BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 72
Case 71 never ends, and so we monkey around with Case 72, Chuyu's Monkey ...
The central question asked by Kyozan is "What is the meaning of Buddha Nature?" Chuyu then presents the image of some fundamental mind or the like (the central monkey) that experiences a sense of being an apart "small self" and the subject/object divide when responding to its name seemingly being called by a person perceived to be outside (outside the 6 windows of its senses, the inside being the subjective and the outside being the outside world).
Chuyu notes that the same happens for each of the windows when called. When each of the six windows (eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and the inner thoughts of the mind) respond to the apparent outside calling, they each likewise respond with the subject/object divide. Buddhists of old used to debate whether each of the 6 senses individually developed its own separate consciousness (eye consciousness, ear consciousness, etc.).
This question about "What happens when the monkey sleeps?" resonates with some other early Buddhist philosophical debates on enlightenment that I recently read. If a sleeping man or a man in a coma would not hear and respond to the outside world, could we call such a person "enlightened"? (Most Buddhists would say no. Enlightenment is to transcend the sense of small self, and the subject/object divide while wide awake and aware).
In the final act of Chuyu grabbing Kyozan and shouting at Kyozan, perhaps Chuyu wants Kyozan to put down such a philosophical speculation, and simply experience the True Monkey, Buddha Nature.
As Master Rinzai famously declared:
There is a true person of no rank (no division, no separation) who is constantly coming and going from the portals of your face. Who is that true person of no rank?
Yamada Roshi says that the image of two armies in the Preface concerns two generals having a battle of wits ...
Quote:
You can consider Chûyû and Kyôzan as the protagonists in battle. In that case,
they transcend that river of concepts to face off with each other. In that sense, the mondo
(question and answer) that comes prior to this is not a real dharma combat, but rather one
fought in the head. To say that the soldiers are lying in ambush means that the soldiers take off
the armor they are wearing because such armor would reflect the sunlight and attract
attention. Lying in ambush is a good tactic when they are separated from each other. But what
about when they are facing each other?
http://www.sanbo-zen.org/shoyoroku_72.pdf
The Appreciatory Verse is a bit more subtle but, says Yamada, is an image of some cold and withered winter scene springing to life in the spring, as Chuyu brings some life to Kyozan's rather lifeless philosophical questions.
Something like that.
Anyway, just monkey business.
Gassho, J
SatToday
https://primateandpredatorproject.fi...7/img_1064.jpg
