone?!!!

.

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By finding myself done yet again!



The birds have vanished from the sky
now the last cloud drains away

We sit together
The mountain and me
until only the mountain remains

bzzzzzzz
bzzzzzzz
cellphone on vibrate



:D


Gassho. kojip

Hello Taigu,

thanks for your explanations, and happy to see you back here

Gassho

Wearing different cloaks
for different folks,
Only truly naked
when facing the wall.

Gassho
Gary

'Bright white mind transcends vast kalpas'

...beautiful words

breathing in
breathing out

Gassho

Willow

Hi folks

Thank you Taigu for your words on case 3. I found this koan very useful and interesting, For me it is a reminder that the sutras and practice are not only when i am meditating or reading scripture but they can be manifest and lived when i'm working, with my children, driving the car etc. Taigu askes the question how are you undone. Well i can certainly see patterns that i find it easy to fall into, like sitting is real practice, cutting the grass is not so much practice but for me this koan reminds me that these thoughts and concepts are my nested enclosures that could do with being undone.

Like the first two cases i found the main case slighty easier than the preface to the assembly and the appreciatroy verse. There are some intersting lines i did not fully understand like

'a blind turtle faces the fire'
'a mortar's rim spouts a flower'
'the subtle round hub-hole turns marvelous activities'
'cloud rhino sports with the moon and glows embracing ts beams'

Tiagu is it possible you could explain some of these lines to me? :D

In gassho

Thane

Thane ,

Thank you for your kind post. You don't need to understand these words, what I mean by understand is the activity of your sole intellect, reading words and only that. It is true that old Zen stuff is filled with cultural symbols and metaphors, they are sewn into the fabric of the text. For instance the moon represents enlightenment here, cloud rhino confused thinking, 'a blind turtle faces the fire' a mortar's rim spouts a flower' are pointers to the non dual and the the fact that practice turns illusions into awakening, bonno soku bodai but again that is not really essential. What is important is to see how the koan is alive in your life, when you miss the mark and when you don't.

Being undone is really important in our way, to litteraly drop stuff that we cherish and like, views and opinions, all the clever inner devices that we use in order to carry on with our little games. Being undone is close to being broke and broken, get rid of the extra. When you play with a child you really forget your adult identity, same with the Dharma, you are invited to forget the self as Dogen expresses it in the Genjokoan.

Have a look at talk three in the Genjokoan section:


viewforum.php?f=40


or listen to Brother Jundo jazzing it up:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaACn...layer_embedded[/youtube]


So how do you come undone, and can you effectively undo what what not even done orginally? In other words how to throw away self and others when this hasn't ever been from the start?


gassho

Taigu

I mostly wanted to say that I really appreciate your first post exploring this case Taigu.

From Rev Wick's comments, this:

Quote:

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If you realize "this poor follower of the way" you are free to come and go. But if you don't you're using counterfeit money to buy stock in a corrupt corporation

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rang really true for me. I may be wandering far afield here, but I started thinking. How much time do I spend making deals in my own internal psychodrama? Being good because I want or expect some reward? Making this kind of false arrangement is an insidious way of entrenching my subject-object relationship with the world because I can camouflage it with good deeds. Dogen defined dana as not being greedy - but, no matter how I try to wrap it up in fancy shiny decorations, convincing myself that I earned something with my good deeds is greed, and it's an investment in my very own corrupt corporation.

Ok, I'll stop editing this now because I think I just keep making it more confusing.

Thank you Taigu. :D

Quote:

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How are you undone?!!!

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As the song goes; '...when valued destiny comes to nothing...' and then replacing it instead of just letting go and breathing in and out.

In one breath: The whole of Prajnaparamita.

Quote:

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In one breath: The whole of Prajnaparamita

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.

I could not say-breathe- it better.

three bows

T.

Perhaps it should say 'In the breath'. ..
... Things always look different second or third time round!

Thank you Taigu. :)

Now, you have spoken too much :mrgreen: :D :P :D :D :D :D :D :wink:

Take great care

gassho

T.

