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Thread: Bendowa - Children of Fire

  1. #1

    Bendowa - Children of Fire

    Hi,

    I was reading Shobogenzo Bendowa (Nishijima Cross translation) and I was caught by the phrase "children of fire come looking for fire". I kind of 'get' the note at the bottom of the page that it suggests effort to pursue what is already there but it seems such an evocative phrase that I feel there must be some previous historical usage or story to this phrase. Does anyone know anything more?

    Many thanks,

    Paul

  2. #2

    Re: Bendowa - Children of Fire

    Quote Originally Posted by prg5001
    Hi,

    I was reading Shobogenzo Bendowa (Nishijima Cross translation) and I was caught by the phrase "children of fire come looking for fire". I kind of 'get' the note at the bottom of the page that it suggests effort to pursue what is already there but it seems such an evocative phrase that I feel there must be some previous historical usage or story to this phrase. Does anyone know anything more?

    Many thanks,

    Paul
    Hi Paul,

    The reference to "children of fire", according to my research, literally refers to the young boys in the temple who would light the lamps at night, usually a child who had not yet taken the Precepts and was not yet ordained as a monk.

    The Masters mentioned, Hogen (Fayan Wenyi) and Gensoku (Baoen Xuanze) were Ancestors in the 15th and 16th generation between Master Bodhidharma and Master Dogen, around the mid-10th century.

    Here is another, slightly different version:

    Record of the Words of Chan Master Wenyi:

    Chan Master Xuanze, a man from Huazhou, Weinan, initially asked [Chan Master] Qingfeng: "What is this student, himself?" [Chan Master] Qingfeng answered: "Young Fire-spirit comes seeking fire!"

    [Going to Chan Master Fayan, he] then shouted ["He!"] at the teacher.
    The Master asked: "What [place have you] come [from]?"
    Answer: "[I have] come from [Qingfeng]."
    The Master said: "What does Qingfeng say?"
    [Xuan]ze brought up the previous dialogue.

    The Master said: "What understanding [do you have] from the Elder?"
    [Xuan]ze said: "Billy-boy is of the nature of fire, yet still seeks fire; just like ones seeks oneself through oneself. (Seeks own nature by own nature.)"

    The Master said: "[He] gives you this, what do [you] not understand?"
    [Xuan]ze said: "Did someone give something? [I am] yet to know what the Abbot [makes of this]."
    The Master said: "You ask me thus, and I answer thus."

    [Xuan]ze said: "What is the student, himself?"
    The Master said: "Young Fire-spirit comes seeking fire!"

    [Xuan]ze had a great realization on [hearing] these words.

    (CBETA, T47, no. 1991, p. 591, c3-10)


    The point is something like "your true nature" is looking for "your true nature" or "reality searches for reality". However, it is very different to know intellectually that "your true nature finds your true nature" versus the actuality of "your true nature finding your true nature" or "reality as reality".

    Does that help?

    Gassho, Jundo

  3. #3

    Re: Bendowa - Children of Fire

    Hi,

    It certainly does help, thank you very much. Firstly, it is good to know where the expression comes from. Secondly, the other quote helps to clarify that Weinan must have been a bit too self-assured that he knew the answer but he only knew intellectually. Then, when he came back and was in the act of seeking the answer, the master said the phrase again and the words, his action and his experience were simultaneous so he got it.

    Many thanks,

    Paul

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