Seeing True Nature: Reading Reality

Seeing True Nature: Reading Reality

 

From the perspective of the individual, Zen practice-enlightenment consists in ‘seeing true nature’ (kensho) or ‘seeing Buddha’ (kenbutsu) and conducting oneself accordingly. When one clearly sees reality as it is – dharmas (i.e. phenomena; particular things, beings, and events) here-now – one is enabled to think, speak, and act appropriately. In short, to see dharmas as they are is to ‘clearly discern’ or ‘accurately read’ reality.

From the Zen/Buddhist perspective, each and all dharmas are ‘expressions of reality,’ that is, ‘expressions of Buddha’ – thus to see dharmas as they are, is to accurately read (hence understand) expressions of Buddha. To see dharmas a expressions of Buddha, is to see each and all things as scriptures (sutras); words of Buddha. Hence, to see the true nature of a mountain or ocean is to accurately understand an expression of Buddha, to understand an expression of Buddha is to see Buddha (kenbutsu). Accordingly, to see Buddha (kenbutsu) is to hear and understand dharmas as ‘this sutra.’

Sakyamuni Buddha addresses Bodhisattva Universal Virtue: “If there is anyone who receives and retains, reads and recites, rightly remembers, practices, and copies this Sutra of the Flower of Dharma, we should know that that person is meeting Sakyamuni Buddha, and hearing this sutra as if from the Buddha’s mouth.”

In general, all the buddhas say that “to meet Sakyamuni Buddha” and to realize the state of Sakyamuni Buddha is to realize the truth and to become buddha. Such behavior of buddhas is originally attained through each of these seven practices. A person who performs the seven practices is “that person” whom “we should know,” and is “the very person here and now, as he or she is.” Because this is just the state in which we meet Sakyamuni Buddha, it is directly “hearing this sutra as if from the Buddha’s mouth.” Sakyamuni Buddha, since having met Sakyamuni Buddha, is Sakyamuni Buddha. Thus, the form of his tongue universally enfolds the three-thousandfold [world]: what mountain or ocean could be other than the Buddha’s sutras? For this reason, “the very person here and now” who copies is meeting alone with Sakyamuni Buddha. “The Buddha’s mouth” is constantly open through the myriad ages: what moment could be other than the sutras? For this reason, the practitioner who receives and retains the sutras is meeting solely with Sakyamuni Buddha. The virtue of not only the eyes and ears but also the nose and so on, may also be like this. The front and the back, the left and the right, taking and leaving, an instant of the present, also, are like this. We have been born to experience “this sutra” of the present: how could we not rejoice to be meeting Sakyamuni Buddha? Life is an encounter with Sakyamuni Buddha.

Shobogenzo, Kenbutsu, Gudo Nishijima & Mike Cross

Thus, the nondual unity of essence and form is the keystone of Zen doctrine and methodology; the profundity of its significance is intimated by Dogen’s often repeated, ‘Nothing in the universe is concealed.’ As the keystone of Zen doctrine, the nondual unity of essence and form is the reason (dori) ‘there are understandable explanations.’ As the keystone of Zen methodology, it is the activity of ‘practice-enlightenment,’ ‘solely seated (meditation),’ or ‘thinking not-thinking’ (or ‘nonthinking’).

 

To be continued…

(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

The Four Prajnas of Buddhahood (Prajna: Wisdom, Cognition, Etc.)

The Four Prajnas of Buddhahood

[Excerpted from “Lesson 13” –Free Online Course: Classic Teachings of Zen Buddhism]

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Hui Hai: On the Four Buddha Wisdoms

Q: Regarding the quotation ‘Transform the eight states of consciousness (parijnana) into the four Buddha-wisdoms and bind the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya, which of the eight states of consciousness must be combined to form one Buddha-wisdom and which of them will each become a Buddha-wisdom in itself?

A: Sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are the five states of consciousness which together form the perfecting wisdom. The intellect, or sixth state of consciousness, alone becomes the profound observing wisdom. Discriminative awareness, or the seventh state of consciousness, alone becomes the universal wisdom. The storehouse of consciousness, or eighth state, alone becomes the great mirror wisdom.

