Case 81 never ends, yet now we turn to CASE 82: UMMON’S SOUNDS AND SHAPES:
Unfortunately, all but one page of Shishin's Commentary is not available online, so l hope that you have the book.
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=...&q=260&f=false
l do not feel that this is such a tricky Koan. We live in a world of separate things, shapes, sounds, moments and the like as perceived by the senses and mind. We even sometimes think of "Buddha" as another one of the separate things, and that we are one of the separate things too. To experience the liberation of Emptiness, one must see and experience beyond all that separation to the Wholeness of flowing Emptiness. Such is our True Home. The Preface to the Assembly is about this.
However, the Koan may also remind us, in the Main Case, that the separate things, sounds, smells, sounds, etc. are also the very same Wholeness of Emptiness to those who so know. Then, one can find liberation right in this ordinary world, and the ordinary turn to something precious and sweet.
l have read that "comets" are traditional signs of ill fortune, and the smoke and dusts are all the sense experiences that cloud the mind. All become clear. The whole universe of myriad worlds becomes illuminated.
The Koan is just a piece of cake!
l am reminded of a very nice phrase from Genjo Koan in which Master Dogen speaks of delusion as our trying to impose our self and will on all the things of the world, yet when we allow all the things of the world to flow through us ...PREFACE TO THE ASSEMBLY
When sounds and colors are not let go,
This state is known as “being conditioned by the environment.”
If you are seeking by sound and seeing by shape,
You will never experience the Buddha of this very moment.
Aren't you pursuing a way to return home?
MAIN CASE
Attention!
Master Ummon addressed the assembly, saying,
"Hearing a sound, realize the Way.
Seeing a shape, enlighten the mind.
The Goddess of Compassionate Wisdom bought a common farm rice-cake.
But, released from her hands, it transforms into a sumptuous bean-jam cake."
APPRECIATORY VERSE
Leaving the gate, spurring up the horse; sweep away the comet.
The smoke and dust of ten thousand lands clears by itself.
In the six senses and six sense experiences, trivial influences are forgotten.
The three thousand worlds are illuminated with pure bright light.
Question: Through Zen practice, have you learned to see through sounds and forms in a world of sounds and forms? What's that do for ya?To carry the self forward and illuminate myriad things is delusion. That myriad things come forth and illuminate the self is awakening. ... When you see forms or hear sounds, fully engaging body-and-mind, you intuit dharma intimately.
Gassho, J
STLah