_/_ _/__/_

"How and where in your life can you find the wanderer? How can you treasure the homeless? What is this this that belongs without having belongings? Being homeless, isn'it the real way home. Always homeless, isn't everywhere home? If sutra lead to sutra, that is heresy, cold stone religion principle and stuff. Painful rigidity rooted in the worship of dead scriptures. "

When I was a young man traveling around with all my possessions in a small knapsack maybe I tasted a little homelessness and being the wanderer. Along the way many obligations, responsibilities and possessions accrued which led me into a suffering dream. Now having undone much of that from my mind I can occasionally appreciate just breathing. I don't know if it was Case 3 or coincidence but breathing seems slower, easier and freer.

Love your post Rich, so much respect for what you have been through and who you are.
And, at the same time, you know it is not about traveling light or being successful. The wanderer is found in a child, a tramp, a millionaire. It doesn't rely on external conditions. It is a state of freedom, fluidity, not sticking or abiding, and that has nothing to do with the stages you mention. The stages you refer to are stages we all experience going through life: poor to start with, then not too poor, then, with age, pain and lots of other things, light and poor again.
The wanderer and the homeless are regardless of a roof or not, they don't rely on having or not having.

But I am sure you have got that.

Sorry to bother you.

gassho


T.

I find reality undoes me alot, whenever things don't go my way. I am so young in my practice. Thank you for your explanations of the metaphors Taigu sensei. I cannot sincerely say that I've found the wanderer yet. I feel that I still have a lot of practice to do.

Gassho

Risho

Taigu, thanks for your perspective and teaching. I always appreciate that. Right now I don't have anything except the chirping birds and a squirel visiting for food. :)

That's plenty :lol: :wink:


gassho


T,

A few years back I had this huge problem. One day I woke up and I had no job, no money, no home, no food... only what I was wearing.

To the eyes of friends and family I was in the worst state of human life.

To my eyes, I was happy and liberated. Since then, my practice has been the axis of everything.

Thank you for your comments, Taigu.

This koan means a lot. I shall sit with it tonight.

I guess I do not have much to say on this. I want to grab it and hold it to my life looking to measure.
The breath in and out while I silently painted along side my wife all weekend, carrying my daughter the middle of the night to the bathroom, cleaning up the cold cat pee from an ancient feline friend(no comments there, we may all end up there too) that is when my deluded eyes catch a glimpse of the homeless wander. Always there but my grasping makes him out of sight (thinking there is other things to be doing- time better spent). There is not one thing holier than the other- they are all, as already said, the living heartsutra. I often forget to hum along.

Gassho
Shohei

My best response to this koan comes from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes," which is a short story that can be read in its entirety here at this link:
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/her...Clothes_e.html

Quote:

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"But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said

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I don't have anything to add.

Ron


Shugen

Despite there is no mirror, dancing to Taigu's music, the inner and outer worlds embrace each other, and a hundred thousand million billion sutras unfold.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood to see you back

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shohei

. . .cleaning up the cold cat pee from an ancient feline friend(no comments there, we may all end up there too) . . .

Gassho
Shohei

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Gassho to the friend of the ancient feline. _/_ grace

Hello everyone,
let me first say that - as a non-native english speaker - I have some trouble with vocabulary in this book, and looking up in a dictionary not seems to come close to what is meant in this context at times. Anyway, here we go:

Reading the sutras in our day to day life is fine, but sometimes not easy for me. Thats why I read the sutras written on paper, or published on youtube by our wonderful teachers here.

Quote:

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How are you undone?!!!

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Well, I am. You are. We all are, only in our minds we tend to believe in being done. When I was around the age of 22 I believed I had an answer for everything, and its a long way to get to the point where you see, accept and live that you have an answer for nothing.

Gassho
Myoku

Gassho. Great thread.

Life is indeed our temple...every breath and exhalation a chance to be "born" and to "die". New self, no self. Endless sutras.

Gassho,
Dosho

Gassho. Nothing to add to this.

Daido

I really appreciate and am humbled by so many of the words here. I just want to say thanks to everyone here. What a wonderful thread.

Gassho,
Alan

I wanted to let this koan settle in me and but by the time I got some ideas of what to say – it has been said already in the thread :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Taigu

How are you undone?!!!

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Breathing in, breathing out. Beginner's mind.

Thank you everyone for posting.

I feel homeless in one moment and burdened by everything in the next. In all these moments I try to let go of these concepts, "Homeless," "burdened"... They are just moments, big or small, seconds or years.