Q: Do these four wisdoms really differ?

A: In substance they are the same, but they are differently named.

Q: Yet, if they are one in substance, why do their names differ’? Or, allowing that their names are given according to circumstances, what is it that, being of one substance (with the rest), is (nevertheless called) ‘the great mirror wisdom’?

A: That which is clearly void and still, bright and imperturbable, is the great mirror wisdom. That which can face defilements without love or aversion arising and which thereby exhibits the nonexistent nature of all such dualities is the universal wisdom. That which can range the fields of the senses with unexcelled ability to discern things, yet without giving rise to tumultuous thoughts, so that it is fully independent and at ease, is the profound observing wisdom. That which can convert all the senses with their functions of responding to circumstances into correct sensation free from duality is the perfecting wisdom.

Q: As to ‘binding the four Buddha-wisdoms to form the trikaya’, which of them combine to form one body and which of them each becomes a body in itself?

A: The great mirror wisdom singly forms the Dharmakaya. The universal wisdom singly forms the Sambhogakaya. The profound observing wisdom and the perfecting wisdom jointly form the Nirmanakaya. These three bodies are only named differently to enable unenlightened people to see more clearly. Once the principle is understood, there will be no more three bodies with functions responding to various needs. Why? Formless in substance and by nature, they are established in the basically impermanent which is not their own (true basis) at all.

~ The Zen Teaching of Instantaneous Awakening, John Blofeld

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Huineng: On the Three bodies and Four Wisdoms

Bhikshu Chih-tung, a native of Shao-chou of An-feng, had read the Lankavatara-sutra a thousand times, but he could not understand the meaning of trikaya and the four prajnas. Thereupon, he called on the patriarch for an interpretation. “As to the three bodies,” explained the patriarch, “the pure dharmakaya is your [essential] nature; the perfect sambhogakaya is your wisdom; and myriad nirmanakayas are your actions. If you deal with these three bodies apart from the essence of mind, there would be bodies without wisdom. If you realize that these three bodies have no positive essence of their own [because they are only the properties of the essence of mind] you attain the bodhi of the four prajnas. Listen to my stanza:

The three bodies are inherent in our essence of mind,

By development of which the four prajnas are manifested.

Thus, without shutting your eyes and your ears to keep away from the external world

You may reach buddhahood directly.

Now that I have made this plain to you

Believe it firmly, and you will be free from delusions forever.

Follow not those who seek enlightenment from without;

These people talk about bodhi all the time [but they never find it].

“May I know something about the four prajnas?” asked Chih-tung.

“If you understand the three bodies,” replied the patriarch, “you should understand the four prajnas as well; so your question is unnecessary. If you deal with the four prajnas apart from the three bodies, there will be prajnas without bodies, in which case they would not be prajnas.”

The patriarch then uttered another stanza:

The mirrorlike wisdom is pure by nature.

The equality wisdom frees the mind from all impediments.

The all-discerning wisdom sees things intuitively without going through the process of reasoning.

The all-performing wisdom has the same characteristics as the mirrorlike wisdom.

The first five vijnanas [consciousness dependent respectively upon the five sense organs] and the alayavijnana [storage or universal consciousness] are transmuted to prajna in the buddha stage; while the klishtamanovijnana [soiled-mind consciousness or self- consciousness] and the manovijnana [thinking consciousness], are transmuted in the bodhisattva stage.

These so-called transmutations of vijnana are only changes of appellations and not a change of substance. When you are able to free yourself entirely from attachment to sense objects at the time these so-called transmutations take place, you will forever abide in the repeatedly arising naga [dragon] samadhi.

[Upon hearing this], Chih-tung realized suddenly the prajna of his essence of mind and submitted the following stanza to the patriarch:

Intrinsically, the three bodies are within our essence of mind.

When our mind is enlightened the four prajnas will appear therein.

When bodies and prajnas absolutely identify with each other

We shall be able to respond [in accordance with their temperaments and dispositions] to the appeals of all beings, no matter what forms they may assume.

To start by seeking for trikaya and the four prajnas is to take an entirely wrong course [for being inherent in us they are to be realized and not to be sought].

