DOCSLIB.ORG

Primary Point 5

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Primary Point 5 r June 1988 pRIMARY pOINT 5 tioning and corresponding doubt. It be­ fathom them. The koan cannot be under­ SPECIAL ISSUE comes a means to see through the false stood by the intellect through study and mind of duality that creates and per­ speculation. This is why it is said, "The petuates a life of pain, suffering and Buddha has no theories." One must direct­ Practice in America anxiety. Without the focus of the koan ly experience the truth out of which these Kong-an one can often feel torn, scattered, and koans arise- not just dwell in theories and alone. ideas. There is no need to arouse an artificial People ask how to use a koan. There sense of doubt, or "doubt mass" when is no one way to work on a koan. As an What Is A Koan? working on a koan. Just look! It's right old verse goes, "One way to awakening, a there. As Dogen Zenji observed, "imper­ thousand masters can't point it out." Yet manence and are before because koan work is an intense form of by Zenson Gifford, Sensei suffering right your eyes." And if you look and don't practice, it is best to work with a teacher. doesn't that make It is to have the assistance of one is a koan? This question itself From an early age we all question. As question, you question? helpful Who doesn't feel that in who has worked the koans him­ IS a for a koan can't be children are often wrenching pain through W�t koan, . grow, their questions the at the of the cold and home­ self/herself. A teacher answered or understood by the intellect. answered, explained, and rationalized guts sight good continually the abused the lives wasted tests a the work Mumonkan's comment, "You describe it until their natural curiosity begins to be less, children, student, always putting and the themsel­ back on him/her to resolve the mat­ in vain, you picture it but to no avail" is submerged. Yet sensitive persons, at one by drugs, people killing great . ves in senseless wars? Isn't this what ter. Without a teacher it is to be­ applicable to the koan. People persist, time or another, find themselves again very easy come or however, to ask, "What is a koan?" Is it a asking those same questions: "Where confused, go astray, to work oneself into direct expression of our true mind and did I come from? What is the meaning negative mind states or fool oneself therefore a means to awaken? Alternative­ of life? What happens when I die? that one has attained some­ ly, is it, as some have said, a dualistic Why is there so much hatred and a teacher is form of practice, or a Zen game? Let us violence? Who am I?". thing. Although he or she cannot look at some of the essential of important, aspects This mind is seen in questioning resolve the koan or do the the koan and to some of the respond the life of all spiritually sensitive criticisms made of this work for the student. practice. people and certainly in the lives of Another criticism of koan A koan is literally a precedent setting great masters in all traditions. has been that it is public record, or as one Zen master said, However, as we painfully see in our practice oriented and thus revol­ "it is the place where truth is." Generally own life and in the lives of loved ones, goal ves on the karmic level of speaking, koans are taken from live ex­ people often ignore, suppress or run and loss. one changes between Zen masters and ad­ away from these questions. They cover gain However, 'lJ·",· , can also-become vanced students, or between advanced them over with all sorts ofgames and goal'" . oriented in 'practitioners, or from sutras or ancient pleasures, and respond to them out of any practice- even a out of sit­ sayings. Most often koans are of a fear and ignorance. For some, making goal with a clear mind and paradoxical nature and cannot be grasped however, these questions and the deep ting no In koan by the intellect. Therefore a koan can need to know keep coming back. For having goals. there is noth­ only be understood through direct ex­ these persons there is no escape and no practice really to or achieve. The perience of the true mind out of which it rest. The great matter must be ing get best to work on the originat�d. resolved. This urgency and question­ way just koan is to let it work on The sayings and exchanges that be­ ing is often triggered by a personal life you, that is all crisis. Sometimes this leads one to a because ultimately came koans were compiled into various there is to do. texts such as the Mumonkan and the Blue "natural koan" such as "who am I?", or . "what is the of existence?" Cliff Record. These were, and still are, meaning In getting through a first Zens�� Sensei, an ordained Ze� Buddhist For the Zen it lead to Gifford, and with used as manuals for Zen Koans practitioner, may . koan, subsequent training. priest, began zazen practice under Kapleau. � , of one of the formal koans. Phillip can can basically be divided into two adoption kOan�work;'there 6'�-fhe Roshi in 1970 at the age of21.After- completing.his.jor­ of how one comes to a .' falsesense of some­ the or . Regardless attaining categories: primary, mal training in 1979, he continued full-time anhe� once arrived it becomes an ef. This can lead to and the "sub­ koan, at, thing. "breakthrough" koan, Rochester