Bracketing My A**

Koan of the Week
Gateless Gate #21
Yunmen’s Kanshiketsu

Featuring Yunmen Wenyan (Ummon Bun’en, 864-949), 13th Generation.
Line: Shitou (8th Gen.) to Tianhuang to Longtan to Deshan to Xuefeng to Yunmen.
Also studied under Muzhou (Bokushu, b. 780) of the Mazu-Baizhang-Huangbo-Muzhou line.


THE CASE

A monk asked Yunmen in all earnestness, "What is Buddha?"
Yunmen said, "Kanshiketsu" [a dried shit-stick].

WUMEN’S COMMENT AND VERSE

It should be said of Yunmen that he was too poor to prepare even the plainest food and too busy to write a draft. Suddenly he took up the shit-stick to support the gate of Buddhism. You can see how the Dharma has decayed.

Lightning flashing,
Sparks shooting from a flint;
A moment’s blinking –
It’s already missed.

* * *

The true self speaks a foreign language
In which the words have no meaning.
There's something in the brackets that looks like a meaning.
Avert your eyes.

Edmund Husserl returned from the outhouse and said,
"Bracket off interpretations and meanings.
Get to the bare and intimate experience."
Kanshiketsu!
Bare, intimate, meaningless.
Now you speak the true self's tongue.

* * *

Previous:
Maybe Better Go Naked
Don't Beat the Dog
Staff Issues
The Old In and Out
What Is the Sound of an Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

Pangs of the Layman:
The Increase of Mystery
To Recognize, Look
Hard (Or Easy) To Swallow
Prayers That Reach the Gods. Or Not.
"Shut up," he explained.

Maybe Better Go Naked

Koan of the Week
Gateless Gate #16
Yunmen: The Sound of the Bell

Featuring Yunmen Wenyan (Ummon Bun’en, 864-949), 13th Generation.
Line: Shitou (8th Gen.) to Tianhuang to Longtan to Deshan to Xuefeng to Yunmen.
Yunmen appears in 27 koans in the three collections (Gateless Gate, Blue Cliff Record, Book of Serenity) – much more than any other figure.

THE CASE

Yunmen said, "The world is vast and wide like this. Why do you put on your seven-piece robe at the sound of the bell?"

WUMEN’S COMMENT AND VERSE

When one meditates and studies Zen, one extinguishes the attachment to sound and color. Even though some have attained enlightenment by hearing a sound, or an awakening by seeing a color, these are ordinary matters. Those who intend to master Zen freely master sounds or colors, see clearly the nature of things and every activity of mind. Even though this is so, now tell me: Does the sound come to the ear, or does the ear go to the sound? But when both sound and silence are forgotten, what would you call this state? If you listen with your ear, it is hard to hear truly, but if you listen with your eye, then you begin to hear properly.

If you are awakened, all things are one and the same,
If you are not awakened, all things are varied and distinguished.
If you are not awakened, all things are one and the same,
If you are awakened, all things are varied and distinguished.

Why rise from bed at the sound of the alarm?
Dress and go to work?
Why leave work when the clock says a certain hour?
Why dine at the evening hunger pang?
Why inhale after exhaling?
Why do you do these things you do?

"Brother Yunmen," I said, "The world is vast and wide."
"Like this," he answered.
Like this.
Like this he wears
All there is of
Why?

* * *

Previous:
Don't Beat the Dog
Staff Issues
The Old In and Out
What Is the Sound of an Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

Pangs of the Layman:
The Increase of Mystery
To Recognize, Look
Hard (Or Easy) To Swallow
Prayers That Reach the Gods. Or Not.
"Shut up," he explained.

Don't Beat the Dog

Koan of the Week
Gateless Gate #15
Dongshan Shouchu’s Sixty Blows

Featuring Yunmen Wenyan (Ummon Bun’en, 864-949), 13th Generation.
Line: Shitou (8th Gen.) to Tianhuang to Longtan to Deshan to Xuefeng to Yunmen.
Yunmen appears in 27 koans in the three collections (Gateless Gate, Blue Cliff Record, Book of Serenity) – much more than any other figure. In this case, Yunmen appears with his disciple Dongshan Shouchu (Tozan Shusho, 910-990), not to be confused with the founder of the Caodong (Soto) “House,” Dongshan Liangjie (Tozan Ryokai, 807-869).

THE CASE

When Dongshan Shouchu went to Yunmen for instruction, Yunmen asked, "Where have you come from?"
Dongshan said, "From Sado."
Yunmen said, "Where were you during the summer retreat?"
Dongshan said, "At Hozu monastery, south of the lake."
Yunmen said, "When did you leave there?"
Dongshan said: "On the twenty-fifth of August."
Yunmen said: "I spare you sixty blows."
The next day Dongshan cam up to Yunmen and asked, "Yesterday you spared me sixty blows though I deserved them. I beg you, sir, where was I at fault?"
Yunmen said, "Oh, you ricebag! Have you been wandering about like that now west of the river, now south of the lake?"
At this, Dongshan had great realization.

