Questions & Koans

The monk asked, “What is breaking the peace of the Sangha?” The master said, “Realising that one thought and one mind are tied to illusions and that there is nothing to depend on is breaking the peace of the Sangha.” The monk asked, “What is the burning of scriptures and statues?” “If, seeing that karma, causation is empty, that mind is empty, and that things are empty, you decisively become Oneness and feel detached, this is burning the scriptures and statues.”

Commentary:

Practitioners are so addicted to the words ‘the mind is the Buddha’ that they tend to be attached to the illusion of the mind. The Buddha, the true-Self is essentially nameless and mind, the Buddha and the true-Self are not the essence of it but just labels used for the sake of convenience. If you, realising that every thought, even the thought ‘mind’ is nothing but an illusion, can be sure that there is nothing to depend on, this is breaking the peace of the Sangha because you are not deluded any more by the illusions such as ‘peace’ and ‘Sangha’.

If you, seeing everything, including karma and mind, as empty, become Oneness and stay detached from whatever reaches your eyes and ears, this is said to be burning the scriptures and statues because you are not deluded by the words of the scriptures and the forms of statues.

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A. Masters’ words, such as these, mean that we should not cling to words, intellectual understanding of the Sutras, not that we should ignore, or leave them out of our consideration altogether. Being attached to words can be compared to making matters worse by putting oral medicine into our eyes and ears instead of swallowing it. To cling to the intellectual understanding of the Sutras and Dharma talks is ridiculous, but to assume that they mean nothing at all is hopeless.

Although the atlas shows the way to our destination, it is not our destination itself. Mistaking the atlas as our true destination is ridiculous, but discarding the atlas is hopeless. Once we have reached our destination, the map is of no use to us any longer.

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Huangbo told a monastic, “All the venerable ones in various places all over the country are on top of my staff.” The monastic bowed. Later the monastic went to see Dashu and told him the story. Dashu said, “Huangbo said so, but has he seen the various places?” The monastic went back to Huangbo and told him about it. Huangbo said, “My words have already reached all over the country.”  Langye commented on this, “Dashu’s response was like someone who seemed to have eyes but was really blind. Huangbo’s single staff cannot be bitten and chewed by anyone in this country.”

Student: “What did Huangbo mean by saying, ‘All the venerable ones in various places all over the country are on top of my staff’?”

Master: “He didn’t say so.”

Student: “What did Dashu imply by answering, ‘Huangbo said so, but has he seen the various places?’?”

Master: “He didn’t say so.”

Student: “What did Huangbo mean by saying, ‘My words have already reached all over the country’?”

Master: “His words have already reached here, too.”

Student: “What did Langye mean by ‘Dashu’s response was like someone who seemed to have eyes but was really blind’?”

Master: “His blindness cannot be surmounted by your good sight.”

Student: “What does ‘Huangbo’s single staff cannot be bitten and chewed by anyone in this country’ imply?”

Master: “Why don’t you stop biting and chewing it?”

Commentary:

Struggling with the words that were not spoken by masters is biting and chewing their staffs.

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The monk asked, “What is the mother?” The master said, “Coveting and thinking are the mother. If you, entering the realm of desire in one thought to look for ‘coveting and thinking’ and realising that everything, including ‘coveting and thinking’, is empty, are not attached to anything, this is harming the mother.” The monk asked, “What is the bleeding of Buddha’s body?” The master said, “In the realm of purity, if you do not give rise to any itch of knowledge, all is darkness itself; this is bleeding the Buddha’s body.”

Commentary:

The realm of desire means the mundane world, or the world of forms. In the middle of trying to find and remove ‘coveting and thinking’ in the world of forms, if you happen to realise that everything, including ‘coveting and thinking’, is empty, that is, if you realise that every illusion is no other than the function of the true-Self, and cease to be attached to anything, this is harming the mother that is ‘coveting and thinking’. The realm of purity implies Emptiness free of illusions. ‘All is darkness itself’ represents the state without any discrimination just as there is no discriminating in perfect darkness. This is why ancient masters, in order to emphasise the brightness of wisdom that comes from ceasing to discriminate, would say, “The brightness of wisdom is as bright as midnight darkness.”

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A. God never created suffering but freedom. The suffering of human beings results from their freedom to decide and choose. If you think that God should control, or interfere with our deciding and choosing, it means that we, having no right to do as we please, should be like robots that function just as programmed by God.

Before asking this question, do you really believe that God is perfection itself and love itself? If you have absolute belief in this, you should be willing to accept any situation that might be seemingly unfair and unjust as the perfect expression of his love because God never makes any mistakes. It is not because God created his work poorly but because you cannot understand God’s work in the same way that an artistically illiterate person cannot make sense of great artists’ works that current circumstances appear messy. Try to understand God’s intention. The best way to know his intention is to see God in person.