Zen Centeruntil leaving for an extended fective to focus natural a koans. of break­ way question­ spiritual pride and become sequent" Examples pilgrimage in 1981. During his pilgrimage, he lived in on a level. All of one's real hindrance to koans would be: "Who am ing spiritual practice. through "Mu", a and a under Harada and for Japan for year half, training "What is and "What is the deep questioning longing Teachers must be constantly I?", mind?", Roshi. In 1981 he was named Dharma Heir to liberation is focused in the koan. Tangen the students' sound of one the showing grasp­ hand?" The role of Roshi Kapleau. Zenson Gifford Sensei is currently mind to them. This can koan is to smack or break Critics have that a ing breakthrough suggested using- Abbot of the Northern Zen Sangha, with centers in be effectively done with the through the dualistic, conceptual thought formal koan involves substituting Toronto, Canada and Warsaw, Poland. koans themselves, of consciousness based on a false sense of someone else's question/problem for many which show us that even brings people to Zen practice- not as an we think we are escape or a means to cope- but in order to though getting something there is to Teachers ':4 koan is a means to be able to bring insight and strength to really nothing get. must also make koans directly truly help? subsequent relevant to modem times, eventually our Some scholars contend that in early . focus natural, questioning bringing students to the ongoing life/prac- times chose koan as many people practice tice beyond the formal koans. a to with the way grapple suffering they \ I mind to the bar­ One important aspect of koan training penetrate through experienced. The koan gives one the 1\ is that a student must before chance to strongly practice, not only constantly go 1 � his or her teacher in dokusan (interview, a 1 riers delusion and to awaken to while sitting in zazen but in the midst of \ of which in itself is life's turmoil. It provides the concrete process good training). j In the breakthrough koan practice stu­ our true nature." means to break through the- bonds of suf­ \ dents must demonstrate the truth of the i fering in times of strife and uncertainty. koan and can't theories 'or an self. one's mind is one's own merely present ego-I Thus, opened question/problem. However, With intense effort the breakthrough ideas. see their false notions in the to the endless fundamental don't all share the same fundamen-. They beginningless, beings koan takes one's natural questioning the teacher holds them or truth of the universe--in there is tal of existence? the ob-' mirror before essence, questions Despite and beyond thought perception, beyond have the of deluded notions cut out an to one's nature. vious differences in times and legs awakening sovereign cultures, the relative and the to awaken to absolute, from under them. In koan koans are used to aren't we all concerned with the same subsequent Subsequent perfect that which has been there but has always there is a constant for one's to free one basic our ancestors were con­ practice refining spiritual understanding, problems been obscured clouds of delusion. This by there is more to from the bonds of and cerned with? If don't look at the always "not-do", yet not lingering delusion, you just is like some­ breaking through recalling to leave undone.. to into one's branches, aren't fears, integrate awakening daily people's hopes, thing always known yet somehow forgot­ life. and sorrows arising from the same If anything, the koan involves joys ten. It's comparable to turning a light on practice root, the same karmic wheel of cause and a of false notions rather than a What is the special power of this uni­ in a dark room.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Still Mind at 20 Years: a Personal Reflection GATE
    March 2014 Vol.10 No. 1 in a one-room zendo in Jersey City. So I invited folks from a series of meditation sessions that Roshi had led at a church in Manhattan, as well as people I was seeing in my spiritual direction work who were interested in meditation. We called ourselves Greenwich Village Zen Community (GVZC) and Sensei Kennedy became our first teacher. We sat on chairs or, in some cases, on toss pillows that were strewn on the comfortable library sofa; there was no altar, no daisan, only two periods of sitting with kin-hin in between, along with some basic instruction. My major . enduring memory is that on most Tuesdays as we began Still sitting at 7 pm, the chapel organist would begin his weekly practice. The organ was on the other side of the library wall so our sitting space was usually filled with Bach & Co. Having come to Zen to “be in silence,” it drove me rather crazy. Still Mind at 20 Years: I didn’t have to worry too much, though, because after a few months the staff told us the library was no longer available. So we moved, literally down the street, to the A Personal Reflection (cont. on pg 2) by Sensei Janet Jiryu Abels Still Mind Zendo was founded on a selfish act. I needed a sangha to support my solo practice and, since none existed, I formed one. Now, 20 years later, how grateful I am that enough people wanted to come practice with each other back then, for this same sangha has proved to be the very rock of my continuing awakening.
