When You Rise - Fukan Zanzengi (Part 9)

When You Rise - Fukan Zanzengi (Part 9) - Kanshin Allison Tait - 07/05/26 - Suggested Donation $5

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, everyone. People hear me okay? People online, you can hear me? Awesome. Aw, thank you, Jessa. So we've been uh the past few weeks we've been going over um the Fukenzo Zengi, which is on page 20 of your chant books if you want to follow along. We're about halfway down the second page. And uh Fukenzo Zengi is um our uh the founder of the Soto Zen School of Japan was uh very smart, very cranky uh Japanese guy named uh Dolgen Zenji. And uh hezengi is his uh meditation manual, his Zazen instruction. So some of you had Zazan instruction with Daiho Chris this morning. Now we all get to have Zazen instruction with uh Dogin Zenji. So we're about halfway down the second page. When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. Oh, this is just good practical advice, especially if your your leg tends to fall asleep, you don't want to jump up and fall down. Um so you know, don't uh don't let peer pressure push you into getting up from your cushion before you're ready to get up from your cushion. Don't be embarrassed and don't let us rush you. Move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Oh, I think uh Dogen just means this as you know practical advice for rising from sitting, but I also want to share with you uh a passage from my teacher Norman Fisher's book, Taking Our Places. And Zoketsu Norman says, Zen practice has two parts, sitting down and getting up. When we sit down, we calm, clear, and illuminate the mind. When we get up, we live our life in this world as an extension and expression of the beauty of our sitting. Sitting down and getting up together comprise a full and mature human being, one who is receptive and open, but also responsible and committed. In Buddhism, spiritual practice is likened to a tripod, whose three balanced legs hold a bull steady and firm. These legs are the three practices of ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom. They work together, each one helping to support the other two. Although it is easy enough to sit down on a cushion, you can't really practice meditation without practicing right conduct. If your actions are thoughtless and crooked, your meditation will reflect this, and calm concentration will be hard to achieve. But if you go on with meditation anyway, you will begin to see the shadows that your conduct is casting on your mind and heart. You'll feel these shadows as unpleasant and undesirable, and you will want to change your way of life. When you do, your meditation will deepen, becoming calmer, and some insight will come. You will have fewer illusions about yourself and will be able to appreciate yourself as you really are. Accepting yourself realistically will in turn give you more energy for your meditation practice. It will become clear to you that practicing ethical conduct is necessary because it directly affects every thought and action small and large. In this way, meditation, ethical conduct, and wisdom refine, deepen, and balance each other until little by little the vessel of your life stands strong. So the next line, Dogin Zenji says, after saying, Don't rise from your cushion suddenly or abruptly, Dogin Zenji says, In surveying the past, we find that transcendence of both unenlightenment and enlightenment, and dying while either sitting or standing have all depended entirely on the strength of Zaazen. Oh uh, going beyond unenlightenment and enlightenment is a bit of a theme for our Anstas or Dogen. Um, and I think it's a little bit unfair, right? Sort of feels like he's moving the goalpost kind of late in the game. Because like I start to think, well, maybe enlightenment is possible even for a deluded being like me. And then Dogen says, no, you have to transcend both enlightenment and unenlightenment. And then I say, Oh, come on, Dogan. I'm not transcending nothing, but uh there's another Dogin Zenji chant. Uh it says on page 23 of our chant book, which is I like because it's short. Uh, and it's uh Dogen Zenji's uh declaration of faith in practice called the Ehe Koso Hatsuganmon. And Dogen says, Revering Buddhas and ancestors, we are one Buddha and one ancestor. Awakening Bodhi mind, we are one body mind. Because they extend their compassion to us freely and without limit, we are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment. Transcend both unenlightenment and enlightenment through the strength of our Zazen. We are able to attain Buddhahood and let go of the attainment. And then in another essay called Going Beyond Buddha, Dogan says, you should know that someone going beyond Buddha cannot be fully realized merely by practice and enlightenment through one, two, three, four, or five eons, or even one hundred great eons. Only those who study the inconceivable way can realize it. Know that there is someone going beyond Buddha. This is the full activity of arousing the intention. So understand going beyond Buddha by taking up an ancient Buddha and raising a fist. To see through this is to know someone who goes beyond Buddha and someone who goes beyond not Buddha. Going beyond Buddha means that you reach Buddha and going further, you continue to see Buddha. So that explains transcending both unenlightenment and enlightenment. So uh in Buddhist doctrine generally, uh it's belief that one's state of mind uh at the moment of our deaths uh is uh a very significant factor in determining the circumstances of the next rebirth. Um particularly in Vajrayana Buddhism, they they really uh emphasize this a lot. They're uh like the Tibetan Book of the Dead is