WUMEN’S COMMENT AND VERSE

At that time, if Yunmen had given Dongshan the essential food of Zen and awakened him to an active Zen spirit, his family gate would not have become so desolate. Dongshan struggled with himself in agony all through the night and at daybreak came to Yunmen again. Yunmen gave him a further push to break through. Although Donghsan attained realization immediately, he still could not be called bright. Now I ask you, does Dongshan deserve sixty blows with the stick or not? If you say he does,then all the trees, grasses, thickets, and groves should be beaten. If you say he does not, then Yunmen is telling a lie. If you grasp this clearly, you are breathing through one mouth with Dongshan.

The lion has a puzzling way of teaching its cubs:
The cubs crouch, leap and spring back swiftly;
Unintentionally, he gave a checkmate again,
The first arrow was light, but the second went deep.

You've been sent to face the two-headed hellhound,
Deserve-Not-Deserve --
To release us from its devouring terror.
Heracles!
Not by wrestling will this dog be conquered.
Cross the river of death;
Come to the beast in its lair.
Pick one head.
Doesn’t matter which.
Feed only that,
and an indiscriminate diet.
If you pick “deserve,” feed everything into “deserve.”
Everything!
As quickly as you can get your hands on it.
If you pick “not deserve,” feed everything into “not deserve.”
The head you feed will grow tame.
The other, nothing to chew on, will lose its teeth
One by one – it takes a while.
The dog will be your companion,
And your true labors will at last begin.

* * *

Next: Maybe Better Go Naked

Previous Koans of the Week:
Staff Issues
The Old In and Out
What Is the Sound of an Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

Pangs of the Layman:
The Increase of Mystery
To Recognize, Look
Hard (Or Easy) To Swallow
Prayers That Reach the Gods. Or Not.
"Shut up," he explained.

Staff Issues

Koan of the Week
Gateless Gate #44
Bajiao’s Staff

Bajiao Huiqing (Basho Esei, b. 880?), 13th Generation.
Line: Mazu (8th Gen.) to Baizhang to Guishan to Yangshan to Nanta to Bajiao.

THE CASE

Master Bajiao said to the assembly, "If you have a staff, I will give it to you. If you have no staff, I will take it away from you!"

WUMEN'S COMMENT AND VERSE

Having it support us, we wade across a river that has no bridge. Having it accompany us, we return to the village on a moonless night. But if you call it a staff, you will go to hell as swiftly as an arrow.

The depths and shallows everywhere
Are all within his grip;
It supports the heavens and sustains the earth,
Everywhere it enhances the spirit of our sect.

What is the self?
This Bajiao said: Facing south and seeing the big dipper.
Such transparency comes from years with the staff,
Getting one home in the dark,
The staff great-great-grandfather Baizhang used to poke
a fox's dead body.
A wild bird returns to her nest
And feeds down the gullets of her young:
What you have is given
continuously.
And lack itself is taken away.
Continuously.
Facing your computer, see the staff.

* * *

Next: Don't Beat the Dog

Previous:
The Old In and Out
What Is the Sound of an Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

The Old In and Out

Koan of the Week
Blue Cliff Record #33
Chenzao Visits Zifu

Zifu Rubao (Shifuku Nyoho, b. 871?), 13th Generation.
Line: Mazu (8th Gen.) to Baizhang to Guishan to Yangshan to Xita to Zifu.
No notable dharma brothers or descendants.
Other koans with Zifu: "Yanguan and the Rhinocerous Fan" (BCR 91, BOS 25)

THE CASE

National Secretary Chenzao went to see Zifu.
When Zifu saw him coming, he drew a circle.
Chenzao said, "It is already straying from the essence that your student has come to you at all. Why do you draw a circle in addition to that?"
Thereupon Zifu closed the door of his room.
(Xuedou said, "Chenzao has but one eye.")

Did you notice that in Hoop Dreams
You always miss the free throw?
The circle, the daily round,
Does not open to let you out –
You open yourself to it.
Or were you wanting in?
You open yourself.
Did you notice that you don’t know:
When Zifu closed the door, was Chenzao in or out?
Neither did Zifu.

* * *

Next: Staff Issues

Previous: What Is the Sound of an Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

The Increase of Mystery

One day Pang asked Mazu, "How is it that water has neither bone nor muscle, yet is able to hold up a big barge? What is the underlying principle?"
Mazu said, "For my part there is neither water nor boat. So, what is this bone and muscle you speak of?"

(The Sayings of Layman Pang, #5: "The Bone and Muscle of Water")

Mazu's reply maybe drops the bottom out --
A conversation stopper.
The Pang of hunger for explanation
Can be fed, can't be satiated.
Today, 8th-graders in science class learn
The "underlying principle":
Upward buoyancy force is equal to the the weight of the water the boat displaces,
My darlings.
Archimedes worked that out before Pang's time --
Far away in Greece.
Later, later, Western physics got quantum, and came around to
(something at least superficially similar to)
What Mazu said:
No water, no boat --
Only probability functions of subatomic particle-waves.
Because it is empty it can hold up the world,
My darlings.
Because it is nothing, it can do anything.
Pang asked Newton a physics question.
Neils Bohr answered.
The growth of knowledge is measured by the increase of mystery.

