Don't get caught

[Taigu]

If you are a big fish, you'll be a good catch, you won' escape nets of all sorts.

The thing is not to be stuck in the absolute, not to be drunk with the relative. This is the meaning of "beyond". "Beyond" does not point at a distant realisation, a shore to reach, "beyond" as here and now free from habits and expectations. Non attachment is another way to look at it. Not dwelling expresses the same truth.

This is also why Dogen's teachings are filled with mists, clouds, rivers, walking mountains, smoke, not just to convey an impression of nature and his love for practice in the deep valleys, but also to point at the real transient body of all things, free from the dual and non dual. Killing the devil and killing Buddha at once is our practice, beyond mundane and sacred.

"I have got it" is as irrelevant as " I have lost it".

This is the groundless ground on which face to face transmission can take place.


Gassho,


Taigu

[Koshin]

"I have got it" is as irrelevant as " I have lost it".


Taigu

Thank you teacher...deep bows

Gassho

[Shujin]

_/|\_

[Seimyo]

Thank you Taigu. I needed to hear this. gassho1

Gassho.
Seimyo

[Mp]

Wonderful Taigu, thank you. :)

Gassho
Shingen

[Joe]

Thank you teacher.

Gassho,
Joe

[Nameless]

Thank you Taigu. Very insightful and balancing.

Gassho, John

[Taikyo]

... beyond mundane and sacred.

Thank you my Teacher

Gassho

David

[MyoHo]

Thank you Taigu.

But what then is this face to face transmission? And to what end?

Gassho

Enkyo

[Taigu]

Hi Enkyo, Face to face transmission is called denpo or shiho, it is when a priest or a lay person is given the authorisation to teach and transmit the teachings through a very specific ceremony. In a way, this is a form of official recognition to avoid fraud and provide continuity in the way teachings and practice are handed over.

Gassho

Taigu

[MyoHo]

Oh I see. That's for reeeeeaaaaaly big fish then :D.


"I have got it" is as irrelevant as " I have lost it".

Something that hangs freely in the void of not this and not that ( in the Dogen sense of these words). My intuitive reaction, the ring of the bell to this, is a feeling I have for a while now: Umpf! and Bah! Please, just let me sit and work as often as I can safely in homeplace shikantaza. Chop wood me and fetch water me and see it all as it is. Void me but full me, so what? "This" is not what we think this is, and does not change anything. A bit tiered of straining and reaching ( not meant at your fine words dear Taigu but at word smart "Talking Zen" instead of sitting, silent and stilled Zen)

Rocks rolling uphill from the desert
Clouds trown into the dust
Walking in the illusion
Trying to bring ease where possible
while "I" sits in reality.

Gassho

Enkyo

[Heisoku]

"beyond" as here and now free from habits and expectations.

Thank you Taigu. Gassho.

[Jakudo]

Thank you Taigu.
Gassho, Jakudo

[Jishin]

Thank you for the teaching Taigu.

Gassho, John

[Daitetsu]

Thank you so much, teacher!

Gassho,

Timo

[Risho]

Gassho,

Risho

[Jinyo]

gassho2


Willow

[YuimaSLC]

gassho1

Richard

[sittingzen]

Deep Gasho _/\_

[Myosha]

". . .Zen practice is sometimes the moment when, a voice you know says,without warning: "Catch!" - Koun

Thank you.


Gassho,
Edward

[Oheso]

thank you Taigu for this teaching. thank you drocloce for the koun quote, a lot of pointers here.

Bulgarian proverb (for big fish?): if you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

gassho, Rob

[Jiken]

Gassho,

Daido

[Cumminjd]

Thank you for this Taigu. I will be chewing it over in my head for a while :)

Gassho,

James

[Ed]

Wonderfully ordinary
Deep gassho

[Shokai]

Thank you for the teaching Taigu. [monk] gassho2

[Ishin]

A slippery fish to catch indeed. Yet that moment when the fisherman does not know if the fish is caught is the most interesting. Nice Sensei Taigu!
[gassholook]
Clark

[Alman]

Haha, thank you Teacher. After three reads I gave up - and it finally clicked.
:-)

Gassho,

Al

[lordbd]

Alman,

For me it was 7 reads. A great teaching, and confusing in its simplicity. I think zen practice teaches you a new type of reading, a sort of mindful digestion like after a delicious snack.

[Myozan Kodo]

Taigu,
Thank you for these teachings. Amid the mist, through the smoke ...
Gassho
Myozan

[Taigu]

for me, 50 years of reading.

gassho

T.

[Taigu]

coughing...Myozan...coughing


gassho

T.