Shobogenzo Ch21: Kankin - Reading and Experiencing Sutras

A sutra is all the different threads of life coming together to create the present moment of "me". Another sutra is all the different threads of life coming together to create the present moment of "you". Each is unique in its perspective, each expresses its own truth, and yet each shares the same awareness. 

The above is also true for the written works traditionally referred to as sutras. All the different threads of life came together to inspire someone to write them. To read, recite and experience them. In each distinct instance -- in writing, reading, and experiencing -- they express truths about life.

All the sutras in the universe are teaching the same lesson through different lenses. All the sutras are pointing to the same thing: 

Just this. Life in the present moment. 

And life in the present moment can include reading a sutra. Reading a sutra is as much of an action as sitting is. 

 

Some people will say that the Buddha's truth can't be transmitted by reading sutras. Those people are probably thinking of “reading” as intellectual processing the way one might process material in a textbook. But in Kankin Dogen presents as many perspectives on "reading" and "sutras" as he does on "time" in Uji. In fact, the kanji he choose for the word reading in the title of this chapter can also mean seeing, which can also mean sensing and experiencing.

Why does anyone read the Shobogenzo, sutras or other Buddhist writings? 

Something about what the Buddha taught awakens a sense of curiosity which resonates and is compelling. I think it’s up to each person to figure out what the source of that resonance is. Good friends and teachers help. As I’ve kept on reading what “reading a sutra” might mean has come to include everything in the universe, including zazen.

***

Haiku for Kankin:

Trees, rocks, fields and space

Being totally themselves

Transmit the sutras.

Kalpa-to-kalpa

Sutras always being held,

Always being read.

A Poem: Choreography of Negative Space ...& the Four Vows

Choreography of Negative Space


What is this dance if not a whisper of shape
Tracing words in the dark. A trail of light on film.
A shift of air, as gentle as...

Silk.

Imagination is endless. The shadows we are
Cast ten thousand resolutions, each more beautiful,
Or terrifying, than the last -- wisps that escape
Our confinement.

We sit the universe and the universe moves --

Ancients rise up, stretching
Skin over the drums of time and the bones
Of dreams spent in the building of this

Space.

Without space, the forms collapse
Themselves, themselves unseen.

Each night I light a candle and sit for you.



These are the Four Vows:

Beings are numberless, I vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them.
The buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to realize it.


...Noticing I'm still walking in circles these days.

Shobogenzo Ch20 - Kokyo: Haiku and a Gatha

Eternal mirror —
The caul of our birth replaced
By separation.

The great round mirror
Neither wisdom or reason —
Virtue of buddhas.

The mirror shattered —
Somersaulting, then landing
In the clear-clear state.



At each sound of the bell
Self appears, walking the concrete,
Each step a clear note —
Unobstructed and traceless.

Shobogenzo Ch20 (V) - Kokyo - The Round Mirror and the Clear Mirror How To Manual

A Clear Mirror How To Manual? ...I wish.

Actually though, the Clear Mirror How To Manual exists -- in the form of the round mirror. The round mirror is just a version of the eternal mirror -- preferences, aversions, intuitions, attachments, and choices. Whatever draws us to this path. The round mirror is the virtue of the buddhas and bodhisattvas independent of time and experience. One of my favorite passages in Kokyo describes the round mirror:


The master was born from the womb, and as the master appeared from the womb the round mirror came and naturally manifested itself before the master, and became like an everyday tool. The form of this round mirror is not ordinary: when the child approaches, he seems to be holding up the round mirror before him with both hands, yet the child’s face is not hidden. When the child goes away, he seems to be going with the round mirror on his back, yet the child’s body is not hidden. When the child sleeps, the round mirror covers him like a flowery canopy. Whenever the child sits up straight, the round mirror is there in front of him. In sum, it follows all his movements and demeanors, active and passive. What is more, he is able to see all Buddhist facts of the past, future, and present by looking into the round mirror. At the same time, all problems and issues of the heavens above and the human world come cloudlessly to the surface of the round mirror. For example, to see by looking in this round mirror is even more clear than to attain illumination of the past and illumination of the present by reading sutras and texts.


The Clear Mirror How To Manual contains every dream, delusion, thought and experience since birth. The next step in the Clear Mirror How To Manual is your next intuition, your next wish. Wherever that wish takes you. Regardless of whether or however that wish is realized.

Reflections: Dreaming about Zazen

Last night I startled myself awake from a dream in which I was sitting. The whole dream was a little strange.

To my consternation, at the end of a round of kinhin, I couldn't find my zafu and zabuton. I remember looking around and feeling a little lost. At which point Hojo-san somehow indicated that he wanted me to get a light from upstairs.

