All activities are ‘objectless’ When I talk about the void, you should avoid developing a concept of nothingness. Many people have fallen into this subtle trap, believing that they have discovered some ultimate truth. Some of them become false teachers who urge their students to sit quietly with blank minds. There are such teachers active today, claiming that they are teaching “objectless meditation.” Sitting for long periods trying to suppress thoughts is not objectless meditation; it is abiding in a state of useless impotence.

You should know that there is not an objective particle in the entire universe. Once you truly awaken, you realize that all activities are ‘objectless’.

The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing by Ted Biringer, p.186

Louie Wing said, “It is meditation on an object.”

Julian said, “Why do you say it is meditation on an object?”

Louie Wing said, “‘Objectless’ is a conceptual construct that is only valid in contradistinction to ‘object’. Each term is dependent on the other. To posit one is to validate the other; to deny one is to deny the other…

If you grasp for objects, you are clinging to the delusion of a separate self. If you grasp for the objectless, you are still clinging to the delusion of a separate self. Therefore, I say, grasp neither the notion of object nor the notion of objectless. Then you will be in accord with the true masters of all the spiritual traditions.”

The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing   by Ted Biringer,  p.179

Ceasing conceptualization is not a difficult to understand, mystical technique. However, people turn it into a concept, too, causing confusion and misunderstanding. When the sages of all times saw people suffering due to their own habitual conceptualization, they tried to show them how to step back from delusion and realize their own pure and clear awareness.

Later, people developed intellectual interpretations about the various methods preached by the sages. Without realizing the fundamental truth of ceasing conceptualization, they misapply the teachings and set about trying to cease thinking altogether!
They sit still for hours and days, suppressing their thoughts and trying to make their minds blank. They call this “just sitting” and “objectless meditation.” It would be laughable if it were not so sad.

The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing by Ted Biringer, p.161

Peace,

Ted

If you are moved with aspiration to awaken, consider the wholeness of each moment. Each moment includes all of space and time. The beginningless past is centered here; the endless future is centered here. Nothing exists apart from this moment here and now, which includes you. The whole universe includes you; you include the whole universe. Who hears? Who sees?

The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing by Ted Biringer

Foreword

“I have a posie of other men’s flowers and nothing but the thread that binds them is my own.” So penned Montaigne, and deeply ingrained in my psyche are words, thoughts, and images bound of the thread of implicit universal meaning. They are reflections that come to the ‘individual in stillness’ and clarity of expression.

 In Ted Biringer’s The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing, there is a resonance and amplitude of thoughtfulness that will remain in our retentive memory.

 In his writings, Biringer uses a unique and surprising approach in conveying the wisdom of Zen. While not hailing from either the Zen Orthodoxy or the world of academia, he combines the best attributes of both and infuses them with originality and imagination in the character of Louie Wing.

 Through the quasi-iconic and intimate character, there is a powerful and provocative new voice in Zen. Being the Second Ancestor of Zen in the West, Louie Wing unflinchingly confronts and meets the most difficult challenges of finding and actualizing the enlightened mind in the chaotic modern world. While using wisdom, clarity, and humor he provides the reader with practical step-by-step instructions on meditation and a detailed analysis of some of Zen’s profound doctrines.

 Most importantly, Biringer’s Flatbed Sutra is written with authority, sincerity, and relevancy, providing a scope and range of mind that entices the reader to look at the world in a new light and see a new light in the world–consequently laying the foundation of new possibilities acquired of the heart–concurrently vital in the ascendancy of personal enlightenment.

—D. M. Gugich, Northwest poet and author of The Unwilling and Romantic Reaches

Once you have deeply experienced and realized the oneness of yourselves, the universe, and the many things, the Zen path calls you to the forge of the ancestors. By using your buddha-eye, that is, your observing prajna, you apply yourselves to discerning the wisdom of buddhas and Zen ancestors. That is how you become proficient in the skills of helping all beings, which is now your true task.