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Once a monastic bid farewell to Joshu. Joshu said, “Where are you going?” The monastic said, “I will visit various places to study the Buddhadharma.” Joshu picked up his whisk and said, “Do not abide in any place where the Buddha is. Pass by quickly any place where there is no Buddha.”

Student: “The purpose of all monastics is to see the Buddha. Why did Joshu tell the monastic not to abide in any place where the Buddha is?”

Master: “Because it is the way to see the Buddha.”

Student: “Where is the place without the Buddha?”

Master: “Where is the place with the Buddha?”

Commentary:

That which really doesn’t exist is free from even the words ‘doesn’t exist’.

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Venerable ones, only when you commit the Five Heinous Crimes can deliverance be attained. One monk asked, “What are the Five Heinous Crimes?” The master said, “To kill the father, to harm the mother, to bleed Buddha’s body, to break the peace of the Sangha, and to burn scriptures and statues, these are the Five Heinous Crimes.” The monk asked, “What is the father?” The master said, “Basic ignorance is the father. When there is no place where your heart arises and ceases, every sound is like an echo in the air and there is nothing to seek wherever you may go, this is called killing the father.”

Commentary:

Here Rinzai presented five ways of seeing the true-Self. The reason why he named them the Five Heinous Crimes is that the way of seeing and hearing things which we have been accustomed to so far is as difficult to do away with as committing the five crimes mentioned above. ‘When there is no place where your heart arises and ceases’ means to realise that all your discriminations are groundless illusions by seeing things as they are. ‘Every sound is like an echo in the air’ means that whatever you may hear, you are not deceived by the illusion of the sound but hear it as the sound of the true-Self. This is why an ancient master said, “When someone calls you names, taking the names as the sound of the true-Self is the best merit.” ‘There is nothing to seek wherever you may go’ implies that there is nothing to attach yourself to whatever situation you may find yourself in, because you are aware that everything is empty.

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A. The idea that the world would be a better place if all leaders were women is also a sexist idea. As long as we are trapped by the thought that one sex can be superior or inferior to the other, the world you anticipate will never materialise. The idea that women can be better than men is no less sexist than the idea that men are superior to women. When the idea that everyone is equal independent of his or her gender and that one’s capability is not determined by one’s sex but by one’s effort prevails, the world will be a much better place to live in.

The Buddhist perspective is that everyone is equal as the true-Self, the perfect being which is neither male nor female and that gender discrimination is the phenomenon of being deluded by the illusions of male and female.

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One day Zen master Tansheng of Mount Yunyan was sweeping the ground. His dharma brother Daowu asked, “Working hard?”

Yunyan said, “What is not working hard?”

Daowu said, “Then is there a second moon?”

Yunyan held up the broom and said, “Which moon is this?”

Daowu walked away without saying a word.

Student: “What is a second moon?”

Master: “Who is asking this question?”

Student: “I am.”

Master: “Who is not asking this question?”

Student: “I don’t know.”

Master: “How can you say that you are asking this question whilst not knowing who is not asking this question?”

Commentary:

It is servants that are doing the chores.

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Followers of the Way, if you want to become Buddha, do not follow the ten thousand things. When the heart rises, the ten thousand things arise too. When the heart is stilled, the manifold things cease. And when the heart does not rise, the ten thousand things are without blame. In the world and beyond the world, neither Buddha nor Dharma has manifested themselves, nor have they disappeared. Though things exist, they are only names, words, conceptions and sentences. They are just expedient remedies to soothe crying children and treat their diseases depending on their diseases. Although they are expressed as names and conceptions, they are not names and conceptions on their own, but the one who is clear before your eyes, feels, hears, sees and changes things, attaches names and conception to everything.

Commentary:

‘If you want to become Buddha, do not follow the ten thousand things’ means that you should not be deluded by anything if you want to attain enlightenment. ‘When the heart rises, the ten thousand things arise too. When the heart is stilled, the manifold things cease’ means that when we discriminate, things come into existence, and when we stop discriminating, all things cease to be things. ‘When the heart does not rise, the ten thousand things are without blame’ implies that when we stop discriminating, that is, when we see things as they are, everything turns into perfection itself; this is called Emptiness, the Buddha, or the true-Self. ‘Neither Buddha nor Dharma has manifested themselves, nor have they disappeared’ means that we should not be deluded by the illusions and names of Buddha and Dharma if you want to see the Buddha, because the Buddha is the state that is perfectly free of name and form. ‘They are not names and conceptions on their own, but the one who is clear before your eyes, feels, hears, sees and changes things, attaches names and conception to everything’ implies that we, instead of being deluded by names and conceptions, should realise what it is that attaches them to everything.

Student: “What is the Buddha?”

Master: “Answering is killing Him.”

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