Koans and Koan introspection definitions
By Ted Biringer | August 21, 2008
Koan(s)
. Short stories or sayings unique to Zen Buddhism; the most distinctive characteristic distinguishing Zen from other schools of Mahayana Buddhism; expressions which contain, transmit, and evoke enlightened wisdom; direct expressions of specific wisdom; most koans come from the recorded sayings and doings of the classic Zen masters.
Koan-introspection
. The assimilation of enlightened wisdom (bodhi prajna) through the illumination of koans within observation meditation; evoking the specific wisdom within particular koans; a method (unique to Zen) for the transmission of enlightened wisdom. See also koan; transmission; prajna.
From the glossary of
~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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Zen Master Shen Tsan’s Voiceless Samadhi
By Ted Biringer | August 20, 2008
Later the Master {Shen Tsan} lived in Ku Ling Temple, where he collected (disciples) for several years. Preparing to pass away, he shaved his head, bathed himself, and had the temple bell sounded to announce his departure (and summon) the congregation.Then he asked, “Brothers, do you understand the voiceless samadhi.”
Those assembled answered, “No, we do not.”
The Master said, “Listen quietly, without cherishing and ideas.”
With the congregation on the very tiptoe of expectation that they would hear the voiceless samadhi, the Master withdrew his distinction.
At the monastery the pagoda dedicated to the Master still exists.
The Transmission Of The LampSohaku Ogata p.319
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Dogen nonthinking and pseudo Zen teachers
By Ted Biringer | August 18, 2008
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Delusion is like a person in a dream
By Ted Biringer | August 17, 2008
Awakening to reality is awakening to your own true nature. If you try to discover reality outside your own mind, you are simply adding delusion to delusion. Delusion is like a person in a dream thinking they are separate from everything else in the dream. The dream person, the dream world, and all the things in the dream are nothing but the one mind of the dreamer. If the dream person realizes that he or she is actually dreaming, they instantly realize that everything they encounter in the dream is nothing other than their own mind.
~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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Zazen face to face with the Grim Reaper
By Ted Biringer | August 13, 2008
According to the classic records of Buddhism, becoming intimate with the Grim Reaper is the beginning of liberation. Examining it deeply inspires earnest practice and allows one to achieve a realistic perspective of life. For more than 2500 years, Buddhist teachers have assailed students with insistent, often graphic reminders of the inevitability of death.
Most of us don’t like to talk about the Grim Reaper. Many of us don’t even want to think about him. Thinking about death, or worse, trying not to think about it, can be extremely uncomfortable. Nevertheless, thoughts about the inevitability of death can creep up on us, worm their way into our brains, so to speak.
We don’t like to think about it because notions of death, or concepts about ‘after death’ scare us. These concepts usually consist of some notion of annihilation, of utterly ceasing to exist. Such thoughts have a tendency to minimize the value of our greatest ambitions.
The Zen master Hakuin credits his awareness of death’s certainty with setting his heart on the path while still a child. Hearing about the torments of hell filled him with dread and aroused a determined search for liberation. Dogen’s quest too, was inspired by a deep awareness of death while still in childhood. Watching the rising smoke of incense at his mother’s funeral when he was only eight years old, he resolved to enter monastic life. As a teacher, Dogen often asserted that the knowledge of impermanence was the beginning of practice.
With few exceptions, contemporary teachers don’t have much to say about the hooded, scythe carrying monk. It seems that motivating students by arousing the ever-grinning face of death is out of vogue. Perhaps it is because of the reaper’s potential of scaring off donors. Some teachers, like funeral home owners, are sensitive to people’s desire for avoiding certain topics.
“They don’t want hear about the basics,” said one teacher, when asked why he lectures on topics beyond the ability of his audience to truly understand, “I teach them what they want or I don’t get payed.” Master Joe Liao, who has offered sign ups for years in hopes of offering students some of the fundamentals, says, “Nobody signs up for the classes on how to breathe. They all want to skip over the foundation and be masters in a month or a year. Maybe if I called it ‘meditation hamburger’ students would sign up.”