To try to grasp or confine them is to go against their intrinsic nature.

Through you, sir, I am now able to grasp the profundity of their meaning,

And henceforth I may discard forever their false and arbitrary names.

~The Diamond Sutra & The Sutra of Hui-Neng, A. F. Price & Wong Mou-lam

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The Three Bodies of Buddha and The Four Wisdoms of Buddhahood

 

Question: The Buddha has three bodies—how are they attained?

Answer: The three bodies of Buddha are attained from the eight consciousnesses, by transforming the eight consciousnesses into the four wisdoms. When you reach these four wisdoms, you soon achieve the three bodies. Proceeding from cause to effect, we distinguish the three bodies like this. The five consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body become the subtle observing wisdom. The sixth consciousness, the conceptual consciousness, becomes the accomplishment of action wisdom. The seventh consciousness, manas, becomes the wisdom of inherent equality. The eighth consciousness, alaya, becomes the great mirror wisdom.

Question: What is the meaning of the “four wisdoms” that you can make this statement?

Answer: The first five consciousnesses are also called the five sense faculties. In this case the five sense faculties are the gates of wisdom through which wisdom is aware of the objects present, but without any falsity or defilement. Thus we take these five consciousnesses and make them into subtle observing wisdom. The sixth consciousness is also called the conceptual mind faculty. Here in the gate of wisdom we must work intently on awakening. Awakening means purity, and accord with the Dharma. With the real and the conventional equally in view, we perfect wisdom, transforming the conceptual mind into wisdom. Wisdom’s awareness is able to know clearly without differentiating, and transform knowledge into wisdom. This is called the accomplishment of action wisdom. When manas, the seventh consciousness, has no grasping, it naturally has no hate or love. Since there is no hate or love, all things are equalized. Thus it is called the wisdom of inherent equality. As for alaya, the eighth consciousness: when it is empty in the storehouse, defiled seeds are all pure. It is like a clear mirror hung in space. All the myriad images appear in it, but this bright mirror never thinks, “I can make images appear,” nor do the images say, “We are born from the mirror.” Since there is neither subject nor object, we call this wisdom the great mirror wisdom.

Question: If the four wisdoms are this way, what about the three bodies?

Answer: The great mirror wisdom is taken as the dharmakaya, the body of reality. The wisdom of inherent equality is taken as the sambhogakaya, the reward body. The accomplishment of action wisdom and the subtle observing wisdom are taken as the nirmanakaya, the physical manifestation, the transformation body.

Question: How do you know it to be so?

Answer: We say that the great mirror wisdom is taken as the body of reality because it is fully equipped with all stainless virtues, round and full with complete truth: it is like a worldly mirror that can show diverse images without differentiating.

The wisdom of inherent equality is taken as the reward body because when false mind is totally exhausted, everywhere-equal reality-nature is achieved and the myriad practices are perfected.

Accomplishment of action wisdom and subtle observing wisdom are taken as the transformation body because when the six sense faculties are stainless, you deliver sentient beings on a wide scale, detached from self and other, letting them share in your understanding and cultivate a basis [for enlightenment].

~Zen Dawn,  J.C. Cleary

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[Excerpted from “Lesson 13” –Free Online Course: Classic Teachings of Zen Buddhism]

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Peace,

Ted

The Supreme State of Enlightenment--and Beyond

Dogen on the Supreme State of Enlightenment--and Beyond...

