Questions & Koans

Q. What is the use of Zen to the poor who are hungry?

A. Thinking in that way is seeing Zen practice as separate from our lives and regarding Zen as something special that only people with decent income can practise. Don’t think that Zen practice is available only when we can sit in a quiet place. People who neglect their work in excuse of Zen practice, when there is work to be done, are those who don’t know how to practise Zen. Doing our best to make enough money to support our family can be good practice as well. We should know that there are no actions that can’t be practice.

Keeping curiosity about what is making your body work while working is Zen practice. Asking yourself what is driving your body to act in the way it does when you help those in need is no other than Zen practice. Helping those in trouble while trying to see them as one with yourself is Zen practice. The best practice is to make your practice one with your life.

Student: “What dharma talk would you give if a hungry person comes to you for a dharma talk?”
Master: “I’d serve him food.”
Student: “Why do you give him food when he wants a dharma talk?”
Master: “I hope that he will look upon my serving food as a dharma talk and his eating as practice.”

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Guishan’s “Great Capacity, Great Function”

Guishan said to the assembly, “People nowadays have great capacity but do not have great function.”
Yangshan related this to a temple priest.
The temple priest kicked over a stool.
Hearing about it, Guishan burst into laughter.

Student: “What is great capacity?”
Master: “Great function.”
Student: “What is the great function?”
Master: “Great capacity.”
Student: “Why do people nowadays have great capacity but do not have great function?”
Master: “Because they have great function but do not have great capacity.”
Student: “Why did the temple priest kick over a stool?”
Master: “Because you have great function but don’t have great capacity.”

Commentary:
Great capacity is to great function as air is to winds.

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Rinzai 10

One day from the High Seat, the master said: “Upon the lump of red flesh there is a True Man of no Status who ceaselessly goes out and in through the gates of your face. Those who have not yet recognised him, look, look!”

Commentary:
‘The lump of red flesh’ symbolises our physical body, ‘a True Man of no Status’ the true-Self, and ‘the gates of your face’ our sense organs which are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. ‘Those who have not yet recognised him’ means those who have not yet recognised the true-Self. His saying ‘Look, look!’ can sound dubious because the master didn’t specify any object to look at and this can lead people to wonder what the master was telling them to look at. However, this, as the critical point of this paragraph, is the way he showed the true-Self to the assembly. You ought to be able to see the true-Self the moment you hear his saying ‘Look, look!’. In order to see the true-Self, you should be able to see with your ears and hear with your eyes. When seeing, you should be able to hear, and when hearing, you should be able to see. Then, you can hear dharma talks from the cup and the tea spoon put before you and see the true-Self from the barking of your dog.

Student: “I still don’t know what master Rinzai told the assembly to look at.”
Master: “You cannot stop seeing and hearing it even for a moment.”

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Q. How should we accept the following part of the Bible found in Luke 13?

‘Luke 13:4 What about those 18 people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them? Do you suppose this proves that they were worse than all the other people living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.’

This scripture causes us to have the following realistic questions. One is ‘Are those who were recently killed in wars or accidents worse than those who remain alive now?’. Another is ‘Did Jesus turn from his sin?’ considering that Jesus himself who stated this also couldn’t avoid death. The third is ‘If Jesus’s didn’t die and his death is different from ours, what is the difference between his death and ours?’ All these eventually lead to the questions: ‘What is to turn from our sin?’ and ‘How can we avoid death?’.

Turning from our sins means being freed from our discriminating mind, our original sin that began with the fruit of the tree of Good and Evil in the beginning of the world. This means to see things as they are without discriminating, which is to realise that everything is empty. When realising that everything is empty, we can see everything as one as emptiness. Then, we can truly understand what ‘John 14:20, When the day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that I am in you just as you are in me’ means. This means that we are one with God and Jesus.

To sum up, to turn from our sins is to realise that everything is empty and that we are one with God and Jesus. To realise that death is empty is to avoid dying.

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Qingyuan’s “Come Closer”

Once a monastic asked Qingyuan, “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from India?”
Qingyuan said, “It’s just like this!”
The monastic asked further, “What do you have to teach these days?”
Qingyuan said, “Come closer.”
The monastic moved closer.
Qingyuan said, “Keep this in mind.”

Student: “What is this that Qingyuan told the monastic to keep in mind?”
Master: “You should not keep it.”
Student: “Tell me what it is. How could I keep or not keep it when I don’t know what it is?”
Master: “Keep it.”

Commentary:
What can be kept is not it because it can’t be discarded.

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Rinzai 9

The master went close to him and said, “How goes it?” Magog hesitated.
The master in turn pulled Magog down from the seat and resumed his place.
Magog left, and so did the master.