While financial concerns do have some impact, there seems to be more to it than that. Some evidence suggests that many ‘teachers’ have simply failed to resolve the issue for themselves. One book by a popular Zen teacher presents a story about a Zen master that was asked about the ‘after death state.’ The master said, “Why ask me?” The questioner said, “Because you are a Zen master.” The master said, “Yes, but I am not a dead Zen master.”
Apparently, this is supposed to be a teaching about ‘being in the moment.’ It is related as if the ‘master’ is pointing out that questions about ‘after death’ can only be resolved after death. At first glance this might sound like genuine Zen wisdom. With a little reflection however, this is untenable. While an authentic master might insist that one must personally resolve this question, they would not suggest that it could not be resolved while alive.
A person asking a Zen master about the ‘state after death’ is seeking relief from anxiety aroused by the Grim Reaper. To suggest that ‘live’ Zen masters ‘don’t know,’ is tantamount to saying that it can’t be resolved. This would be a subversion of Zen teaching, potentially leading genuine students astray. Saying, “I cannot resolve it for you” is much different than saying, “I cannot resolve it because I am alive.” This can be seen in a wonderful Zen koan involving the issue.
Once, at a funeral, a monk named Zengen tapped on the coffin and asked his teacher, Dogo, “Living or dead?” Dogo said, “Living, I won’t say. Dead, I won’t say.” Zengen said, “Why won’t you say?” Dogo said, “I won’t say, I won’t say.”
Later, as the two were walking home, Zengen said, “Living or dead? If you will not tell me, I will hit you.” Dogo said, “You can hit me, but still I won’t say.” Zengen hit him.
Later, after Dogo died, Zengen related this incident to Sekiso, another teacher. Sekiso said, “Living, I won’t say. Dead, I won’t say.” Again Zengen asked, “Why won’t you say?” Sekiso said, “I won’t say, I won’t say.”
At these words, Zengen finally saw through the Grim Reaper’s costume.
Later, Zengen came into the teaching hall carrying a hoe. He walked back and forth as if looking for something. Sekiso asked, “What are you doing?” Zengen said, “Looking for our late teachers relics (bits of bone, etc. found after cremation).” Sekiso said, “Vast and limitless, the myriad thundering waves fill the sky. What relic do you seek?” Zengen said, “That is just where to apply effort.”
While this koan might offer some intellectual satisfaction on the question of death, that is not its function. The theory of no-self (hence no-death) is illustrated in much clearer language in other Buddhist literature. This koan, on the other hand, presents a ‘gap’ through conceptual understanding to the reality beyond. It might be better to say that the koan bridges the gap theory and the true nature beyond conceptualization. This particular koan even offers a something like a self-reference about “just where to apply effort.”
Dogo and Sekiso do not say, “I can’t say” or “I don’t know.” They say, “I won’t say.” Even if Dogo or Sekiso gave him the ‘answer,’ it would not allow him (or us) to see that the Grim Reaper’s scythe is made of papier-mâché. (This is why books with koan ‘answers’ don’t offer any real help to students or pose a threat by ‘giving away’ anything.)
Zengen was a monk. We can be sure that he knew all about the Buddhist teachings of no-birth and no-death. Yet, in the beginning Zengen is so desperate to hear the ‘answer’ that he is willing to apply physical violence to his teacher. At the end, he is so confident of his resolution that he has the audacity to enter the meditation hall with a hoe and respond to any challenge. What was the agent of such a powerful transformation? One thing is sure, it was not learning some new bit of knowledge.
We, like Zengen, already know the Zen or Buddhist answers to the question. Yet, as the saying goes, “Knowing about water does not slake our thirst, saying the word ‘fire’ does not burn our mouth.”
Understanding no-birth and no-death is not enough. Buddhist teachings on emptiness, dependent origination, Buddha nature, and so on, are necessary guidelines for practice, but are of little use in and of themselves. Even with deep faith in such teachings, a person that learns they are terminally ill (and we all are) or faces the loss of a loved one (and we all do), can be overwhelmed by disillusion and anguish.