The dream took place at Sanshin during sesshin. Maybe it indicates increasing prosperity for Sanshin, because instead of the usual number of attendees, the place was full of people zazening on all three floors of the building.

Anyhow....

I went to the top floor and grabbed the only extra light I knew about. It was on a tripod and made a lot of noise which I found embarrassing as I lugged it downstairs. But when I arrived, my zafu and zabuton had magically reappeared. I sat for awhile and then woke up.

I think I better register for the next Genzo-e.

Besides that I find myself wondering if anyone else has ever dreamt that they were sitting.

Reflections: My Music Selection for Tonight and an exercise in Awareness

I said in an earlier post on the clear mirror that during zazen:

- We learn that mind percieves and processes experience. We learn that mind functions not only to generate thoughts and emotions but also is the source of awareness that is our experience of emptiness and all things.
- We learn to watch our own minds and discover that mind contains the seeds for everything that is expressed in the universe.
- We realize that everything in existence is from the same universal source.
- We learn to accept the things we can't change with equanimity.

Besides sitting another way I've realized that everything in in existence is from the same universal source is through my love for almost any type of music -- although I admit some forms have taken me awhile to develop a taste for. Tonight I'm listening to the following selection from Fila Brazillia. I particularly like the YouTube clip that goes along with it which is kind of reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi with images from the Guardian website. Clips like these remind me of the greater beauty in the Universe we all take part in -- usually without being aware of it:



A little mind trip people might enjoy taking themselves on is to watch the clip and try to place yourself into each of the scenes. What I realize when I do this is that in each place I am the same awareness. And in each scene each person is busy with whatever they're doing, but the overarching awareness is the same for each person, including myself...

And you.

Shobogenzo Ch20 (IV) - Kokyo - The Clear Mirror Is A Concept We Aim For But Can't Know

If the clear mirror is 'when self expands to include everyone and everything', it's a concept we can aim for but can't truly know. Just like we can't actually be aware of being buddha.

For one thing we can't ever truly know where another person is coming from or what the consequences of our actions might be.

For me right now, the clear mirror is another mirror which I can use to evaluate my own actions retroactively -- even when that means having to face my own ineffectiveness and/or ineptitude with equanimity. In the concept of the clear mirror, we're not only accepting everyone else for who they are, but ourselves.

*  *  *

Since reading Kokyo several months ago, I've been trying to identify actions that I've witnessed or experienced that might resemble the actions of past Zen masters. At least in the States, disciplinary action has come under scrutiny and people come from more diverse backgrounds. One of the few instances I can think of occurred at Antaiji, where during one zazen period, Muho-san yelled with his booming Zen master voice (at me, since he yelled in English) to "Stop Moving!" ..... In that instance Muho-san was wrong and I got to respond by immediately ringing the bell since I was Jikido that day. I can think of no other instance involving Muho-san during the three months I was at Antaiji. That's not to say that my behavior or anyone else's was perfect. Rather, from what I know, dramatic actions may be becoming more rare these days, even in monasteries. That might be a good thing since life can be traumatic enough.

Personally, I can say that I've typically most appreciated those people who have been present with the process each of us goes through in our practice. People who have offered, not judgement, but the occasional word of encouragement and hint if correction was warranted.

Shobogenzo Ch20 (III) - Kokyo - The Clear Mirror

I've noticed that both sutras and zen writings contain a lot of exaggeration and hyperbole. The exaggeration and hyperbole sometimes hint at the possibility of something like 'super powers' that can result from enlightenment.

Here’s an example from Yuanwu, who I’ve been reading recently:

When the great Zen masters went into action, they were like dragons galloping and tigers charging: heaven and earth turned, and nothing could stop their revivifying people.

They penetrated directly through and made themselves completely unobstructed twenty-four hours a day, with their realization pervading in all directions, rolling up and rolling out, capturing and releasing.

I think Yuanwu is describing the actions of past Zen masters that had realized the clear mirror.

I can't say I've ever had much faith in the notion of ‘super powers’. But let's face it, we all at some time or another hope for a miracle solution that will rescue or redeem us from the obvious unfairness, indifference and banality that we witness and experience in life. 

In each case, we typically exert ourselves to assert self in opposition to what is. But by opposing reality we increase separation and increase the strength of the walls that separate us.

The irony in most of these efforts is that, beyond the basic needs for survival, each desire boils down to the same one: Not to be separate. But the habits engrained in us by society are the opposite of what’s necessary to produce the desired effect.