The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing

Peace, Ted

It is important to remember that Zen practice-enlightenment has nothing to do with enacting or following a revealed path. Attempting to discover, proclaiming to understand, or worse, represent or teach “the authentic (revealed, true, supreme, etc.) path of Zen” clearly demonstrates a fallacious presupposition concerning the nature of Zen – this false presupposition is that Zen is a finished product.

A “revealed” or “authentic” path is, by definition, a fixed path. Thus, while it may be true that the majority of those who identify themselves as “Zen practitioners” do follow clearly circumscribed, fixed paths, it is not to this majority that the classic Zen literature refers to as “Zen practitioners.”

Like that of other great spiritual traditions, the literature of Zen cautions students to avoid idolatry – that is, attachment to practices or doctrines. In doing so, it particularly focuses on how true study differs from submission to authority and or the mere acquirement of knowledge. Briefly, “true study” is presented as an ongoing pursuit of truth (Dharma for the sake of Dharma), while “submission” and “acquirement” are portrayed as idolatry (i.e. dedicating oneself to a “fixed form,” that is, a particular form, authorized version, dogmatic code, or other fixed formula of “Zen”).

Zen masters are only interested in liberating beings from suffering. They are not at all concerned with motivating people to become Buddhists, but in motivating people to become Buddhas (i.e. fully enlightened, thus fully liberated, beings). Therefore, the classic literature aims only to transmit the authentic path of Zen which is envisioned as a ceaseless-advance, not a finished product.

Zen practice-enlightenment is actualization – “making actual” not “already made” – it is the ongoing activity of becoming Buddha, not being a Buddha (much less a Buddhist). As revealed by the “ten times” doctrine of Huayen Buddhism, and even more comprehensively by Dogen’s teaching of “uji” (existence-time), the ever-ongoing dynamic nature Zen practice-enlightenment is facilitated by the unification of energies between past Zen ancestors and ourselves. This unified ceaseless advance is envisioned by the classic Zen masters as the communication of enlightened wisdom (bodhi prajna, or prajna paramita) from Buddha to Buddha which came to be known in the Zen tradition as “Dharma transmission,” “mind to mind transmission,” or, Dogen’s preferred term, “(the transmission of Dharma) from Buddhas alone together with Buddhas” (yui-butsu-yobutsu).

Peace, Ted

The mythological significance of the Zen doctrine of “mind to mind transmission,” almost universally lost and wholly identified with rituals or ceremonies for formal recognition of new teachers, is a remarkably illuminating treatment of the inherent creativity between the temporal and the eternal (the finite and the infinite) elements of Buddha nature. The mythic vision of mind to mind transmission (or “Dharma-transmission”) presents how the nondual nature of existence and time (existence-time) facilitates the creative interaction between past, present, and future Buddhas – an interaction that is actualized in and as practice-enlightenment here and now. The Zen practitioner engaged in this transmission is engaged in becoming Buddha, rather than being Buddha in that this transmission goes beyond or transcends Buddhas (existents) of past, present, and future (times). This is sometimes referred to in the classic Zen literature as active Buddha, going beyond Buddha, or simply going beyond. For example, in the record of the great Chinese Zen master, Yunmen, we read

Even if you forget [dualistic] knowledge in awakening—awakening is nothing other than buddha-nature—and are called ‘a man without concern,’ you still must realize that everything hinges on a single thing: going beyond!

Master Yunmen, Urs App p.190

Here, Dogen affirms Yunmen’s statement and offers some practical guidance on one method by which the Zen practitioner actualizes this transmission:

The Buddhas and Ancestors manifest before our very eyes whenever we respectfully serve the Buddhas and Ancestors by bringing Them up through our presenting of Their story. They are not limited simply to some past, present, or future time, for They have undoubtedly gone beyond even ‘going beyond Buddha’.

Shobogenzo, Busso, Hubert Nearman 

For, from a truly nondual perspective the present activity of becoming Buddha (Zen practice-enlightenment) is not limited to the present, nor does it cease in the future or vanish in the past – becoming Buddha now (i.e. in the present) is not independent of becoming Buddha then (i.e. in the past or future). Dogen describes this aspect of going beyond, or becoming Buddha as “the (inherent) virtue of ascending and descending”, for instance:

The succession of the Dharma by ancestral patriarchs is forty patriarchs from the Seven Buddhas to Sokei and forty buddhas from Sokei to the Seven Buddhas. Because each of the Seven Buddhas has the virtue of ascending and of descending, they extend to Sokei and extend to the Seven Buddhas. Because Sokei has the virtue of ascending and of descending, he receives the authentic transmission from the Seven Buddhas, he receives the authentic transmission from Sokei, and he passes the authentic transmission to later buddhas. But it is beyond only former and later. At the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, all the buddhas of the ten directions are present; at the time of Seigen, Nangaku is present; at the time of Nangaku, Seigen is present; and so on—at the time of Sekito, Kozei is present. Their not hindering each other may be different from having no connection. We should investigate the presence of such virtue. Each of the forty Buddhist patriarchs mentioned above is an eternal buddha. At the same time, each has a mind, a body, a state of brightness, and a national land. Each has passed away long ago and has never passed away at all. It may be that both never having passed away, and having passed away long ago, are equally the virtue of an eternal buddha. Those who learn in practice the truth of eternal buddhas realize in experience the truth of eternal buddhas; they are the eternal buddhas of each age. Although the “eternal” of “eternal buddhas” is exactly the same as the “old” in “new and old,” [eternal buddhas] have completely transcended past and present; they belong directly in eternity.

Shobogenzo, Kobusshin, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

Peace, Ted

The classic Zen literature not only advocates the need for ongoing study and intellectual effort, it exemplifies it. Nor is an accurate understanding of Buddhist doctrine and methodology a mere “expedient” for novices, a “provisional” technique or device that can be dispensed with by those that have realized the “mind of the Way,” as is suggested by certain contemporary books and teachers.

As is the case with all dharmas, the “essence” of Buddhism (a dharma) is found nowhere else but with its “form” (its experientially accessible, intelligible expression). The “mind of the Way” is not a fixed form, state, or condition; this mind is alive in and as existence-time (uji) – “having” the mind of the Way is similar to “having” eyes; its function (purpose, value, meaning) is only operative in and as its real actualization in the ceaseless advance of reality that is here and now. The enlightened wisdom (essence, truth, meaning, value, reality, etc.) of Buddhism, manifest as the “Sagely Teachings” (form, expression; scriptures, teachings, methods, etc.), capacitates both the possibility of awakening to truth (of accessing the mind of the Way) and of continuously actualizing truth. Thus, “having” the mind of the Way does not at all exempt one from the necessity of carefully applying oneself to study. As Dogen says, for instance:

When students are beginners, whether they have the mind of the Way or not, they should carefully read and study the Sagely Teachings of the sutras and shastras.

Record of Things Heard, Thomas Cleary

Peace,

Ted

The so-called ‘mind which has been correctly Transmitted’ refers to the whole mind being synonymous with ‘all thoughts and things’, and all thoughts and things are what constitute ‘the whole mind’.

~Shobogenzo, Soku Shin Ze Butsu, Hubert Nearman

As the fundamental elements of reality in Dogen’s revelation of Zen cosmology, “dharmas” are primary and primordial, the manifestation and the source of the universe (self/world). Traditionally “dharmas,” when used as a generic designation for particularities (discriminate things, beings, and events), is most commonly used in an objective sense (i.e. as designating things or instances existent in “the world” rather than in “the self”).

However, in Dogen’s writings “dharmas” (objective or subjective) are always viewed and treated as qualitatively equal in the significance of their reality, importance, value, and meaning – a dream, a concept, and a fleeting thought are as real, important, valuable, and meaningful as a pebble, a cup, a scripture, and a solar system.

Here, then, are some examples of Dogen’s views and expressions on the true nature of the “myriad dharma” – the true nature of “all thoughts and things.”

