Jundo
06-25-2018, 03:38 AM
Case 78 never ends, yet now we move on to Case 79 - Chosa Advances A Step ...
The Koan is here ...
https://terebess.hu/zen/Shoyo.pdf
Most of Shishin's commentary is here (from p 249) ...
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WTU6AwAAQBAJ&q=encouraging+us+to+take+a+step+forward#v=snippet&q=encouraging%20us%20to%20take%20a%20step%20forwar d&f=false
The "leap off a hundred-foot pole" (not literally!) is always a reminder in Zazen and all practice to put down the words and theory and live this. One can read all the books on the ocean one wishes, watch David Attenborough's "Life of the Sea" specials, study the anatomy of sharks and the chemistry of H20 to one's heart's content ... but at a certain point, one must dive in and return to the sea, just swim swim swim, the ocean alive in every stroke, bringing life to the ocean, all the waters pouring into every drop, sea and swim and swimmer not apart. Something like that.
The Koan Introspection Zazen folks (Shishin Wick comes from such a Lineage) often take it to mean leaping in Zazen into a big booming Kensho experience, but I say that it is just any time we get out of the armchair and bring this to life beyond mere words and theories and lip service.
Something to keep in mind about these Koans is that sometimes these old masters offered criticisms of what other masters said and did as actual criticisms, and sometimes as back-handed compliments. ("He doesn't get it" might mean, for example, "He really gets it, beyond he and it"). One can never be quite sure. In this case, commentators generally feel that Chosa's criticism of Master E is genuine criticism based on the feeling the Master E was just mouthing the words and had not actually "taken the leap" and brought them to life (like a musician who might be able to play the notes on paper, but who doesn't seem to have a real feel for the music and the ability to make it jump off the page). Master E's silence and "nothing special" could be taken to mean, in fact, a great treasure that says more than any words could, but Chosa seems to take this "nothing special" as truly nothing special, and that Master E had nothing much to say.
In the Preface, the reference to the "wife in the Ba family" is to an old story in which Kannon Bodhisattva takes such form in order to teach Buddhist wisdom to groups of people who did not know about Buddhism. She played on their lust and desire to get the message across. She did this to hide her full form a bit, which would have been overwhelming, into something they could more easily handle until they were ready for the real message ...
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is said to have appeared in the district of Sen'u in the ancient China in the form of an extremely beautiful girl and promised to marry a young man who would be able to read the sutras best. All young men started to learn to read the sutras, but the son of the Family Ba could read them better than anyone else, so he succeeded in marrying the girl, who, however, died right after the wedding. An old monk, who happened to come by, explained the real history behind the girl. After that, Buddhism spread all over the district, and the statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was erected on the golden sand-bank of the land; the statue was eventually called “Avalokitesvara, the wife of the son of the Family Ba.”
This is what Chosa and this Koan are trying to do for us, who are also not ready to take the full leap.
Pounding the "millet cakes in a jar of emerald" may be, like last weeks Koan, a reference to the most ordinary that is also a sacred treasure. but some commentators also say that it is something that must be done delicately ... not too hard and not too soft ... lest one either crack the bowl of emerald jade or fail to make the cakes.
The "get into a wave that astonishes people" is much like my "dive into the sea" above.
In the Koan, the "mountains of Ro province, the waters of Rei province" and "four oceans and five lakes are within the king's control" is certainly something like saying that one then fills all the directions and all places, becomes the whole sea, master of the universe.
In the Appreciatory Verse, the "jeweled man's dream is broken by one cock's crow" is certainly a reference to waking up. He, and all things, are precious jewels but do not know so until waking up. Everything then appears equally sacred, and the whole world is alive as in Spring. We walk forward from here, living our life, bringing it to life. Mud is usually a reference to this ignorant, dirty world of Samsara in which we live stuck in the muck. However, now like a farmer, we get in the muck and do our work to make something grow ... like the lotus which rises from, is nourished by, and is the very mud itself come to flowering life.
Something like that.
Please, this is not about diving off of a real pole! It is about diving right into life. How should we do that?