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Point, Vol 5 Num 3
    I 'I Non Profit Org. �I 'I U.S. Postage /I J PAID 1 Address Correction Requested i Permit #278 ,:i Return Postage Guaranteed Providence, RI 'I Ii ARY OINT PUBLISHED BY THE KWAN UM ZENSCHOOL K.B.C. Hong Poep Won VOLUME FIVE, NUMBER THREE 528 POUND ROAD, CUMBERLAND, RI 02864 (401)658-1476 NOVEMBER 1988 PERCEIVE UNIVERSAL SOUND An Interview with Zen Master Seung Sahn. we are centered we can control our This interview with Zen Master Seung Sahn strongly and thus our condition and situation. appeared in "The American Theosophist" feelings, (AT) in May 1985. It is reprinted by permis­ AT: When you refer to a "center" do you sion of the Theosophical Society in America, mean any particular point in the body? Wheaton, Illinois. The interviewer is Gary DSSN: No, it is not just one point. To be Doore. Zen Master Sahn is now ,I Seung strongly centered is to be at one with the to his students as Dae Soen Sa referred by universal center, which means infinite time Nim. (See note on 3) page and infinite space. Doore: What is Zen Gary chanting? The first time one tries chanting medita­ Seung Sahn (Dae Soen Sa Nim): Chanting is tion there will be much confused thinking, very important in our practice. We call it many likes, dislikes and so on. This indicates "chanting meditation." Meditation means keep­ that the whole mind is outwardly-oriented. ing a not-moving mind. The important thing in Therefore, it is necessary first to return to chanting meditation is to perceive the sound of one's energy source, to return to a single point.
    [Show full text]
  • Omori Sogen the Art of a Zen Master
    Omori Sogen The Art of a Zen Master Omori Roshi and the ogane (large temple bell) at Daihonzan Chozen-ji, Honolulu, 1982. Omori Sogen The Art of a Zen Master Hosokawa Dogen First published in 1999 by Kegan Paul International This edition first published in 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © The Institute of Zen Studies 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 10: 0–7103–0588–5 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978–0–7103–0588–6 (hbk) Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace. Dedicated to my parents Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Part I - The Life of Omori Sogen Chapter 1 Shugyo: 1904–1934 Chapter 2 Renma: 1934–1945 Chapter 3 Gogo no Shugyo: 1945–1994 Part II - The Three Ways Chapter 4 Zen and Budo Chapter 5 Practical Zen Chapter 6 Teisho: The World of the Absolute Present Chapter 7 Zen and the Fine Arts Appendices Books by Omori Sogen Endnotes Index Acknowledgments Many people helped me to write this book, and I would like to thank them all.
    [Show full text]
  • Zen Masters at Play and on Play: a Take on Koans and Koan Practice
    ZEN MASTERS AT PLAY AND ON PLAY: A TAKE ON KOANS AND KOAN PRACTICE A thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Brian Peshek August, 2009 Thesis written by Brian Peshek B.Music, University of Cincinnati, 1994 M.A., Kent State University, 2009 Approved by Jeffrey Wattles, Advisor David Odell-Scott, Chair, Department of Philosophy John R.D. Stalvey, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Chapter 1. Introduction and the Question “What is Play?” 1 Chapter 2. The Koan Tradition and Koan Training 14 Chapter 3. Zen Masters At Play in the Koan Tradition 21 Chapter 4. Zen Doctrine 36 Chapter 5. Zen Masters On Play 45 Note on the Layout of Appendixes 79 APPENDIX 1. Seventy-fourth Koan of the Blue Cliff Record: 80 “Jinniu’s Rice Pail” APPENDIX 2. Ninty-third Koan of the Blue Cliff Record: 85 “Daguang Does a Dance” BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are times in one’s life when it is appropriate to make one’s gratitude explicit. Sometimes this task is made difficult not by lack of gratitude nor lack of reason for it. Rather, we are occasionally fortunate enough to have more gratitude than words can contain. Such is the case when I consider the contributions of my advisor, Jeffrey Wattles, who went far beyond his obligations in the preparation of this document. From the beginning, his nurturing presence has fueled the process of exploration, allowing me to follow my truth, rather than persuading me to support his.
    [Show full text]
  • WW July August.Pub
    Water Wheel Being one with all Buddhas, I turn the water wheel of compassion. —Gate of Sweet Nectar Zen Center of Los Angeles JULY / AUGUST 2011 Great Dragon Mountain / Buddha Essence Temple 2553 Buddhist Era Vol. 12 No. 4 Abiding Nowhere By Sensei Merle Kodo Boyd Book of Serenity, Case 75 Zuigan’s Permanent Principle Preface Even though you try to call it thus, it quickly changes. At the place where knowledge fails to reach, it should not be talked about. Here: is there something to penetrate? Main Case Attention! Zuigan asked Ganto, “What is the fundamental constant “Before we can say anything true about principle?” ourselves, we have changed. “ Ganto replied, “Moving.” Zuigan asked, “When moving, what then?” Ganto said, “You don’t see the fundamental constant The preface of this koan is clear. With wisdom and principle.” compassion, it points us in the direction of things as they Zuigan stood there thinking. are. Even as we perceive a thing, it changes. As we create Ganto remarked, “If you agree, you are not free of sense a name for what is, it is changing. As we use one word, and matter; if you don’t agree, you’ll be forever sunk in another is needed. This preface describes our human con- birth and death.” dition. An effort to settle in certainty will meet frustration and disappointment. Before we can say anything true Appreciatory Verse about ourselves, we have changed. What we say is only The round pearl has no hollows, partially true at best. The great raw gem isn’t polished.
    [Show full text]
  • 7 Questions for 7 Teachers
    7 Questions for 7 Teachers On the adaptation of Buddhism to the West and beyond. Seven Buddhist teachers from around the world were asked seven questions on the challenges that Buddhism faces, with its origins in different Asian countries, in being more accessible to the West and beyond. Read their responses. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Jack Kornfield, Roshi Joan Halifax, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Rob Nairn, Stephen Batchelor, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Introductory note This book started because I was beginning to question the effectiveness of the Buddhism I was practising. I had been following the advice of my teachers dutifully and trying to find my way, and actually not a lot was happening. I was reluctantly coming to the conclusion that Buddhism as I encountered it might not be serving me well. While my exposure was mainly through Tibetan Buddhism, a few hours on the internet revealed that questions around the appropriateness of traditional eastern approaches has been an issue for Westerners in all Buddhist traditions, and debates around this topic have been ongoing for at least the past two decades – most proactively in North America. Yet it seemed that in many places little had changed. While I still had deep respect for the fundamental beauty and validity of Buddhism, it just didn’t seem formulated in a way that could help me – a person with a family, job, car, and mortgage – very effectively. And it seemed that this experience was fairly widespread. My exposure to other practitioners strengthened my concerns because any sort of substantial settling of the mind mostly just wasn’t happening.