To realize the clear mirror is to accept the entirety of the universe as self. All of it. Even the things that make us uncomfortable, things that cause suffering, pain, sickness and death. We accept the discomfort, pain, the unjustness, our own 'guilt' and ineffectiveness. The daily struggles and boredom. 

A lot of what we learn as a function of sitting brings us closer to realizing the clear mirror. During zazen:

- We learn that mind percieves and processes experience. We learn that mind functions not only to generate thoughts and emotions but also is the source of awareness that is our experience of emptiness and all things. 

- We learn to watch our own minds and discover that mind contains the seeds for everything that is expressed in the universe. 

- We realize that everything in existence is from the same universal source.

- We learn to accept the things we can't change with equanimity. 

When we accept the entirety of the universe as self, the result is not ‘self’ in the typical sense, no-self or non-self. Self expands to include everything and everyone. 

What realization of the clear mirror results in is nothing that can be defined as personal success according the standards set forth by society. But I think it can result in a sort of 'super power', namely action motivated by an intuitive wisdom and compassion that is as untainted by views as I think a human being can get.

Shobogenzo Ch 20 (II) Kokyo - The Clear Mirror: Mirror Mirror...

"Mirror mirror on the wall
Who is the fairest of them all?"



So asks the Queen, Snow White's stepmother. When I first heard this fairy tale as a kid, I'm sure I identified with Snow White and not the stepmother. Because especially at that age we tend not to think of self as a potentially 'bad' person. But the real lesson in the fairy tale is found in the part about the stepmother.

The stepmother is looking for affirmation or verification of her sense of self by asking the mirror. It's a habitual way of being I think everyone falls prey to. In fact, society tries to train us to live this way from the time we're born. But to live the richest possible life, to live to our full potential whatever our dharma and karma is, using the mirror to affirm our sense of self is backwards. Many of the lessons in zen try to show us that. Beginning with the white wall in zazen.

The word 'fair' is an interesting one especially in this context. Fair can mean either beautiful or in accordance with merit, effort or significance. As long as we hold onto the view of a self separate from the rest of the world, life isn't always going to be fair.

We typically ask the mirror, which is the ten thousand things, to verify our sense of self. We tend to become frustrated, sad, angry and resentful when they don't affirm us. We react to defend our sense of self. With these reactions we build walls around self that prevent us from fully experiencing the beauty in the universe, the ten thousand things and even our selves.

Being a clear mirror is to be un-self conscious. Self becomes fluid and flexible reaching out and actting to verify and experience the beauty in all things. When we incorporate the clear mirror into our way of being, it's not like we don't become frustrated, sad, angry and/or resentful anymore, but the trigger of those emotions is different, the emotions don't arise in an effort to defend the sense of self. We remain open and experience things more fully. And we learn to respond, instead of react.


The lesson in Snow White is this:

The Queen was being terribly unfair. But the person the Queen was the most unfair to was herself. While the Queen was suffering and worrying about her own beauty all the time, and probably how people would judge based on appearance, even when circumstances were treating her well, she was missing out on the real beauty in life.

Image from: Weirdwebbed. 

Shobogenzo Ch20 (I) Kokyo - The Eternal Mirror

I'm starting this one with a joke...

How many buddhas does it take to change a lightbulb?



Here's at least one possible answer:

All the buddhas in the three times and ten directions aren't enough. That's why the void is typically thought of as dark.

 ...And some Zen masters might consider it a good lesson to just keep shooting out the lights.

 ...I also could've said all the buddhas in the three times and ten directions are too contented with things as they are.

Typically that's not how life works though. And I don't think life worked that way for Śākymuni Buddha or Dogen either. When we're not on the zafu we're confronted by the ten thousand things and we react to them with aversion and attachment depending on some yet to be discovered and published mathematical function of our dharma and karma.

Our reactions as we encounter the ten thousand things are the eternal mirror and are a reflection of self. Our minds react to the ten thousand things because we think of ourselves as separate from them. As long as mind defines itself in terms of self and separation, our mind reacts rather than responds creating unnecessary psychological suffering and stress for ourselves and those around us.

It's obvious that we can't always change the aspects of reality that we're unhappy with. But most of us spend a lot of energy worrying about and getting stressed out by the big things we'd like to change. A lot of us react by substituting consumer placebos to help us feel better about ourselves. And a lot of us procrastinate on the smaller things that can make reality a nicer place to be. Things like changing a lightbulb.

Luckily it's usually pretty straightforward to change a lightbulb. Admittedly training our minds to allow us to change lightbulbs without a fuss might be more difficult.

An extra offering in the spirit of Zen tradition: