Look, listen, smell, taste, touch, and think!

Right here, right now, your mind and body are shining forth as the vast, unnamable void. Continuously it flows forth as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and thinking. If you want to attain certainty, then look, listen, smell, taste, touch, and think!

~Louie Wing, ~The Flatbed Sutra of Louie Wing

Zen Master Kyogen Chikan was learning the truth in the order of Zen Master Daii Daien. On one occasion, Daii says, “You are sharp and bright, and you have wide understanding. Without quoting from any text or commentary, speak a phrase for me in the state you had before your parents were born.” Kyogen searches several times for something to say, but he is not able. He deeply regrets the state of his body and mind, and looks through books that he has kept for years, but he is still dumbfounded. In the end, he burns all the writings he has collected over the years, and says, “A rice cake that is painted in a picture cannot stave off hunger. Upon my oath, I shall not desire to understand the Buddha-Dharma in this life. I only want to be the monk who serves the morning gruel and midday meal.” So saying, he spends years and months as a server of meals… While he is thus occupied, he says to Daii, “Chikan is dull in body and mind and cannot express the truth. Would the master say something for me?” Daii says, “I would not mind saying something for you, [but if I did so,] perhaps you would bear a grudge against me later.” After spending years and months in such a state, [Chikan] enters Butozan, following the tracks of National Master Daisho, and makes a thatched hut on the remains of the National Master’s hermitage. He has planted bamboo and made it his friend. One day, while he is sweeping the path, a piece of tile flies up and strikes a bamboo with a crack. Hearing this sound, he suddenly realizes the great state of realization. He bathes and purifies himself, and, facing Daiizan, he burns incense and does prostrations. Then, directing himself to [Master] Daii, he says, “Great Master Daii! If you had explained it to me before, how would this thing have been possible? The depth of your kindness surpasses that of a parent.” Finally, he makes the following verse:

At a single stroke I lost recognition.
No longer need I practice self-discipline.
[I am] manifesting behavior in the way of the ancients,
Never falling into despondency.
There is no trace anywhere:
[The state] is dignified action beyond sound and form.
People everywhere who have realized the truth,
All will praise [these] supreme makings.

He presents the verse to Daii. Daii says, “This disciple is complete.”

~Dogen, Shobogenzo, Keisei-sanshiki, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

Peace,

Ted