    [Show full text]
  • Zenshinkan-Student-Handbook.Pdf
    Zenshinkan Center for Japanese Martial, Spiritual,and Cultural Arts Student Handbook ZENSHINKAN DOJO STUDENT HANDBOOK CONTENTS The Way of Transformation .............................................................................................................. 2 Welcome to Zenshinkan Dojo ........................................................................................................... 3 Rules During Practice, Composed by the Founder ........................................................................... 5 Shugyo Policy .................................................................................................................................... 6 Basic Dojo Etiquette .......................................................................................................................... 7 Helpful Words and Phrases .............................................................................................................. 12 A History of Aikido ............................................................................................................................ 15 Zen Training ...................................................................................................................................... 17 For more information On: Our Lineage Test Requirements, Information and Applications Programs, Class Schedules and Upcoming Events Weapons Forms Techniques Zen Training Our website is a rich resource for our dojo’s current activities as well as our history. We also welcome and encourage your
    [Show full text]
  • Prajñatara: Bodhidharma's Master
    Summer 2008 Volume 16, Number 2 Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women TABLE OF CONTENTS Women Acquiring the Essence Buddhist Women Ancestors: Hymn to the Perfection of Wisdom Female Founders of Tibetan Buddhist Practices Invocation to the Great Wise Women The Wonderful Benefits of a H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama and Speakers at the First International Congress on Buddhist Women’s Role in the Sangha Female Lineage Invocation WOMEN ACQUIRING THE ESSENCE An Ordinary and Sincere Amitbha Reciter: Ms. Jin-Mei Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao Chen-Lai On July 10, 1998, I invited the women of our Sangha to gather to explore the practice and lineage of women. Prajñatara: Bodhidharma’s Here are a few thoughts that helped get us started. Master Several years ago while I was visiting ZCLA [Zen Center of Los Angeles], Nyogen Sensei asked In Memory of Bhiksuni Tian Yi (1924-1980) of Taiwan me to give a talk about my experiences as a woman in practice. I had never talked about this before. During the talk, a young woman in the zendo began to cry. Every now and then I would glance her One Worldwide Nettwork: way and wonder what was happening: Had she lost a child? Ended a relationship? She cried and A Report cried. I wondered what was triggering these unstoppable tears? The following day Nyogen Sensei mentioned to me that she was still crying, and he had gently Newsline asked her if she could tell him why. “It just had not occurred to me,” she said, “that a woman could be a Buddha.” A few years later when I met her again, the emotions of that moment suddenly surfaced.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn • Page 1195 © 2008 Kwan Um School of Zen •
    601 13 June, 1977 Dear Soen Sa Nim, Lincoln Rhodes sent me the color photo of the four of us before the altar of your center in Los Angeles. It brought back very pleasant memories of your hospitality and our happy time together. I will take the photo with me to Japan on a forthcoming trip as something very interesting to show to my teacher Yamada Koun Roshi and to Dharma friends. Our training schedule is well under way, and a five-day seshin is scheduled to begin the end of this week. I find that new students in their 30’s and 40’s are appearing more and more. May you continue to enjoy good health! Robert Aitken July 8, 1977 Dear Aitken Roshi, Thank you for your postcard. I am happy to hear you are busy and attracting older students. I will be traveling in Korea and Japan, and if my schedule permits, I will try to visit your teacher. I will be traveling with ten American students, so it may be difficult to rearrange our travel arrangements, but perhaps on my return trip, I can stop in Hawaii. Sometime, I would like to visit your Zen Center. Yours in the Dharma, S.S. Teaching Letters of Zen Master Seung Sahn • Page 1195 © 2008 Kwan Um School of Zen • www.kwanumzen.org 602 July 3, 1977 Dear Soen Sa Nim, How was your “vacation” out on the West coast? Sherry has just finished talking to the Providence Center and she tells me that your health is not good.
