StrangeMed

“Where do quarrels and disputes come from? And lamentation and sorrow, and stinginess? What of conceit and arrogance, and slander too— tell me please, where do they come from?”

“Quarrels and disputes come from what we hold dear, as do lamentation and sorrow, stinginess, conceit and arrogance. Quarrels and disputes are linked to stinginess, and when disputes have arisen there is slander.”

“So where do things held dear in the world spring from? And the lusts that are loose in the world? Where spring the hopes and aims a man has for the next life?”

“What we hold dear in the world spring from desire, as do the lusts that are loose in the world. From there spring the hopes and aims a man has for the next life.”

“So where does desire in the world spring from? And judgments, too, where do they come from? And anger, lies, and doubt, and other things spoken of by the Ascetic?”

“What they call pleasure and pain in the world— based on that, desire comes about. Seeing the appearance and disappearance of forms, a person forms judgments in the world.

Anger, lies, and doubt— these things are, too, when that pair is present. One who has doubts should train in the path of knowledge; it is from knowledge that the Ascetic speaks of these things.”

“Where do pleasure and pain spring from? When what is absent do these things not occur? And also, on the topic of appearance and disappearance— tell me where they spring from.”

“Pleasure and pain spring from contact; when contact is absent they do not occur. And on the topic of appearance and disappearance— I tell you they spring from there.”

“So where does contact in the world spring from? And possessions, too, where do they come from? When what is absent is there no possessiveness? When what disappears do contacts not strike?”

“Name and form cause contact; possessions spring from wishing; when wishing is absent there is no possessiveness; when form disappears, contacts don’t strike.”

“Form disappears for one proceeding how? And how do happiness and suffering disappear? Tell me how they disappear; I think we ought to know these things.”

“Without normal perception or distorted perception; not lacking perception, nor perceiving what has disappeared. Form disappears for one proceeding thus; for concepts of identity due to proliferation spring from perception.”

“Whatever I asked you have explained to me. I ask you once more, please tell me this: Do some astute folk here say that this is the highest extent of purification of the spirit? Or do they say it is something else?”

“Some astute folk do say that this is the highest extent of purification of the spirit. But some of them, claiming to be experts, speak of a time when nothing remains.

Knowing that these states are dependent, and knowing what they depend on, the inquiring sage, having understood, is freed, and enters no dispute. The wise do not proceed to life after life.”

来時は空手、去時は赤脚。一去一来、単重交折

Raiji wa karate kyoji wa sekkyaku ikkyoichirai tanjuu sekkou

I came into this world empty-handed, and I leave it barefoot. My arrival, my departure: simple events that have become intertwined.

If there were a cause, nirvana would be conditional and impermanent. This means that no amount of effort can produce nirvana, because it does not arise from causes.

If you are practicing with the idea that your effort will engender nirvana, notice that you are still treating it as a special goal to be achieved. In doing so, you are actually reinforcing the grasping that is the defining characteristic of samsara.

Haemin Sunim, Seon monk

Before we can taste the fruits of practice there must be a flowering, and before that the sowing and cultivation of seeds. This sustained care is driven by a mind intent on uncovering bodhi-mind, or bodhicitta. The germination of the bodhi-mind comes from an insight into the seed of buddhahood which is already present in our own nature. The intent to grow a bodhimind is the care with which we nourish this seed first into bloom and then into fruit....

...Many practitioners, particularly those who have been reading too many books, think only about getting enlightened. They may give little consideration to the problem of uprooting the weeds of vexation or helping other sentient beings, even small animals, in distress. Such a practitioner is hoping for the fruits without being willing to make an effort. Such a limited approach cannot fulfil the causes and conditions essential to realisation. Such a practitioner is merely dreaming. Enlightenment happens in its own time on the basis of right causes and conditions. It is not something to be anxious about.

“In that case, Bāhiya, you should train like this: ‘In the seen will be merely the seen; in the heard will be merely the heard; in the thought will be merely the thought; in the known will be merely the known.’ That’s how you should train. When you have trained in this way, you won’t be ‘by that’. When you’re not ‘by that’, you won’t be ‘in that’. When you’re not ‘in that’, you won’t be in this world or the world beyond or between the two. Just this is the end of suffering.”

