(Pre-"Soto") Soto Style Koan Introspection in Dogen's Zen

(Pre-"Soto") Soto Style Koan Introspection in Dogen's Zen

The final exceptional passage in the Goyuigon concerns the content of Zen enlightenment and its relationship to koan training. Gikai prefaces this conversation with Ejo by stating: “During the prior meditation period, I was aided by our former teacher’s great enlightenment situation, the shinjin datsuraku words.” …in this passage… the words “shinjin datsuraku” represent a stock phrase or device (i.e., an “old example,” kosoku or koan) for contemplation during meditation. This use of shinjin datsuraku as a formal meditation device is confirmed by the fact that Ejo then tested Gikai’s understanding by asking him to present an “appended phrase” (jakugo, i.e. a passage… summing up the meaning of a koan.) Their dialogue is as follows:

 

Gikai: I have attained an insight based on our former teacher’s saying, “shinjin datsuraku.”

 

Ejo: Good. Good. What do you understand?

 

Gikai: I understand “datsuraku shinjin.”

 

Ejo: What is the meaning?

 

Gikai: I had thought only (my) barbarian beard was red, but here is another red-bearded barbarian.”

 

Ejo: Among the many permitted [answers to] shinjin [datsuraku], there is this kind of shinjin.

 

This conversation has been quoted in full because it reveals three practices usually thought to be incongruous with the method of Zen practiced in early Soto. It implies that Gikai had been occupied with Dogen’s words during his meditation; that Ejo used koan instruction as part of the dharma succession process; and that formal quotations of stereo-typed expressions were used to test the understanding of the koan. Modern Soto scholars cannot accept the Goyuigon account at face value, because to do so would force them either to revise their usual interpretation of Dogen’s Zen as a religion of unmediated meditation or to attempt to argue that both Ejo and Gikai had failed to understand Dogen’s teachings.
William M. Bodiford, Soto Zen in Medieval Japan, pp.55-56

On Zazen and Koans - A Response to Kogen

This post is in response to a comment from Kogen (Farmer monk) on the post Aug. 7 2012

Hello Kogen,

.

Thank you for writing.

.

To me it seems clear that every fascicle of Shobogenzo is as much about koans as zazen - that Dogen's expressions on "zazen" presuppose "koans" and his expressions on "koans" presuppose "zazen."

.

Dogen practice-enlightenment is not divided into "Zen" and "other" activities. Practice-enlightenment is not "this is zazen," "that is koan study," "this is samu," "that is kinhin" - rather, practice-enlightenment is shikantaza (sole sitting); SINGLE-MINDED sitting, ONLY sitting.

.

There is not sitting AND koans, not sitting AND kinhin, not sitting AND eating rice, there is SOLELY sitting.

.

You ask if there are fascicles that treat of "koans"

.

"...like Fukanzazengi does for zazen..."

.

It seems clear to me that Fukanzazengi, speaks of koan practice as much as sitting practice - more accurately, speaks of meditation and koans as part and parcel of the same activity.

.

Notice the koans Dogen refers to in Fukanzazengi. They are of the most frequently mentioned in the Zen records to exemplify the "means" which the "changing of the moment" is realized:

.

Moreover, the changing of the moment, through the means of a finger, a pole, a needle, or a wooden clapper; and the experience of the state, through the manifestation of a whisk, a fist, a staff, or a shout, can never be understood by thinking and discrimination.

~Fukanzazengi

.

Practitioners familiar with the records will instantly recognize the “means of a finger” from the koan of master Gutei, “a needle” from the koan of Kanadeva meeting Nagarjuna, the “staff” of Teshan, and the “shout” of Rinzai. The specific particularity in which the Buddha is manifest is characteristic of Zen’s universal inclusivity and nondiscrimination –each is an essential person of Buddha-nature, an integral form of Buddha.

.

Dogen’s insistence to "study this" "get inside these words" "penetrate this saying" "take up these words again and again" are so constant it is easy to become desensitized - especially if we have become conditioned to think Dogen "did not teach that koans were part and parcel with zazen."

 .