Commentary:
Rinzai countered Magog by going close to him and saying, “How goes it?”, which implies, “This is my answer to your question. Can you see what my answer means?” Magog responded to Rinzai’s by pretending to hesitate, which also means, “This is my answer to your question. Can you see what I mean?” This time Rinzai, by pulling Magog down from the seat and resuming his place, answered Magog’s question. This answer too, is not only an answer but also a question ‘Do you know what I mean by this answer?’. Magog wanted to finish the demonstration by answering Rinzai’s question by leaving the place and Rinzai, sensing his intention, answered Magog’s final question by also leaving.

You should know that these two great masters took the trouble to roll in a puddle of mud in order to show the Avalokitesvara, the true-Self to the assembly. Their words and actions are just mud. You should not be deluded by it but see what is beneath it. In other words, to see the Avalokitesvara they revealed, you should see and hear what is beyond their words and actions.

Student: “You say that the two masters took the trouble to show Avalokitesvara, the true-Self, but I still cannot discern Him.”
Master: “What a shame! I showed you Avalokitesvara. Why do you slander me as if I had talked about the masters?”

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Q. How can I be perfectly motivated to practise Zen?

A. For the sake of the people who neglected their practice, Buddha gave an appropriate metaphor ‘the Burning House’. He compared us to children who are playing in a burning house that is bound to collapse on them sooner or later. We are at risk of losing our lives if we fail to escape from the house in time. However, most people are so preoccupied by playing in the burning house that they not only don’t know that outside the house there are much more interesting things than those they are toying with in the burning house now, but they also don’t perceive the danger approaching them at every moment.

The purpose of Zen practice is to enable people to escape from the burning house and enjoy eternal happiness. Which is your choice, to keep playing in the burning house, or to get out of it?

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Changsha’s Dharma talk

A monastic asked Changsha, “What is a dharma talk?” Changsha pointed to the left of his meditation seat and said, “This monastic is doing a dharma talk.” The monastic asked, “Is there anybody else who can do it?” Changsha pointed to the right of his meditation seat and said, “That monastic is doing it, too.” The monastic asked, “Then why can’t I hear it?” Changsha said, “Haven’t you heard that a real dharma talk makes no sound, and in real listening there is no hearing?”

Student: “How can I hear a dharma talk when it makes no sound and there is no hearing in real listening?”
Master: “Hear what is beyond sound.”
Student: “How?”
Master: “Don’t leave sound in order to hear what is beyond sound.”

Commentary:
Forsaking winds to seek air is not the right way.

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Rinzai 8

The master said, “The Great Compassionate Bodhisattva, Avalokitesvara has a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. Which eye is the true one? Speak quick, quick!”
Magog pulled the master off his seat and himself took the place.

Commentary:
Master Rinzai’s response to Magog’s question by repeating Magog’s question and adding a few words ‘Speak quick, quick!’ may sound eccentric and illogical but this is an airtight answer to Magog’s question. You should be able to recognise Avalokitesvara that Rinzai showed just as you can recognise the invisible wind by seeing leaves moving and the invisible autumn by seeing leaves turning red and yellow. If you are confused and perplexed with this answer, that is the evidence that you are being deluded by words.

Then, Magog, admitting Rinzai’s answer, brings another question by pulling Rinzai off his seat and taking the place. You should know that this action includes both approval and another question: “I know that you mean just this as your answer to my question. Then, what is this? Tell me another answer.” You should know that however leaves may flutter and sound, it’s all just the function of the wind.

Student: “Why did Rinzai repeat the same question that Magog asked instead of answering the question?”
Master: “Because a correct answer must be the same as the question.”
Student: “Why did Magog pull Rinzai off his seat and take the place?”
Master: “Why do you see only Magog and Rinzai instead of seeing Avalokitesvara?”

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Q. Without suffering there is no need for Nirvana, as these are two sides of the same coin. So, can we say that suffering is the cause and Nirvana is the effect?

A. We can say not only that suffering is the cause of Nirvana but also the other way around. They are just like right and left since one can’t be without the other. Either of them is cause of the other and effect of the other at the same time. As long as there is Nirvana, there has to be suffering and vice versa. If one vanishes, the other is bound to disappear along with it spontaneously. So, there is no Nirvana in the realm of Nirvana, just as there is no Buddha in Buddha’s land. So, an ancient master, when asked how to enter Buddha’s land, would answer, “Don’t stay where there is Buddha and go past quickly where there is no Buddha.” All these imply that Nirvana and suffering are just illusions, imaginary lines created by our imagination. If we can be above being deluded by illusions, then true Nirvana is no other than just where we are standing or sitting at this moment.

Student: “Where is Nirvana?”
Master: “Near.”
Student: “How near?”
Master: “You can’t escape from it.”

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