    [Show full text]
  • Water Wheel Being One with All Buddhas, I Turn the Water Wheel of Compassion
    Water Wheel Being one with all Buddhas, I turn the water wheel of compassion. —Gate of Sweet Nectar Zen Center of Los Angeles MARCH / APRIL 2011 Great Dragon Mountain / Buddha Essence Temple 2553 Buddhist Era Vol. 12 No. 2 Continuous Practice/ Ceaseless Practice By Sensei Merle Kodo Boyd “On the great road of Buddha Ancestors there is always unsurpassable practice, continuous and sustained. It forms the circle of the way and is never cut off. Between aspiration, practice, enlightenment, and nirvana, there is not a moment’s gap; continuous practice is the circle of the way….” Continuous or ceaseless practice is always occurring and is always now. When we look for its source or its effort, its accomplishment or its achievement, we cannot locate them. Still, it continues without interruption. For all of us, there was a day when we first sat zazen, but that Jizo Bodhisattva, protector of wayfarers and travelers, was not the day on which our practice began. Instead, it manifests ceaseless practice through his Great Vow. seems that we sat down on the cushion in response to all of the life that preceded that day. Our continuous practice is the natural expression and the natural everything that enters. We may not succeed, but we are fulfillment of our life. capable of this. Such a vast and inclusive mind is already and continuously ours, and yet we must exert some kind An aspect of that practice requires effort, resolve, of effort in order to experience it. We must make an and action, and an aspect of that practice does not effort to sustain it.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018 WW Oct-Dec
    Water Wheel Being one with all Buddhas, I turn the water wheel of compassion. — Gate of Sweet Nectar 2019 Winds of Change by Wendy Egyoku Nakao We turn the calendar page and enter the year 2019. This is a time to pause and refresh, breath- ing in and breathing out breaths of renewal. When you turn the calendar page with intention, it is like revolving a sutra—allowing the old pages to breathe, circulat- ing love and wisdom everywhere. What are your vows—your deepest heart’s desire—for yourself in the new year? What is your heart’s desire for your loved ones, for your fellow beings with which you share this earth, and for the earth and universe itself? This past fall, intense fi re storms raged throughout California leaving death and destruction in their wake. In the midst of this, Roshi Bernie, ZCLA’s second abbot and Program cover for Abbot Installation, 1999. my beloved Dharma teacher, passed away in Montague, MA. In Zen speak, we say that “He went to another realm to teach,” but I hope he is resting, having a cigar, and Mountain in the years to come and that the sangha, and taking a hot bath somewhere. As if these unsettling move- all who take the seats that guide it, will remain true to its ments weren’t enough, I announced that I am descending purpose, lead from a heart of love and wisdom, and not the mountain after twenty years as Abbot and that Sensei regress in fulfi lling their vows. Faith-Mind will ascend the mountain in 2019.
    [Show full text]
  • Water Wheel Being One with All Buddhas, I Turn the Water Wheel of Compassion
    Water Wheel Being one with all Buddhas, I turn the water wheel of compassion. —Gate of Sweet Nectar Zen Center of Los Angeles / Buddha Essence Temple Vol. 10 No. 4 2551 Buddhist Era JULY/AUGUST 2009 No Such Thing By Roshi Wendy Egyoku Nakao In his The Second Book of the Tao, author and translator Stephen Mitchell relays this account: Great Dragon Mountain founder As he was eating by the side of the road, Lieh-tzu saw an Maezumi Roshi old skull. He pulled it out of the weeds, contemplated it, and would often speak said, “Only you and I know that there is no such thing as of birth-and-death death and no such thing as life.” from three perspec- tives: 1) of being Mitchell’s commentary: born and dying, 2) of spiritual awaken- The philosopher Lieh-tzu has stopped for lunch on his ing, and 3) of the Garden Kanzeon’s “no fear” mudra. journey from here to there. He sits down by the side of the birth-and-death of road, opens his knapsack, takes out a few rice balls and a each moment. Each piece of dried fish. It’s a leisurely meal. He has nowhere in nen, a now-mind moment, brings into stark relief the real- particular to go. ity that is our life. You may tell yourself that you are living such-and-such a life, but can you see that you are being Suddenly he notices an old skull. He pulls it out of the lived—that this reality is you yourself? Birth and death are weeds for a tête-à-tête.
    [Show full text]