Yet, Dogen’s explicit instructions to take up and study specific phrases, words, koans, sutras, and so on outnumber his instructions to dedicate ourselves to Zazen by at least 20 to 1. When Dogen urges us to "investigate these words in practice," I am not about to presume he means "some other kind of practice" - he means the same kind of practice he always means, we should take them up in sitting meditation.

.

To get a sense of this, consider these random examples form Dogen’s works:

 .

"The truth expressed now in the founding Patriarch’s words ‘What people are able to hear the non-emotional preaching the Dharma’ should be painstakingly researched through the effort of one life and many lives."

Shobogenzo, Mujo-Seppo, Nishijima & Cross

.

We should quietly investigate the principle of, and learn in practice the realization of words like this.

Shobogenzo, Ganzei, Nishijima & Cross

.

At the same time we should investigate whether the Great Master’s words ‘I call this thing bamboo and wood,’ and Shin-o’s words ‘I also call it bamboo and wood,’ are the same or not the same, and whether they are adequate or not adequate. The Great Master says, ‘If we search the whole Earth for a person who understands the Buddha-Dharma, it is impossible to find one.’ We should also closely scrutinize and decide about this expression.

Shobogenzo, Sangai-Yuishin, Nishijima & Cross

.

Thus the words ‘being without the Buddha-nature’ can be heard coming form the distant room of the fourth patriarch. They are seen and heard in Obai, they are spread throughout Joshu district, and they are exalted on Dai-i [mountain]. We must unfailingly apply ourselves to the words ‘being without the Buddha-nature.’ Do not be hesitant.

Shobogenzo, Bussho, Nishijima & Cross

.

Learning these words in practice, we should meet with the ancestral patriarchs of Buddhism and we should see and hear the teachings of Buddhism.

Shobogenzo, Bukkyo, Nishijima & Cross

.

We must investigate these words quietly; we should replace our heart with them and replace our brain with them.

Shobogenzo, Daigo, Nishijima & Cross

.

One of his favorite phrases; "learning in practice." I think it is important to understand exactly what he means. Here is one of his own explanations:

.

’Learning in practice’ means not intending to understand at once but striving painstakingly hundreds of times, or thousands of times, as if working to cut a hard object. We should not think that when a person has something to relate we will be able to understand at once.

Shobogenzo, Mitsugo, Nishijima & Cross

.

Also notice this explicit instruction offered to some lay practitioners - the FIRST thing they should do upon meeting a teacher:

.

Good gentelman, when you meet a teacher, first ask for one case of [koan] story, and just keep it in mind and study it diligently. If you climb to the top of the mountain and dry up the oceans, you will not fail to complete [this study].

Dogen's Extensive Record, Vol.8:14, Leighton & Okumura

.

You wrote: "...my teachers have been very open to my practicing with anything that works-koans, shamatha, mantras..."

 .

Excellent, if they were not you probably would have kept looking for reliable teachers.

.

You wrote: "Can you point to any Soto teachers being opposed to it?"

 .

I have worked with teachers from various lineages - and of the 4 I worked with in the Soto, only 1 recognized the zazen/koan nonduality - the others advocated against the "use of koans" in zazen - I should point out that of the Soto teachers I have spoken to, very few have experience with koan training.

 .

The standard line for teachers of the "Soto sect" is that zazen or shikantaza is distinct from, or independent of koan practice. Koans are commonly regarded as "expediant devices" or worse. Koan study is accepted by most, but is strictly distinguished from zazen - Dogen's exhortations to "study these words in practice" are usually "interpreted" as referring to some "other" practice than zazen.

.

I would rather avoid names - I will say however, it would be easier to name the few Soto teachers that do regard zazen/koans as nondual, than list the ones that don't.

 .

You wrote: "I've personally always thought the distinction between Soto and Rinzai is silly. Dogen was a lineage holder in both and urged his students, like Rujing, that we were Buddhists, just Buddhists."

 .

Yes. It sounds like you have found the one always reliable guide that is always as close as hands and feet.

 .

Thanks again - watch out for the corpses, they are strewn all over.

.

Ted

.

When Students of the Way are looking at sayings, you must exert your power to the utmost and examine them very very closely.