Buddhism has always acknowledged that true liberation can only come through personal awakening. This is certainly one of the hallmark teachings of Zen. Authentic freedom cannot be found in conceptualization, say the Zen masters, but only through direct, personal realization, or enlightenment. The path of genuine practice and awakening is grounded in authentic aspiration. Meditation on death is one of the most powerful methods of arousing authentic aspiration.
When Zen masters are asked about the fear and loss associated with death, they point us to the only thing that can truly resolve any kind of anguish, awakening to our true nature. According to Buddhism, we have always been free from birth and death; our true nature is the source from which all things arise, abide, and return—including the Grim Reaper himself. However, understanding that and realizing it directly are two vastly different things.
Meditating on the inevitability of death is not necessarily the way to realization, but it can inspire genuine aspiration as well as furnish us with a more realistic perspective. Meditation focused on death also provides us with a kind of yardstick with which we can measure our spiritual progress.
To meditate on death, we begin by settling into whatever our primary method of meditation is. Once settled in, we visualize our own naked body lying alone on a bed or the ground just a few moments before death. Continuing to breathe normally, we watch as the light goes out of our eyes. We rest with this image for awhile; just observing our own lifeless body without judgement.
Next, we allow ourselves to imagine our body beginning to decompose. We see it fading to gray with black and yellow splotches, see the skin begin to wrinkle and sag. We imagine the various fluids, black, green, yellow, leaking from our dead body, pooling around it or seeping into the ground. We watch as the insects and worms begin to explore, nest, and hatch in our body. Recalling the stench of dead bodies we have experienced, we imagine that stench arising from your own body.
Resting here for awhile, we should be aware of the thoughts and feelings that arise within us. As our observation becomes calm and objective, we watch as our own skeleton slowly emerges from the vanishing softer tissue of our body. Holding the image of our own skeleton in the mind’s eye, we remember that our skeleton is at this very moment within us. Our skeleton is at this very moment, imagining its own inevitable future.
Now we watch as even our skeleton begins to fall apart. We see our skeleton transformed into a loose pile, and then a scattering of bones. We continue to watch as the bones themselves become brittle, break into smaller pieces, and eventually return to earthy dust.
Once we become comfortable with looking deeply at our own death, we can examine the death of the people we love. Looking deeply at the fact that all the people we love are going to die changes the way we think, speak, and act toward them. Our interactions with them become kinder and less judgmental. Our time with them becomes more precious, and the gratitude we feel for having them in our lives increases.
Next, we can apply this technique to anyone in our lives that we may harbor resentment, or ill will toward. Clearly seeing their deaths, we notice that they too will lose everyone they love. We become aware of the people that will miss them and suffer as a result of their deaths. This can relieve the anger, or sense of injustice we feel as the result of real or imagined wrongs they have done us. Often, this practice will foster a natural sense of forgiveness toward them.
Applying this technique to deeply examine our own approaching death and the death of those around us also provides a kind gauge for our place on the path. By observing the thoughts and emotions that arise during this meditation work, we can evaluate the gap between our knowledge and our realization. The quantity and quality of anxiety that is aroused within us during this process is directly proportionate to the gap between our understanding and our true realization.
Cultivating a deep awareness of the certainty of our death grants us a realistic appreciation for the precious little time of a human life. Realizing the we will die alone, that nobody can walk through that gate for us, can inspire us to earnestly, and personally resolve the great matter of life and death.
Maintaining a deep awareness of the ceaseless approach of our own death puts things into proper perspective. Some things that seemed valuable or important lose their significance when seen in the light reflecting from Death’s scythe. While things that we previously saw as trifling or worthless may take on a whole new significance. The desire for that new car or bigger house may lose its power to drive us into working too many extra hours. True joy and wonder may surge up because of the ‘little things;’ the Lego ‘fort’ our child built, sharing a cup of coffee with our spouse, or the simple fact of the rising sun.