“There is an extremely easy way to become Buddha. Refraining from all evil, not clinging to birth and death, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those over you and having pity for those below you, without any detesting or desiring, worrying or lamentation—this is what is called Buddha. Do not search beyond it. “

“We may believe them to be the most important elements of this life, but in reality we are all just a tiny part of the universe. Each of us is a combination of causes and conditions, a product of the evolution of life and the earth. I, for example, am made up of things that are not 'me'. The food I eat, the air I breathe and the water I drink are not 'me', yet I cannot live without all these things. In fact, all the things that keep us alive, and even life itself, are gifts we receive from the universe. If we reflect on human life, it is easy to realise that even the basic elements of our existence are given to us. For example, at birth, human beings are not at all self-sufficient, and in order to survive, children must be cared for over a long period of time. Before the age of one, infants cannot even stand up and are totally helpless, and later, children, unable to earn a living, must be fed and cared for at least until adolescence. To become truly independent members of society, human beings must study for perhaps twenty years or more. Until we are able to think for ourselves, we are essentially supported and cared for by society. Even language, the essential tool of thought, is a gift from society, and the education that society gives us teaches us to think and behave well. Since I was born and raised in Japan, I think in Japanese and act mostly in accordance with Japanese values. The Japanese language and value system derive from the culture created by all the people who have lived in Japan throughout history, so my way of speaking, thinking, and behaving is the result of all their lives. Each of us is connected to all beings past, present and future in the entire universe. This is not some mysterious truth that can only be understood through special spiritual insight, trance or some other extraordinary mental state. It is a very simple, obvious reality that we can understand rationally, yet we lose sight of it because we cling to words and concepts, separating ourselves from it with discriminating thoughts.”

Joshu once asked Nansen “What is Tao?”

Nansen answered “Ordinary Mind is Tao.”

“Then should we seek it or not?” asked Joshu.

"If you try to move toward it, you move away from it” answered Nansen.

Joshu continued “ If we do not direct ourselves toward it, how can we know it is the Tao?”

Nansen replied. “The Tao does not belong to knowing or to not-knowing, Knowing is illusion, And not knowing is blankness. If you really aim to attain the Tao of no doubt, it is like the great void so vast and boundless. How then can there be right and wrong in the Tao?”

At these words Joshu was suddenly enlightened!

Short, alas, is this life; you die before a hundred years. Even if you live a little longer, you still die of old age.

People grieve over belongings, yet there is no such thing as permanent possessions. Separation is a fact of life; when you see this, you wouldn’t stay living at home.

Whatever a person thinks of as belonging to them, that too is given up when they die. Knowing this, an astute follower of mine would not be bent on ownership.

Just as, upon awakening, a person does not see what they encountered in a dream; so too you do not see your loved ones when they are dead and gone.

You used to see and hear those folk, and call them by their name. Yet the name is all that’s left to tell of a person when they’re gone.

Those who are greedy for belongings don’t give up sorrow, lamentation, and stinginess. That’s why the sages, seers of sanctuary, left possessions behind and wandered.

For a mendicant who lives withdrawn, frequenting a secluded seat, they say it’s fitting to not show themselves in a home.

The sage is independent everywhere, they don’t form likes or dislikes. Lamentation and stinginess slip off them like water from a leaf.

Like a droplet slips from a lotus-leaf, like water from a lotus flower; the sage doesn’t cling to that which is seen or heard or thought.

For the one who is cleansed does not conceive in terms of things seen, heard, or thought. They do not wish to be purified by another; they are neither passionate nor growing dispassioned.

Outside let go of all involvement, inside be immovable, when your mind is like a wall, then you are on the path. Letting go of the outside means, to not get involved in praise or blame, in win or loss. Don’t be involved in how the outside situation is. Inside joy, sorrow, thought of what I should be doing next don’t tie yourself down with your emotions. When your mind is quiet like a wall, then you are on the path to enlightenment. Building monasteries, supporting monks and nuns, translating sutras and making Buddhist statues counting all the things one has done we have to let go of this outside involvement. To think one’s name might remain after life if we think like this, we will never understand Zen or even live an honest life. That is why Bodhidharuma said: No virtue. When doing something for others, to right away forget about these deeds, that is important. To keep talking about it is like having taken a good step and one more step backwards into confusion and attachment. That is no true virtue. By letting go of these attachments, we can arrive at the other shore of the awakened mind.

“People who sit for zazen trying to become something, not letting go of the things they are holding on to but trying to obtain or attain a certain state of mind, move further and further away from what this clarifying of mind, this repentance, can do. When we try to find some sate of mind that we have experienced before, or we have an idea about what our state of mind should be and strive to attain that goal, our sitting becomes more and more cumbersome; when we cannot the state of mind we think we should be attaining, the weight of the ego becomes heavier and heavier. This process I am describing

of clarifying our behavior

is a way of emptying rather than of putting on. I try always to bring this into my teaching because people are often unaware of this way of practicing. I feel that much of the behavior that creates problems in the monastery comes from the lack of this type of practice, from people doing their practice without ever reviewing their behavior or looking carefully at how the behavior is reflecting their zazen. We have a great gift from society to be able to spend so much time doing zazen, but zazen also allows us the opportunity to look at our behavior and clearly see how we are manifesting our practice. If we do not use it for that, we are wasting an excellent chance and will be endlessly doing a form of dead-end, closed-circuit zazen that exists only as an idea of something we think we are tying to pursue.”