~Dogen, Record of Things Heard, Thomas Cleary, Vol.4 p.825

Zen Iconoclasm: Apocalypse (Revelation)

Like every long lived scientific and religious tradition, the history of Zen includes numerous examples of persecution and hostility wreaked upon its visionaries by the orthodox authorities that we have identified as “devotees of the conventional perspectives of science and religion.” Also in common with other scientific and religious tradition, many of the Zen visionaries escaped suppression during their lifetimes only to be subjugated by the devotees of orthodoxy in death – most commonly by means of that well guarded trump-card of institutions everywhere – interpretation.

When expressions of truth fail to pitch us out of our familiar surroundings, fail to engender wonder or dread, awe or rapture we can be sure our conditioning has been effectively implemented. The kind of conditioning that serves to veil truth, rather than reveal it is designed by cunning rather than intelligence, its aim is exploitation rather than cultivation. The methodology of such conditioning, which Blake calls “Priestcraft,” is deception, and it agents are the servants of fear and greed called the devotees of orthodoxy. Despite its comprehensive reach and effectiveness, the primary means of this Priestcraft is simple; reduce expressions of truth – the images and figures of myth and metaphor – to mere signs, indicators, historical facts, and literal definitions. If the alchemists of the “opiates of the masses” have revealed any truth, it is that concocting “interpretations” that classify, categorize, codify, or otherwise reduce expressions of truth to systematic generalizations is extremely effective for redirecting human awareness from the reality (i.e. dharmas) plainly before them to conceptual notions in support of orthodox authority. This method so effectively embalms dead forms that encouraging dissection, amputation, eradication, and detachment (of or from the self) has become a distant second as a method used by devotees of orthodoxy.

When the moon in a Buddhist scripture is defined as a symbol for enlightenment, the image of a Zen koan explained as an allusion to emptiness, or the sayings of a Zen masters described as expedient devices, expressions of truth become dispossessed of authenticity, thus of liberating potential. Such definitions and explanations subjugate the exceptional and visionary to the mediocrity of orthodox standards by reducing the paradoxical, multifaceted figures of myth and metaphor to stereotypes and generalizations that conform to established principles and codes of institutional convention. Thus, species of pseudo-Zen long ago established by sectarian and institutional authoritarians, under the pretence of “interpretation,” continue to be widely perpetuated. This method of mummification has been so successful that even the iconoclasm of Zen has been effectively reduced to a convention of the dullest and most witless kind – manifest as an infantile exaltation of vulgarity, crudity, and anti-intellectualism.

In contradistinction to its sophomoric imitations, authentic Zen iconoclasm is a subtly refined rhetorical art, proficiency in which requires years of diligent cultivation. Even with sustained cultivation adept performance may not be realized, though cultivation is still necessary for increasing an accurate appreciation of Zen iconoclasm, as well as the significance of Zen rhetoric generally. For Zen iconoclasm is not so much the result of methodological development as it the result of mythological (metaphorical) insight. Its insight into the metaphorical nature of the self provided Zen with a clear understanding of the vastness of our inherent creative potential, the capacity to actualize reality (i.e. dharmas) through (by means of) the six modes of human experience (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, and thinking). While it is this capacity that facilitates all human experience, it can only be activated deliberately (consciously) by those awake to true nature, that is, through practice-enlightenment. While all eyes (ears, noses, etc.) participate in the actualization of the forms they see (hear, smell, etc.) it is only the Dharma-eye (Dharma-ear, Dharma-nose, etc.) that can actively (consciously) influence this process of actualization. And, as previously discussed, this “active influence” is exerted through the mythopoeic capacity of human beings, the capacity to transmit wisdom from mind to mind (Buddhas alone together with Buddhas) through the figures of myth and metaphor (self-expressions of Buddha-nature).

Clearly seeing the true metaphorical nature of the self (nondual with the world, self/world, thus all dharmas) clearly reveals the true dangers of ontologically reifying the self through conceptualization or literalism. Here then we would point out that Zen iconoclasm is not confined to those instances wherein it appears in eccentric, shocking, deviant, and sacrilegious words and deeds; rather, Zen iconoclasm permeates the whole corpus of Zen literature. For, in light of its vision of the self as root metaphor, the injurious potential of substantiating the self through dualistic literalism could “literally” not be overstated. For what this light reveals is that reality itself is iconoclastic by nature. Thus, the dark humor, subversive tone, shocking images, and similarly unorthodox aspects of Zen expression are not only the deliberate application of deeply cultivated skillful means; they are inherent characteristics of expressions of truth (self-expressions).

Our statement that “this light reveals that reality itself is iconoclastic by nature” will be clearer when we later explore the significance of existence-time (uji); here, then, a brief explanation on how the light of true nature demonstrates the inherent iconoclasm of reality will have to suffice. If all dharmas are self-expressions, each dharma is a unique instance of existence-time, therefore each dharma is by nature iconoclastic. The very actualization of a dharma is a shattering, a casting-off of every possible preconception; in its “becoming,” a dharma advances the whole of existence-time. In Dogen’s terms, the actualization of a dharma is the “total exertion of a single thing.” As seen in light of existence-time, each dharma actualizes a unique, once-in-an-existence-time dharma-position, a particular location-moment manifestation (in and as experience here and now). The becoming of each dharma is a manifestation of what was (previously) not-manifest, thus its manifestation is not simply iconoclastic in itself (in that it destroys any and all preconceived images, containers, forms of itself) it is the iconoclastic “kalpa-ending conflagration” (i.e. the Buddhist version of the apocalypse). In short, each and every particular thing, being, and event actualizes an apocalypse/revelation of the universe, utterly destroying the old world (which, in lacking that dharma, was a totally different world), and giving life to a completely new world (the first world ever to contain that dharma).

...

Peace,

Ted

Soto and Rinzai Zen Masters on the Koan "Mu" (Tendo Nyojo & Mumon)

While the "Soto" and "Rinzai" Zen sects are asserted to differ on a variety of issues regarding the teachings of Zen practice and enlightenment, their differing view on the role of "Koans" is often the most emphatic.

In light of this, it is interesting to examine and compare the koan instructions given by two Zen masters that are both highly revered by their respective sects. For the "Soto" position, Master Eihei Dogen's teacher, Tendo Nyojo, is considered an excellent representitve. For the "Rinzai" position, Master Mumon, author of the Mumonkan, is considered to be one of the best koan representives in Zen history.

Fortunately, both of these masters are on record giving instruction on what is probably the most well known of all Zen koans, Case 1 of the Mumonkan. Look how these two Zen masters from opposite lineages approach Joshu's 'Mu.'

Jõshû's "Mu　趙州狗子

趙州和尚、因僧問、狗子還有佛性也無。州云、無。
A monk asked Jõshû, "Has a dog the Buddha Nature?" Jõshû answered, "Mu."

Now here is Mumon's instruction:

"In order to master Zen, you must pass the barrier of the patriarchs. To attain this subtle realization, you must completely cut off the way of thinking. If you do not pass the barrier, and do not cut off the way of thinking, then you will be like a ghost clinging to the bushes and weeds.

Now, I want to ask you, what is the barrier of the patriarchs? Why, it is this single word 'Mu.' That is the front gate to Zen. Therefore it is called the 'Mumonkan of Zen.' If you pass through it, you will not only see Jõshû face to face, but you will also go hand in hand with the successive patriarchs, entangling your eyebrows with theirs, seeing with the same eyes, hearing with the same ears. Isn't that a delightful prospect? Wouldn't you like to pass this barrier?

Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin; summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word 'Mu.' Carry it continuously day and night. Do not form a nihilistic conception of vacancy, or a relative conception of 'has' or 'has not.' It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try. All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated, and when the time comes, internal and external will be spontaneously united. You will know this, but for yourself only, like a dumb man who has had a dream.

Then all of a sudden an explosive conversion will occur, and you will astonish the heavens and shake the earth. It will be as if you snatch away the great sword of the valiant general Kan'u and hold it in your hand. When you meet the Buddha, you kill him; when you meet the patriarchs, you kill them. On the brink of life and death, you command perfect freedom; among the sixfold worlds and four modes of existence, you enjoy a merry and playful samadhi.

