A. Each person’s ‘I’ is the most important. All that we do in our lives is nothing but to attempt to please and satisfy our ‘I’. Even sacrificing ourselves for someone else, although it may be called altruism, is a sort of way to please and satisfy our ‘I’. Feeling that we have succeeded in doing this, we feel happy and accomplished. When we fail to do so, we become unhappy and even frustrated.
However, what is regrettable is that we don’t know what the ‘I’ is whilst we regard it as the most important. That is why all our effort to please and satisfy it is fruitless although we are struggling to do it. The purpose of Zen meditation is to help to realise our ‘I’. To realise our ‘I’ is called enlightenment.
Joshu asked a monk, “Have you been here before?” The monk said, “Yes, I have.” Joshu said, “Have a cup of tea.” Joshu asked another monk, “Have you ever been here?” The monk answered, “No, I have not.” Joshu said, “Have a cup of tea.”
Student: “Why did Joshu only tell the monks to have a cup of tea although they made different answers?”
Master: “Because their destinations are the same although they are lost in different places.”
Commentary:
The map to the Buddha’s Kingdom has nothing but the destination because there is nothing between the travellers and the destination.
When Rinzai came to Ryoko during his period of wandering, Ryoko was giving a Dharma talk at the High Seat. Rinzai stepped forward and asked Ryoko, “Without drawing the sword, how could one conquer?” Ryoko clutched his seat. Rinzai said, “How could a great teacher not have skilful means?” Ryoko stared and let out a long sigh. Rinzai, pointing at him with his finger, said, “This old fellow, today he was reduced to bewilderment!”
Commentary:
Rinzai’s question ‘Without drawing the sword, how could one conquer?’ meant ‘Do you know the true-Self that is so free from illusions that there is no one to conquer and be conquered not mention the sword?” Ryoko responded by revealing the true-Self by clutching his seat. Rinzai, pretending to disapprove his answer, asked him again so that he might see if Ryoko was deluded by the words ‘How could a great teacher not have skilful means?’ which could appear to be humiliating. Ryoko lost no time in showing skilful means by staring and letting out a long sigh. Rinzai’s last words and attitude towards Ryoko might sound rude and degrading, but his intention was to show how great Ryoko was to his students, and to test them to see if they could grasp his appraisal of Ryoko as the function of the true-Self.
Student: “What would you say if you are asked ‘Without drawing the sword, how could one conquer?’?”
Master: “I would say, ‘Why are you wielding the sword so dangerously?’”
Student: “How would you answer if you are asked ‘How could a great teacher not have skilful means?’?”
Master: “I would say, ‘A great teacher’s skilful means is visible to none but the wise’.”
A. In Buddhism, being deluded by illusions is often compared to dreaming. The opposite of being deluded by illusions is to see things as they are, which is compared to awakening from a dream. This is why the word ‘awakening’ is used as a synonym for enlightenment in Buddhism.
According to the Diamond Sutra, Buddha said, “If you can see everything as if you were seeing it in a dream, you can see the true-Self.” However, the words ‘seeing everything as if you were seeing it in a dream’ don’t make much sense to you until you realise the fact, that is, until you are enlightened, just as you don’t realise that you were haunted by nightmares until you awaken from your dream.
The purpose of Buddhism is to help people to awaken from their dreams, and Zen meditation is a kind of practice for awakening from dreams.
Layman Pang said, “Everyone has a Sutra. However, there is no one who can read it because it is formless, nameless and textless. If you have ‘I’, that is self, you can neither read nor listen to it. If you happen to be able to read it, you will become one with the principle of no birth and no death. Then, you don’t have to follow Bodhisattvas and don’t have to try to become the Buddha.”
Student: “Why don’t I have to try to become the Buddha?”
Master: “Because trying to become the Buddha is forsaking Him.”
Rinzai came to the memorial pagoda of Bodhidharma. The incumbent asked, “Old Venerable, will your first bow be to the Buddha or to the Patriarch?” Rinzai said, “I shall bow neither to the Buddha nor to the Patriarch.”
The incumbent asked, “What feud is there between you, old Venerable, and the Buddha and Patriarch?” Rinzai shook his sleeves and left.