kind of all about um these are the practices you should do when you know death is near. And uh it also has guidance on how to uh navigate the bardo, which is the the in-between state after you die and before you take your next rebirth. Uh they kind of uh legend is that the recently deceased can spend up to 49 days in this in-between state. Um, so that's why there is uh uh a seven-week mourning period with uh where uh the their uh a recently deceased person's loved ones do special prayers and offerings because they believe in this particular state, you know, uh the sincere prayers of of their loved ones can can really help that person when they're uh on their uh journeying between life and death, or death and life. So this uh how how people die is you know sort of seen as an important part of their teaching style and teaching life. There are numerous ancient and a few contemporary stories of Zen masters who died sitting upright uh with their legs crossed in Zazen posture. And uh particularly amusing example is the story of the death of Dongshan. So uh if you were practicing with Seattle Soto Zen in the spring, uh you may remember Dongshan as uh the author of the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, which we studied earlier this year. Uh so the the story of Dongshan's death is that uh one day Dongshan took a bath, shaved his head, put on his fanciest brocade robes, and he rang the bell to call all the monks to the Dharma hall. And once the monks were assembled, uh Dongshan took his seat, the teacher's seat, crossed his legs, settled into Zazen posture, and said, I'm gonna die now. And then he died. And the students were very upset. So they all started screaming and crying and freaking out and calling the paramedics. And so Dongshan opened his eyes, stood up, and said, Come on, you guys. I thought you were Zen monks. Shouldn't you be acting differently than this? And then Dongshan said, All right, a week from today we'll have a special feast day, which is actually his funeral feast, but he called it the Feast of Stupidity. So Dongshan spent the next seven days doing his regular abatial duties, teaching, meeting with his students. Then they had a great big feast. Dong Shan sat down in his teaching seat, crossed his legs, and he said, This time, don't you make a big fuss, and died again. I just love that story. It's really funny, isn't it? And dying while either sitting or standing have all depended entirely on the strength of Zazen. In addition, the bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet. So these uh a finger, a banner, a needle, and a mallet are uh references to uh four famous Koan stories. So the story about the finger is uh an absolutely horrific story uh about Master Gute's uh one finger zen. It's uh in the Gateless Barrier, and also uh more condensed version of it is in the Blue Cliff Record. So the story is there was this Zen teacher, Master Guthe. And uh, whenever someone asked him a Zen question, regardless of the question, Master Guthe would respond by raising one finger. That was his his Zen, was the one finger zen. And uh Master Gute had a student who started imitating that. Whenever Goute raised a finger, his student would also raise a finger. And this went on for a while. And then one day, someone asked Gute a question, he raised his finger, student raised his finger. Goute lunged forward and cut the student's finger off. Told you it was a horrific story. So the student started to run away, you know, cradling his mutilated hand, hyperventilating, however, you would respond by having your finger amputated by someone you trusted. But Gute called him back. The kid turned around. Gute lifted a finger, and the student automatically tried to imitate him by raising the finger that he didn't have anymore. And at that moment, the student was greatly enlightened. So I don't know. It's still a horrible story, but I guess it had a happy ending. Don't worry, the other koans aren't so gruesome. And the second one, uh, so a finger and then a banner. Uh the story of the banner is the tale of the transmission of Dharma from the Buddha's successor and heir, Mahakashapa, to the Buddha's attendant, Ananda. So Ananda is credited with memorizing all of the Buddha's lectures. He's the one who preserves them for future generations. Um, but Ananda was uh slow to realize enlightenment. He was the Buddha's cousin as well as his student and chronicler. And uh Ananda's great respect and affection for Shakyamuni Buddha, um, as you know, wondrous and virtuous as they were, uh, actually became an obstacle for uh from to preventing him from taking the necessary step of going beyond Buddha, right? He couldn't conceive of going beyond Buddha because he had so much love and so much veneration for Shakyamuni Buddha, and this is why he was unable to attain enlightenment for a very long time. And you know, it really bothered Ananda a lot. So one day he Ananda asked Mahakashapa, besides passing down his monastic robes and his baking bowl to you, was there anything else that our teacher transmitted? So when uh when the Buddha named Mahakashapa his his uh dharma heir, he gave him his robe and bowl as a sign that this is uh this you know I'm passing my dharma on to the student. And Ananda, you know, feeling a little bit left out, said, was there did he give you anything else? Which is, you know, what what do you have that I don't have? What did he recognize in you that doesn't exist in me? What is the missing ingredient that is keeping me from realizing the way? And Mahakashapa replied by saying, Ananda, knock down the flagpole at the temple gate. This requires some explanation. So it used to be uh they would hoist a banner at