When the Wisdom Beyond Discriminatory Thought manifests in twelvefold form, It is the twelve sensory fields—that is, the six sensory faculties along with what they perceive to be the properties of all thoughts and things.

Shobogenzo, Makahannya-haramitsu, Hubert Nearman

‘All that is good’ is independent of what karmically arises and what karmically undergoes dissolution. ‘All that is good’ is synonymous with ‘all thoughts and things’…

Shobogenzo, Shoaku Makusa, Hubert Nearman

When someone is attached to one place, then he is attached to the whole realm of thoughts and things: when someone is involved with one serious breakage of the Precepts, he is tied to the world of all thoughts and things.

Shobogenzo, Raihai Tokuzui, Hubert Nearman

The Buddha said, “All thoughts and things are ultimately free of any attachments, so there is no place where they permanently abide.” You need to keep in mind that even though all thoughts and things are inherently free of any attachments, they do have some place where they exist.

Shobogenzo, Sansuikyo, Hubert Nearman

Because this manifestation is the One Great Matter, each Buddha, on His own, fully realizes the aspect of Truth within all thoughts and things, just as all other Buddhas have done.

Shobogenzo, Hokke Ten Hokke, Hubert Nearman

You need to recognize that what is called Buddha Mind is synonymous with the Buddha’s Eye, as well as with a broken wooden ladle, all thoughts and things, and the three worlds of desire, form, and beyond form. As a consequence, It is also synonymous with the mountains, seas, and nations of the earth, as well as with the sun, moon, and stars. ‘What the Buddha taught’ is another name for everything that arises in nature.

Shobogenzo, Bukkyo, Hubert Nearman

Keep in mind what he said: all thoughts and things are completely free of suffering and delusion. This does not mean that thoughts and things are as empty space, nor does it mean that thoughts and things are something other than thoughts and things. It means that thoughts and things are all, each and every one of them, completely free of suffering and delusion.

Shobogenzo, Gyoji, Hubert Nearman

In encountering these sayings and expressions of Theirs, do not treat them as something apart from the Buddha’s assembly, for They are Buddhas turning the Wheel of the Dharma. Because this Wheel of the Dharma encompasses everything in all directions, the Great Ocean, Mount Sumeru, all lands, and all thoughts and things have fully manifested themselves.

Shobogenzo, Muchu Setsumu, Hubert Nearman

You need to explore through your training that the three worlds are the true form of all thoughts and things, that they are the flowering of all thoughts and things. All thoughts and things beyond measure are the flowers of Unbounded Space and the fruits of Unbounded Space, and they are identical with the flowers of plum and willow, peach and damson.

Shobogenzo, Kuge, Hubert Nearman

When Shakyamuni Buddha gave expression to the True Form of all thoughts and things throughout all Buddha lands and when He gave voice to all the Buddha lands throughout the universe, He did not speak of having set up some sect within any of these Buddha lands. If it were the practice of Buddhas and Ancestors to name sects, it would have been done in one of the Buddha lands, and if these names existed in one of the Buddha lands, it would have been something that a Buddha would have spoken of.

Shobogenzo, Butsudo, Hubert Nearman

In the Great Way of the Buddha Dharma, the Scriptures of the whole universe exist within a single mote of dust, and all the Buddhas beyond measure exist within a single mote of dust. There is not a tree or a blade of grass that is separate from our body and mind. When the myriad thoughts and things do not arise, our whole mind also does not arise, and since this is the True Form of all thoughts and things, It is the true form of every single mote of dust. Accordingly, our whole mind is all thoughts and things, and all thoughts and things are our whole mind, our whole being.

Shobogenzo, Hotsu Mujo Shin, Hubert Nearman

It was clear from this that all Buddhas, without exception, take the True Form of all thoughts and things to be Their great Teacher. The Venerable Shakyamuni Buddha had also given witness to the eternal Truth of all Buddhas.

Shobogenzo, Kuyo Shobutsu, Hubert Nearman

Peace,

Ted