Gassho, J
SatTodayLAH
The Koan is here ...
https://terebess.hu/zen/Shoyo.pdf
Most of Shishin's commentary is here (from p 249) ...
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WTU6AwAAQBAJ&q=encouraging+us+to+take+a+step+forward#v=snippet&q=encouraging%20us%20to%20take%20a%20step%20forwar d&f=false
The "leap off a hundred-foot pole" (not literally!) is always a reminder in Zazen and all practice to put down the words and theory and live this. One can read all the books on the ocean one wishes, watch David Attenborough's "Life of the Sea" specials, study the anatomy of sharks and the chemistry of H20 to one's heart's content ... but at a certain point, one must dive in and return to the sea, just swim swim swim, the ocean alive in every stroke, bringing life to the ocean, all the waters pouring into every drop, sea and swim and swimmer not apart. Something like that.
The Koan Introspection Zazen folks (Shishin Wick comes from such a Lineage) often take it to mean leaping in Zazen into a big booming Kensho experience, but I say that it is just any time we get out of the armchair and bring this to life beyond mere words and theories and lip service.
Something to keep in mind about these Koans is that sometimes these old masters offered criticisms of what other masters said and did as actual criticisms, and sometimes as back-handed compliments. ("He doesn't get it" might mean, for example, "He really gets it, beyond he and it"). One can never be quite sure. In this case, commentators generally feel that Chosa's criticism of Master E is genuine criticism based on the feeling the Master E was just mouthing the words and had not actually "taken the leap" and brought them to life (like a musician who might be able to play the notes on paper, but who doesn't seem to have a real feel for the music and the ability to make it jump off the page). Master E's silence and "nothing special" could be taken to mean, in fact, a great treasure that says more than any words could, but Chosa seems to take this "nothing special" as truly nothing special, and that Master E had nothing much to say.
In the Preface, the reference to the "wife in the Ba family" is to an old story in which Kannon Bodhisattva takes such form in order to teach Buddhist wisdom to groups of people who did not know about Buddhism. She played on their lust and desire to get the message across. She did this to hide her full form a bit, which would have been overwhelming, into something they could more easily handle until they were ready for the real message ...
Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is said to have appeared in the district of Sen'u in the ancient China in the form of an extremely beautiful girl and promised to marry a young man who would be able to read the sutras best. All young men started to learn to read the sutras, but the son of the Family Ba could read them better than anyone else, so he succeeded in marrying the girl, who, however, died right after the wedding. An old monk, who happened to come by, explained the real history behind the girl. After that, Buddhism spread all over the district, and the statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was erected on the golden sand-bank of the land; the statue was eventually called “Avalokitesvara, the wife of the son of the Family Ba.”
This is what Chosa and this Koan are trying to do for us, who are also not ready to take the full leap.
Pounding the "millet cakes in a jar of emerald" may be, like last weeks Koan, a reference to the most ordinary that is also a sacred treasure. but some commentators also say that it is something that must be done delicately ... not too hard and not too soft ... lest one either crack the bowl of emerald jade or fail to make the cakes.
The "get into a wave that astonishes people" is much like my "dive into the sea" above.
In the Koan, the "mountains of Ro province, the waters of Rei province" and "four oceans and five lakes are within the king's control" is certainly something like saying that one then fills all the directions and all places, becomes the whole sea, master of the universe.
In the Appreciatory Verse, the "jeweled man's dream is broken by one cock's crow" is certainly a reference to waking up. He, and all things, are precious jewels but do not know so until waking up. Everything then appears equally sacred, and the whole world is alive as in Spring. We walk forward from here, living our life, bringing it to life. Mud is usually a reference to this ignorant, dirty world of Samsara in which we live stuck in the muck. However, now like a farmer, we get in the muck and do our work to make something grow ... like the lotus which rises from, is nourished by, and is the very mud itself come to flowering life.
Something like that.
Please, this is not about diving off of a real pole! It is about diving right into life. How should we do that?
Gassho, J
SatTodayLAH