uh the main temple gate to announce that the teacher was scheduled to give a dharma talk that day. Um, people would kind of inviting the community to come and listen to the Dharma. So Mahagashapa said, he said, knock down the flagpole, take down the teaching banner. He was telling Ananda, no, there is nothing lacking in you, there is nothing hidden, and nothing was left unsaid between you and your teacher. There's no dharma talk. You already have a hundred percent of the transmission. And at that point, Ananda was able to kind of get over himself and realize the way. So a finger, a banner, a needle. So the needle is one that really confuses me. Um, it's the story of the first meeting between the great Indian sage Nagarjana and his Dharma heir uh Kennedaiva. So I'm going to read the case, uh Kazan Jokin's commentary on it from the record of Transmission of the Light. And if any of you understand what's going on in this story, maybe you can explain it to me. So the 15th Zen patriarch was the venerable Kanadiva. He had an audience with the great teacher Nagarjana in the hope of becoming a follower. Nagarjana knew Kanadiva was a man of great wisdom. He sent his assistant for a bowl full of water and had it placed before him. The venerable Kanadiva saw the bowl of water and thrust a needle into the bowl and presented it to Nagarjana. They met each other joyfully and realized that they were of like minds. Kazan explains this by saying, This story is not ordinary. From the first, Kannadiva was one with the way. Nagarjuna does not say a word, nor does Kannadiva hear a word. Therefore, it is hard to say that they are a master and disciple. As a result, Kannadiva promoted the tradition, and in the end it was known all over India as the Deva tradition. It is like the saying heaping snow in a silver bowl, concealing a heron in bright moonlight. Because this is the way it was, when they first met, a bowl filled with water was placed before them. How can you say that water has inside or outside? Since the bowl is full, none of the water is missing, and the water is deep and clear. It is pure right to the bottom and wondrously bright in its fullness. Therefore can a diver thrust a needle into it, and he and Nagarsana experience the oneness of minds. This needle must have pierced the bottom and pierced the top. Here there is neither absolute nor relative. At this point it is hard to distinguish master and disciple. Even though they are similar, they're not the same, and even though they become mixed, there is no trace of mixture. One's mind is bright and round without form like the transparency of pure water. It is like seeking the sharp point when you get to the bottom of a spiritual principle. You display the sharp point everywhere. Ever so bright it pervades the mind. Water too flows and pervades everything, boring through mountains and inundating the heavens. A needle also penetrates a thick hemp and big and pierces a mustard seed. Moreover, water is not overcome by anything, and even less does it leave traces. So there you go. That is the story of the needle.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Our venerable Gens just gave uh his interpret uh his uh uh uh some some turning words on that particular case. He said uh it were a group of us are meeting uh later on today to work on sowing rakasus together. And I'm the sewing teacher. And uh Genzen said, Well, to sow a rakasu, you needed needles, but you also need water. Therefore, this is like the meeting of Nagarjana and Kanedava. Thank you, that was very helpful. So we've made it through a finger, a banner, and a needle. Finally, the a mallet. The story of the mallet is the first case of the Book of Serenity and the 92nd case of the Blue Cliff Record. And it goes like this, it's a very short one. The Buddha ascends the teaching platform. So when the Buddha was addressing a large audience, he he spoke from a raised dais so that people could see him, right? So he ascends to the stage and takes his seat. The dharma of the king of dharmas is thus. The Buddha then stood up and walked down off the stage. So the bringing about of enlightenment by the opportunity provided by a finger, a banner, a needle, or a mallet, and the effecting of realization with the aid of a hosu, a fist, a staff, or a shout cannot be fully understood by discriminative thinking. So a hosu is um a horsehair fly whisk. And it's also um a symbol of uh a Zen teacher's authority. Uh what's my my teacher uh Soketsu Norman Fisher, he went to an interfaith conference and he brought his hosu with him for this ceremony they did, and he met uh uh a Yoruba, uh, might be pronouncing that Yoruba um elder from Central Africa, who also had this, you know, uh decorative fly whisk. And they were like comparing fly whisks. And Norman says, we receive this, you know, when we become full teachers, and it's a symbol of you know our compassion, a great compassion that you know, when we grow in wisdom, we also become so compassionate we won't even harm an insect. So therefore, we have this horsehair whisk so we can just flip bugs away without harming them. And uh the the African priest he was speaking to said, Oh yes, it's the same with ours. We receive it when we become a full elder, and it has the same symbolism. And Norman was very impressed with that. So uh there are several colons. I'm not gonna actually go into any of them here, where uh someone asks the teacher question, and the teacher answers by raising or lowering the fly whisk or twirling his fly whisk. Um and uh or banging a staff. There's a couple of different staves that uh Zen teachers have for particular uses, and so sometimes if uh someone asks a question, they'll respond by banging a staff on the ground. Uh Gen Zen's teacher would sometimes uh take a uh what was it? A vajra and bang it on the table to make a point. Uh and uh special, special. Yes, special, special vajra. Uh and uh in in uh collection of his teachings, he's like, no, you have to put in I banged my bajra there. You have to have that in the in the dark uh in the transcript of the talk. It's like this this kind of metal doohickey that you can do special tricks with if you're um have long flexible fingers.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