Now, I want to ask you again, 'How will you carry it out?' Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this 'Mu.' If you hold on without interruption, behold: a single spark, and the holy candle is lit!'
~Trans. Katsuki Sekida

Here is Tendo Nyojo's instruction:

"When thoughts are flying around your mind in confusion, what do you do? 'A dog’s Buddha-nature? No (Mu).' This one word No (Mu) is an iron broom: Where you sweep there is a lot of flying around, and where there is a lot of flying around, you sweep. The more you sweep, the more there is. At this point where it is impossible to sweep, you throw your whole life into sweeping. Keep your spine straight day and night, and do not let your courage flag. All of a sudden you sweep away the totality of space, and all differentiations are clearly penetrated, so the source and its meanings become evident."
~ Trans. Thomas Cleary

Comparison:
Mumon: "...you must completely cut off the way of thinking...
Tendo Nyojo: "When thoughts are flying around your mind in confusion..."

Mumon: "'How will you carry it out?' Employ every ounce of your energy to work on this 'Mu.'"
Tendo Nyojo: "...what do you do? 'A dog's Buddha-nature? No (Mu)."

Mumon: "...what is the barrier of the patriarchs? Why, it is this single word 'Mu.'
Tendo Nyojo: "This one word No (Mu) is an iron broom..."

Mumon: "Arouse your entire body with its three hundred and sixty bones and joints and its eighty-four thousand pores of the skin; summon up a spirit of great doubt and concentrate on this word 'Mu.'"
Tendo Nyojo: "At this point where it is impossible to sweep, you throw your whole life into sweeping."

Mumon: "Carry it continuously day and night."
Tendo Nyojo: "Keep your spine straight day and night, and do not let your courage flag."

Mumon: "It will be just as if you swallow a red-hot iron ball, which you cannot spit out even if you try."
Tendo Nyojo: "The more you sweep, the more there is."

Mumon: "Then all of a sudden..."
Tendo Nyojo: "All of a sudden..."

Mumon: "All the illusory ideas and delusive thoughts accumulated up to the present will be exterminated... internal and external will be spontaneously united... an explosive conversion will occur..."
Tendo Nyojo: "...you sweep away the totality of space, and all differentiations are clearly penetrated..."

Mumon: "You will know this, but for yourself only..."
Tendo Nyojo: "...the source and its meanings become evident."

While there are some subtle differences here, the common characteristics seem to outweigh them for the most part. Having employed both of these methods to the best of my ability, I have not discerned any difference in the actual experience. If anyone else has, please share your comments.

Note: While both Tendo Nyojo and Mumon recommend taking up this koan in Zazen , I would not recommend doing so without a reliable teacher. Unfortunately, many Soto 'teachers' flatly deny that 'Soto' Zen masters (often they mean 'Dogen') ever recommended taking up koans in Zazen, hence few Soto 'teachers' have developed the capacity to instruct students in koan-introspection (this is not to say that no Soto teachers have undergone this training, but very few have).

Dogen's records are full of many references to the Mu koan, and I highly recommend his writings to see how he uses it in some intriguing ways.

Gassho,
Ted Biringer
For more Zen and Buddhist Resources check out The Flatbed Sutra Zen Blog

Dogen on the koan Tozan's Heat and Cold

Great Master Tōzan Ryōkai was once asked by a monk, "When cold or heat come our way, how are we to avoid them?"
The Master replied, "Why don’t you proceed to the place where there is no heat or cold?"
The monk then asked, "What is that place where there is no heat or cold?"
The Master answered, "When it is cold, my acharya, give yourself up to the cold; when it is hot, my acharya, give yourself up to the heat."

Ever so many people in the past have given much thought to this dialogue, and many people in the present need to make every effort to train with it. The Buddhas and Ancestors have invariably come to explore it, and those who come to explore it are Buddhas and Ancestors. Many of the Indian and Chinese Buddhas and Ancestors in both the past and present have treated this story as an actual incidence of one’s Original Nature manifesting. In this dialogue, Original Nature manifests as the spiritual question of Buddhas and Ancestors.
Shobogenzo Shunju, Rev. Hubert Nearman, p.746

Dogen and the Wild Fox Koan...