Both Dogo and Sekiso said, “Living, I won’t say. Dead, I won’t say.” When asked by Zengen why, both said, “I won’t say, I won’t say.”
It might seem that Zengen did not ‘get it’ when Dogo said it, but he ‘got it’ when Sekiso said it. However, that misses the point. The words of Dogo and Sekiso are not different, is anything else about these two teachers the same?
What did Zengen mean when he said he was looking for his late teacher’s relics? Why did Sekiso suggest that his relics filled the earth and sky? I won’t say, I won’t say. Why won’t you say?
Becoming intimate with our own true nature begins by becoming intimate with the grinning face of death. If we refuse to look into his dark, eyeless sockets, we will be unable to see the light shining from the Buddha eyes of all beings. A sutra says, “When I don’t see, why don’t you see my not seeing? If you did see my not seeing it would not be real not seeing. If it is real not seeing it must not be an object, how could it not be you?”
When we don’t notice the Grim Reaper, why don’t we notice not-noticing? If we do notice not-noticing the Grim Reaper, it is not real not-noticing. If it is real not-noticing, the Grim Reaper is not an object, how could it not be us? Really noticing funeral homes is the beginning of authentic practice and enlightenment.
If we avoid turning to the TV, fantasy, ice cream, or other distractions when the Grim Reaper comes a-haunting, we might just discover the secret behind his smile. Calling him to sit face-to-face with us for awhile we may come to realize that even death breathes. With practice, we can learn to reach out, take hold of his dark hood, ease it down and study his bony face. Examining the Grim Reaper’s form and emptiness, we are sure to discover some familiar features.
Someone asked the Grim Reaper, “Where do we go after we die?”
He said, “Where are you now?”
Gassho,
Ted Biringer
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Does zazen mean sitting meditation?
By Ted Biringer | August 13, 2008
Another ordinary day at work
A visiting Zen student asked, “My teacher says that sitting meditation is the only authentic practice. He says that zazen is the one true path to awakening. What do you say?”
Louie Wing said, “First of all, zazen and sitting meditation are not the same. True zazen has nothing to do with sitting, standing, walking or lying down. ‘Zazen’ is the term that the sages of the Zen tradition used to indicate the practice that I call ‘ceasing conceptualization.’
Having said that, I have found that sitting is usually the easiest way for people to practice zazen, especially beginners. However, once you begin to develop the ability to step back into your own clear awareness, you should practice it in all your activities and non-activities. You should not become attached to the form of sitting, nor should you have aversion for it. When it is time to sit, practice zazen while sitting; when it is time to work, practice zazen while you work. Ultimately, there is no final rule or best way to practice. Any method will become a barrier if you become fixated on it. Just cease conceptualization and step back into the pure and clear luminous awareness of your own mind.”
From The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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One should think well about this!
By Ted Biringer | August 11, 2008
Form and Emptiness
“It is said that we hear the real Dharma without ears, but who hears? One should think well about this! There is really nothing to say about it!”
Huang-Po, Translated by John Blofeld
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A person that never listens but always hears
By Ted Biringer | August 9, 2008
In the void nature of your own mind, there is a person that listens continuously but never hears. In the void nature of your own mind, there is a person that never listens but always hears.
From The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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The nature of hearing
By Ted Biringer | August 6, 2008
zen-death-meditation8
In hearing, there is no hearing. Hearing does not depend on hearing. Hearing is not born and it can never die. When sound arises, hearing does not create it. When sound diminishes, it is not extinguished by hearing. Nor is the nature of hearing created by the arising or diminishing of sound.
Just realize that hearing is unborn and undying. Hearing does not come and go. How can you realize the wisdom of this? Listen!
The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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Forgetting the self
By Ted Biringer | August 6, 2008
Which is the real moon?
When self and other are forgotten,
What is there to grasp for, what is there to fear?
When you realize your identity,
All is the unnamable void of your own mind.
~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing
by Ted Biringer
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