Read the sutras but abandon the words, and sit forever.

Thank you, Taigu.

_/_

How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ekai

How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

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LOL-- constantly yes! :mrgreen:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ekai

How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

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:D

Gassho!

Shohei

This is my first exploration of koans and I appreciate everyone's comments and interpretations!

Hello,


once you know whence places originate, everywhere is home. Nowhere is home. Just falling down into the abyss, falling, falling. No ground, never. Make yourself at home in the falling down. Recognizing the intimacy of never arriving is the brush stroke of timeless sutra recitation.

Gassho,

Hans Chudo Mongen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Myoku

Quote:

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How are you undone?!!!

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Well, I am. You are. We all are, only in our minds we tend to believe in being done. When I was around the age of 22 I believed I had an answer for everything, and its a long way to get to the point where you see, accept and live that you have an answer for nothing.

Gassho
Myoku

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Yeah, no kidding! :lol: Fewer answers every day.

Gassho

Jen

Quote:

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Breathe in and do not create a false self; breathe out and don't perturb the world or be perturbed by the world - the ultimate meaning of the holy truth is revealed.

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I would also say, "breathing out, don't create a false world."

Quote:

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Breathing in, you're a minister. Breathing out, you're a general.

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Stubbornly stuck on the difference between using a breath to chant sutras and using it to bark orders. Must push this further.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shinkai

Quote:

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Breathe in and do not create a false self; breathe out and don't perturb the world or be perturbed by the world - the ultimate meaning of the holy truth is revealed.

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I would also say, "breathing out, don't create a false world."

Quote:

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Breathing in, you're a minister. Breathing out, you're a general.

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Stubbornly stuck on the difference between using a breath to chant sutras and using it to bark orders. Must push this further.

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Neatly put Shinkai -thank you :)

Willow

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ekai

How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

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I love this comment Ekai. Yes parenthood undoes me too.

Gassho

Thane

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaishin

Ekai wrote:
How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

Gassho!

Shohei

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I Gassho this as well....only to add I am also undone by not parenting....sometimes letting go....letting my daughter live her own life...not trying to make it all fit into my narrative. Learning it ALL unfolds without me.

Gassho...once again.

Jisen/BrianW

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrianW

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kaishin

Ekai wrote:
How are you undone?!!!

Parenting

Gassho,
Ekai

Gassho!

Shohei

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I Gassho this as well....only to add I am also undone by not parenting....sometimes letting go....letting my daughter live her own life...not trying to make it all fit into my narrative. Learning it ALL unfolds without me.

Gassho...once again.

Jisen/BrianW

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Ekai and Jisen
letting go of letting go
gassho and gassho, Shogen

In my work I breathe this mass of conditions, building a construct of things I want to think I know. I can live in my great sand castle, but it's a singular life. From the parapets, there is only one perspective. Getting out of my car, meeting a genuine smile and handshake, only listening. In this moment I am undone. Dropping off body and mind, what can remain?

Gassho,
Shujin

While at Nan'yoji temple in Nara, the head priest performed a small ceremony for me before leaving. In it, he faced me and with my head bowed in gassho, fanned the sutras over me, tapping me on each shoulder. What is ingrained in my memory was the smell of the old paper, the feeling of the air blowing on my face and the the sound of the fluttering pages underpinned by his guttural chanting. Breathing in...breathing out I am grateful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIV1vQuKuyU&t=35s

Gassho,

Dokan

Thank you, Dokan.

That is likely the "tendoku" ritual reading of the 600-fascicle Large Prajña Paramita Sutra (tendoku ritual reading involves shouting the title and volume number of the sutra, then quickly flipping through the sutra book itself), usually part of the morning service.

The purpose is a bit esoteric, much like the belief that simply praising the name of a Sutra equals the merit of reading the whole Sutra, or that even spinning a wheel containing the Sutra once is equivalent to the merit of reading the whole Sutra. In fact, think of the merit of then spinning a whole bookcase, as in this photo from Japan! Similar wheels are found in Tibet, China and the like.

Talk about "speed reading"! :eek:

Gassho, Jundo

http://www.ashleyinjapan.com/wp-cont...v123_thumb.jpg