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While some contemporary Buddhist teachers tend to downplay the significance of enlightenment and even minimize or ridicule the use of the various terms for enlightenment (bodhi, satori, sho, awakening, etc.), the Buddhist scriptures and classic records of the master speak of little else, and insist that enlightenment is the foremost task of all Buddhists. Dogen's works are no exception. But what is enlightenment? Following are some expamles in which Dogen offers clues about "the supreme state of bodhi."
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In the supreme state of bodhi, Buddhist patriarchs who transmitted the truth and received the behavior have been many, and examples of past ancestors who reduced their bones to powder cannot be denied. Learn from the ancestral Patriarch who cut off his arm, and do not differ by a hair’s breadth [from the bodhisattva who] covered the mud. When we each get rid of our husk, we are not restricted by former views and understanding, and things which have for vast kalpas been unclear suddenly appear before us. In the here and now of such a moment, the self does not recognize it, no-one else is conscious of it, you do not expect it, and even the eyes of Buddha do not glimpse it. How could the human intellect fathom it?
Shobogenzo, Keisei-Sanshiki, Nishijima & Cross
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The term ‘the Ultimate’ refers to the Wisdom that is the result of Buddhahood. Were we to compare the state of supreme, fully perfected enlightenment with the state of giving rise to the enlightened Mind for the first time, it is like comparing the universal, all-consuming conflagration of the final age with the light of a firefly. Even so, when you give rise to the heart that helps others reach the Other Shore, even though you yourself have not yet reached that Place, there is no difference between the two.
Shobogenzo, Hotsu Bodai Shin, Hubert Nearman
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He who knows but a single mote of dust knows the whole world: he who fully comprehends one thing comprehends all the myriad things that comprise the universe. He who fails to comprehend all the myriad things will not comprehend even one of them. When someone has fully trained himself in this principle of comprehending and has reached full comprehension, he will not only see the myriad things that comprise the universe but will also see each one of them. This is why the person who studies one mote of dust will undoubtedly be studying the whole universe. To think that a three-year-old child cannot give voice to the Buddha Dharma or to think that a three-year-old is ‘cute’ is the height of foolishness. This is because clarifying what birth is and clarifying what death is constitutes the most important matter for a Buddhist monk.
Shobogenzo, Shoaku Makusa, Hubert Nearman
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But, according to Dogen, awakening is only the beginning. What about after this mind has already been manifested?
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There are those who say that after bodhisattvas become Buddhas, they discontinue practice because there is nothing left for them to do. Such people are mundane persons who have no direct knowledge of the Way of the Buddhas and Ancestors.
Shobogenzo, Shoho Jisso, Hubert Nearman
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Unsurpassed bodhi is not for the sake of self, not for the sake of others, not for the sake of fame, and not for the sake of profit. And yet, single-mindedly seeking unsurpassed bodhi, diligently proceeding without retreat, is called arousing the bodhi mind. After this mind has already been manifested, not seeking after bodhi, even for the sake of bodhi, is the genuine bodhi mind. If you do not have this mind, how could it be the study of the way? Brothers at this temple, single-mindedly seek bodhi mind, and never quit out of laziness.
Eihei Koroku, Dogen’s Extensive Record, Leighton & Okumura, 5:377
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The arising of the intention means giving rise, right off, to the intention to help others reach the Other Shore, even though you yourself have not yet reached that Place. We call this giving rise to the enlightened Mind for the first time. Once you have given rise to this Mind, you will then encounter Buddhas to whom you should make alms offerings, and you should hearken to Their Teaching.
Shobogenzo, Hotsu Bodai Shin, Hubert Nearman
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Once you attain this state of suchness and attain the harmoni­ous unity of activity and understanding possessed by the Buddha-patriarchs, you examine exhaustively all the thoughts and views of this attainment.
Shobogenzo, Sammai-O-Zammai, Waddell & Abe, p.101
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The Dharma was Transmitted for the sake of each and every Buddha, and the Dharma was inherited for the sake of each and every Buddha. This is why birth-and-death and coming-and-going exist. It is why the intention to train, training and practice, the attaining of Wisdom, and nirvana exist. By making use of the intention to train, training and practice, the attaining of Wisdom, and nirvana, we thoroughly explore that the human body really is birth-and-death and coming-and-going, and, in protecting what we have received, we now hold firm and we now let go.
Shobogenzo, Shoho Jisso (Hubert Nearman)
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Therefore, once having understood, you should read the Sage's Teachings many times. And having heard the words of the teacher, still you should listen to them again. The mind should grow deeper and deeper. As for things which would be hindrances to the study of the Way, do not go near them anymore. Even if it is painful and lonely, associate with worthy companions to practice the Way.
Shobogenzo-Zuimonki, 5:15 (Record of Things Heard, Thomas Cleary)

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Well, back to the cushions and the sutras! Enjoy!

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Peace,

Ted