Shobogenzo Dai-Shugyo

Jordan said to have some fun so I decided to take a look Shobogenzo, Dai-Shugyo; One of Dogen’s evolutionary, unique, and inspirational treatments of the classic koan Hyakujo and the Wild Fox. (Based on the translation of Nishijima & Cross)

Dogen begins in the traditional manner of quoting the koan in full:

When Zen Master Daichi of Hyakujo-zan mountain in Koshu gives informal instruction, an old man is generally present. He always listens to the Dharma along with the monks, and when the assembly retires, the old man also retires. Then unexpectedly one day he does not leave. The Master eventually asks him, "What person is this, standing before me?"

The old man answers, "I am not a person. In the past age of Kasyapa Buddha, used to live [as master] on this mountain. Once a practitioner asked me, ‘Do even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?’ I answered, ‘They do not fall into cause and effect." Since then I have fallen into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. Now I beg you, Master, to say for me a word of transformation. I long to be rid of the body of a wild fox." Then he asks, "Do even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?"

The Master says, "Do not be unclear about cause and effect." At these words the old man immediately realizes the great realization. He does prostrations and says, "I am already rid of the body of a wild fox, and would like to remain on the mountain behind this temple. Dare I ask the Master to perform for me a monk’s funeral ceremony."

The Master orders the supervising monk to strike the block and to tell the assembly, "After the meal, we will see off a deceased monk."

All the monks discuss this among themselves, saying, "The whole community is at ease and there is no sick person in the Nirvana Hall. What is the reason for this?" After the meal, the Master is seen leading the monks to the foot of a rock on the mountain behind the temple, and picking out a dead fox with a stick. They cremate it according to the formal method. In the evening the Master gives formal preaching in the Dharma Hall and discusses the preceding episode.

Obaku then asks, "The man in the past gave a mistaken answer as a word of transformation, and fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. If he had not made any mistake at any moment, what would he have become?"

The Master says, "Step up here. I will tell you."

Obaku finally steps up and gives the Master a slap. The Master claps his hands and laughs, and says, ‘"You have just expressed that a foreigner’s beard is red, but it is also a fact that a red-beard is a foreigner."

The central question of this koan asks if enlightenment liberates one from the realm of causation. It is the same question that forms the dichotomy between determinism and freewill. Are we free to choose, or is our course determined by causes and conditions beyond our control? Do enlightened beings act freely, or are they bound by the iron law of karma?

Buddhist doctrine declares that with enlightenment we transcend cause and effect (karma). At the same time, the law of cause and effect is held as absolutely unbending; all actions—good or bad—result in exacting effects. Zen has dealt with this question in a number of ways, most decisively with one of the highest achievement of koan literature: this story of Hyakujo and the wild fox. Dogen refers to this koan perhaps more than any other throughout his works.

Dogen begins his commentary on it in this chapter with: "The koan realized just now is great practice itself."

Dogen is realizing (making real) the wild fox koan right now. This, he says, is great practice itself!

Dogen continues: As the old man says, Hyakujo mountain in Koshu exists in the past age of Kasyapa Buddha, and Hyakujo mountain in Koshu exists in the present age of Sakyamuni Buddha.

"Hyakujo mountain" is the name of the mountain where Hyakujo (the teacher) teaches. The Zen ancestors usually took the name of the place where they taught; hence, there would often be a succession teachers with the same name. "Kasyapa Buddha" is one of the seven ancient Buddhas of the past age, that is the mythological age before the present age of the historical "Sakyamuni Buddha." Kasyapa Buddha is known as the disciple that received the transmission of the Buddha-Dharma, and he is also known as the teacher that transmitted the Buddha-Dharma to Shakyamuni Buddha. Hmmmm... Interesting... Could there be any resemblance to the "Hyakujo" of the past, and the "Hyakujo" of the present in this koan?

Dogen goes on to say: "This is a real word of transformation."