So it's made out of maps of that. And so my teacher in California Guangdong punctuous talks with uh slamming the butcher against the table.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

And uh Sung San uh was also famous for uh answering questions by banging a staff on the on the ground. It wasn't quite to the extent of Ghoute's one finger as end, but that was you know an answer he used a lot was he would bang his staff and he'd say, Now do you understand it? And the student would say no. And then he'd bang his staff again, and the student would say, I still don't get it. He's like, Come on, bang the staff twice. And uh the shout, uh Zen teachers like Mao Zu and Lin and Linji, and many other teachers are very famous for their Zen shout, which is it's actually a very special thing. Uh it's like what's the expression nowadays? Uh say say it with your whole chest, right? The Zen shout was this thorough and unconditional expression of one's true nature with this loud shout, just throwing everything in to this great Zen shout. Let's all do that. Hi! Do you feel like you expressed yourself? You know, believe it or not, when I was in college, I was actually very shy um and quiet. I don't know what happened, but uh I was also uh studying Aikido, and my Aikido teacher refused to uh advance me to the next class because I was doing the move properly, but I wasn't shouting. And I'm like, you know, no, I can I could totally punch without kie. He's like, no, you can't. You have to the kie is part of the punch, and I'm like, uh no, because I I just didn't didn't feel comfortable shouting in front of other people. And then I tore my rotator cuff so I didn't get to do aikido anymore. So this is you know, this is uh uh an inconceivable teaching method is the the zen shout. And finally, finally the fist. So sometimes teachers like uh Mazu or Linji would also deliver a very timely wallop to knock a student out of uh an unhelpful pattern of thinking, right? You know, you could kind of think of it as being stuck in a rut, right? And you know, maybe you can if a card is stuck in a rut, maybe you get to a point where you can just bump it a little bit and set it on a new path. And so some Zen students would do that by giving you a little bit of a smack with great compassion. Uh then Dogan goes on to say, indeed, it cannot be fully known by the practicing or realizing of supernatural powers either. Dogen was uh very ambivalent about the existence of supernatural powers. He was he was like, you know, they I don't know if people uh anyone can actually do any of that crazy stuff. Uh, but he was very certain that even if it was true, it didn't really matter very much, which is, you know, uh kind of a common statement by Zen Masters. It's a very famous poem by uh the very famous Zen teacher Le Man Peng, where he says, My daily activities are not unusual. I just naturally exist in harmony with them, grasping nothing, discarding nothing. In every place there is no hindrance or conflict. My supernatural power and marvelous activity, drawing water and chopping firewood. So someone asked him, You've been practicing a long time. What special powers have you achieved after all these years? And Laman Pung said, Drawing water and carrying firewood.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Uh didn't the Buddha say didn't the Buddha uh surprise that he uh they were asking him about levitating powers?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, there's another story uh about uh some somebody came to the Buddha. I'm not sure where this is, I don't think it's actually in the sutras, but some somebody came to the Buddha and they were very happy because uh after years of practice they developed the power of walking upon water and they demonstrate it to the Buddha. And the Buddha said, That's really a shame because the fairy only costs five bucks. So this cannot be fully understood by discriminative thinking. It must be deportment beyond hearing and seeing. Is it not a principle that is prior to knowledge and perceptions? So there's um a misunderstanding about Zen meditation that we're trying to stop thinking or cut off thinking or throw away our thinking mind, this discriminative mind. Um, but that's that's not true. It's not, you know, Zen is not anti-intellectual. Um what we're doing is going beyond thinking. So we're we're using our discriminative thinking, we're using our body, breath, and mind, our full selves, and throwing it into our practice to go beyond practice, to go beyond Buddha, to express our true selves with this great silent zen shout that is our Zazen practice. Our entire practice of Zazen is just throwing ourselves into this zen shout without making a sound. Our whole cells, body, mind, breath, everything into that, our existence in that moment, leaving nothing out. So this is deportment beyond hearing and seeing, a principle that is prior to knowledge and perceptions. So that's the end of today's section of Fukunza Zengi. And next week, Daiho Chris will be presenting a Dharma talk on the next paragraph. So you'll finally get a break from listening to my nasally voice.