Commentary:
It is not certain whether the incumbent asked Rinzai the question because he really didn’t know, or because he wanted to test Rinzai. Rinzai’s answer ‘I shall bow neither to the Buddha nor to the Patriarch’ meant that he was not deluded by the illusions of the Buddha and the Patriarch since he knew that everything is empty. The incumbent asked Rinzai why he didn’t pay homage to them even though they deserved his respect since he enjoyed the realm of enlightenment thanks to their teaching. Hearing the question, Rinzai shook his sleeves and left.
Was he rude and impolite, or did he show his respect to them? This episode presents us with a question ‘What is the right way to respect the Buddha and Patriarchs heartily?’. One day a monk asked his master who always taught his students to kill the Buddha, “Sir, why do you always tell us to kill the Buddha when we make our living thanks to him?” The master answered, “Because that is the way to venerate him.” The core of Buddhism is not to worship, or pray to the Buddha but to recognise the Buddha in our daily life without being deluded by the illusion of the Buddha.
The Buddha means Oneness. When everything is Oneness, there is nothing but Oneness, the Buddha. Then, there can be no other sound but the voice of the Buddha. So, the voice of the Buddha has no beginning and no end and includes not only all sounds but also silence. No one can stop it reaching our ears even for a moment. Furthermore, all the sounds you make in your daily life are also the sounds of the Buddha because you are also part of the Buddha.
The key problem is that we don’t recognise it while seeing and hearing it. In order to recognise the sound of the Buddha, you should know that there is no difference at all between any two things: silence and sound, air and a tree, tea and a cup, and so on. Hearing everything as the same is hearing everything as it is, which is to hear the voice of the Buddha. Seeing everything as the same is seeing everything as it is, which is to see the Buddha.
Layman Pang said, “Everyone has a Sutra. However, there is no one who can read it because it is formless, nameless and textless. If you have ‘I’, that is self, you can neither read nor listen to it. If you happen to be able to read it, you will become one with the principle of no birth and no death. Then, you don’t have to follow Bodhisattvas and don’t have to try to become the Buddha.”
Later on, Issan asked Gyosan, “Did Rinzai show himself ungrateful to Obaku?” Gyosan said, “Not at all.” Issan said, “What do you mean?” Gyosan said, “One has to know the kindnesses one has received in order to be able to repay them.” Issan said, “Have there been similar precedents among the old masters?” Gyosan said, “Yes, there were. But it was long ago, and I do not want to talk about it.” Issan said, “This may be so, yet I would like to know. Just tell me.” Gyosan said, “It is just as the incident in the Ryogon Sutra when, at the assembly, Ananda made this Gatha of the Buddha, ‘This profound heart serves in a dusty temple. This is called requiting the Buddha’s kindness. How could it not be a case of requiting kindness?’” Issan said, “Just so, just so! Insight as deep as that of the master diminishes by half the master’s virtue; insight surpassing that of the master makes one worthy to receive the succession.”
Commentary:
Later on, Issan asked Gyosan if, during the conversation between Obaku and Rinzai, Rinzai had been ungrateful to Obaku. Gyosan answered that Rinzai had revealed the true-Self through seemingly impolite words, by saying that Rinzai had been wise enough to recognise Obaku’s kindnesses and repay them. Then, Issan asked Gyosan to test him further to see if he could present similar precedents from the old masters. Gyosan, initially refusing to tell similar precedents because doing so was at best merely playing with illusions, finally presented a similar precedent by quoting Ananda’s words from the Ryogon Sutra ‘This profound heart serves in a dusty temple. This is called requiting the Buddha’s kindness’. Ananda meant the true-Self by ‘this profound heart’ and form by ‘a dusty temple’, which implies that the true-Self is hidden in form. Whenever we see and hear things, being able to recognise the true-Self is no other than to requite the Buddha’s kindness. Then, Issan, very satisfied with Gyosan’s response, approved his enlightenment.
Student: “How can we see the profound heart when it serves in a dusty temple?”
A. According to the Buddha’s words, we are originally happiness itself, but we are floundering in the ocean of suffering because we can’t see things as they are. To escape from the ocean of suffering, we should turn our ignorance into wisdom.
In Buddhism ignorance means being unable to see things as they are, or being deluded by illusions. On the contrary when we can see things as they are, the ability to see things as they are is referred to as wisdom. So, turning ignorance into wisdom means changing our perspective that is deluded by illusions into the one that is not deluded by them.
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