A "word of transformation" (usually referred to as a "turning word") is a word or action by a Zen teacher, which provokes insight in a student. Dogen is saying that the phrase used by "the old man" in the previous line, i.e. "Hyakujo mountain in Koshu exists in the past age of Kasyapa Buddha, and Hyakujo mountain in Koshu exists in the present age of Sakyamuni Buddha" is a "real word of transformation." Is Dogen is affirming there is wisdom expressed by the words of the old man? Is he inviting his listeners to recognize that wisdom too?

Dogen goes on to say: "Even so, the Hyakujo mountain of the past age of Kasyapa Buddha and the Hyakujo mountain of the present age of Sakyamuni Buddha are not one."

Dogen seems to be pointing out that yesterday’s Hyakujo mountain, is not today’s Hyakujo mountain, reminding us that each abides in its own unique "dharma-position" like the "ash" and "firewood" in Genjokoan.

Dogen says: "Neither are they different."

Dogen seems to be saying that the Hyakujo mountain of the "past" age has a "past" and a "future." Does he mean that in "its future" is the "present" Hyakujo mountain. If we go along with Dogen's teaching of "being-time" (uji), we know that the Hyakujo mountain of the present age has a past and a future; in its past is the Hyakujo mountain of the past. Each contains and is contained by the other. In the words of the Genjokoan, "When one side (one mountain) is illumined, the other side (the other mountain) is darkened."

Now Dogen says: "They are not three and three before, and not three and three after."

Here Dogen employs his commin method using one koan to clarify a point in another koan (this is one reason that koan study is so important for understanding Dogen's writings). The koan he uses here is familiar to us as Case 35 of The Blue Cliff Record, which reads:

Manjusri asked Wu Cho, "Where have you just come from?"
Wu Cho said, "The South."
Manjusri said, "How is the Buddhist Teaching being carried on in the South?"
Wu Cho said, "Monks of the Last Age have little regard for the rules of discipline."
Manjusri said, "How numerous are the congregations?"
Wu Cho said, "Some three hundred, some five hundred."
Wu Cho asked Manusri, "How is it being carried on hereabouts?"
Manjusri said, "Ordinary people and sages dwell together; dragons and snakes intermingle."
Wu Cho said, "How numerous are the congregations?"
Manjusri said, "In front, three three; in back, three three."

Though there are layers of subtle wisdom here, the main point that Dogen seems to emphasize in his abbreviated usage is the futility of utilizing any number (concept) to enumerate or define the ineffable nature of ultimate reality. In other words, he seems to be point out that the Hyakujo mountain of the past and present ages are not two, not one. In fact they do not correspond to any conceptual formulation or non-formulation, hence, "In front, three three; in back, three three."

As Dogen says next: "The Hyakujo mountain of the past has not become the Hyakujo mountain of the present. The present Hyakujo mountain was not formerly the Hyakujo mountain of Kasyapa Buddha’s time."

Let's see what happens if we can re-phrase this in the terms of the "ash" and "firewood" of Genjokoan: "The Hyakujo mountain of the past becomes the Hyakujo mountain of the present; it can never go back to being the Hyakujo mountain of the past. Nevertheless, we should not take the view that the present Hyakujo mountain is its future and the past Hyakujo mountain is its past. Remember, the Hyakujo mountain of the past abides in the place of the past Hyakujo mountain in the Dharma. It has a past and it has a future. Although it has a past and a future, the past and the future are cut off. The Hyakujo mountain of the present exists in the place of the present Hyakujo mountain in the Dharma. It has a past and it has a future. The Hyakujo mountain of the past, after becoming the Hyakujo mountain of the present, does not again become the Hyakujo mountain of the past. This is why we speak of no appearance. This is why we speak of no disappearance. The Hyakujo mountain of the past is an instantaneous situation, and the present Hyakujo mountain is also an instantaneous situation. It is the same, for example, with winter and spring. We do not think that winter becomes spring, and we do not say that spring becomes summer."

How does that work? Sounds interesting, no?

Okay.... I will stop and see if there is any reason to continue...

Comments are most welcome!

Thanks for your time!

Take care,
Ted


Copyright Ted Biringer 2008