What Is The Sound of An Arrow Hitting Oatmeal?

Koan of the Week
Blue Cliff Record #56
Qinshan and the Arrow

Qinshan Wensui (Kinzan Bunsui, b. 841?), 12th Generation.
Line: Shitou (8th Gen.) to Yaoshan to Yunyan to Dongshan to Qinshan
Dharma brothers include Caoshan and Longya.
Qinshan also studied under Deshan, alongside friends, Yantou and Xuefeng.

THE CASE

A Zen devotee named Liang asked Qinshan, "What is it when one single arrow breaks through three barriers?"
Qinshan said, "Drive out the master from behind the barriers, so that I may see him."
Liang said, "If so, I will acknowledge my failure and correct it."
Qinshan said, "Till when do you want to wait?"
Liang said, "I made a nice shot, but no one could see the arrow," and he went out.
Qinshan said, "Wait, sir."
Liang turned his head.
Qinshan grasped him and said, "Let's put aside the story of the arrow which breaks through three barriers. Just shoot an arrow for me, so that I may see it."
Liang hesitated.
Qinshan hit him seven times with a stick and said, "I will allow this fellow to keep puzzling for thirty years."

What is it when . . . ?
Please. What is anything ever?
Listen. Once Master and I went to the Archery Range Cafe.
Our orders placed, we sat.
Trying to be funny and true, I said, "My shot was perfect; the target was misplaced."
Master asked, "Misplaced because you missed it or because you hit it?"
"The archer or the target?"
"Hit either one for me on your next shot," said Master.
"If you've shot one you've shot 'em all," I said, imagining how that would be as the last word.
"Sure," said Master. "So shoot one."
"Our food is here," I said.
"Who had the thin gruel?" said the server.
"Let's eat," said Master.

* * *

Next: The Old In and Out

To Recognize, Look

Pang asked Mazu, "If you met someone who was a distinctly authentic person, how would you recognize him?"
Mazu directed his gaze downward.
Pang asked, "Only you are able to play a tune on a stringless harp."
Mazu looked up, and Pang bowed.
Mazu then returned to his room.
Pang followed him, saying, "Just now, I tried to trick you, but you made a fool out of me instead."

(The Sayings of Layman Pang, #4: "A Distinctly Authentic Person")

Look down, Angel, upon this very spot.
Right where we are, we're on holy ground.
Look down, Angel: the blessing of your glance upon the
Dirt.
Look up, Angel.
See me with the music of your harp.
Dance with me to the tune that from no strings comes.
Dance with me, no strings attached, til we melt
With ruth.
Look homeward, Angel.
I am following the direction of your gaze.

credits:
"We're on holy ground right where we are" - Amy Carol Webb
"Look homeward Angel, now and melt with ruth" - John Milton

Hard (or Easy) to Swallow

On this blog two days ago we saw Pang ask Shitou, "What about someone who has no connection with the ten thousand dharmas?" Today, he asks the same question of a different master. The question reminded me this morning of "Baizhang (a.k.a. Hyakujo) and the Fox," in which we consider that, while an enlightened one might not be subject to cause-and-effect (the law of causation, karma), she also is one with cause-and-effect.

Pang went to study with Mazu and asked him, "What about someone who has no connection with the ten thousand dharmas?"
Mazu said, "I will tell you after you have drunk down the waters of the West River in one gulp."
Pang understood the meaning implied, and composed a verse:

With an empty mind
The examination is passed.

After he'd stayed with Mazu for two years he composed a verse:

The world over:
Men without wives
Women without husbands
Face to face,
Speaking of what is unborn.

(The Sayings of Layman Pang, #3: "One Gulp")

Not falling under, not ignoring: like a fox.
The whole thing gulped down -- without espousal.
No wedding bells ring for marriage bonds and baby making.
What could be born?
Everything possible is already facing his face, already gulped.
What is there to talk about?

Prayers That Reach the Gods. Or Not.

Note: Shitou's question about wearing black or white refers to becoming a monk (wearing black) or not.

One day Shitou said to Pang, "I've come to visit you. What have you been doing?"
Pang said, "If you're asking what I do every day, there's nothing to say about it."
Shitou said, "What did you think you were doing before I asked you about it?"
Pang made up a verse:

What I do every day
Is nothing special:
I simply stumble around.
What I do is not thought out,
Where I go is unplanned.
No matter who tries to leave their mark,
The hills and dales are not impressed.
Collecting firewood and carrying water
Are prayers that reach the gods.

Shitou approved, saying, "So, are you going to wear black or white?"
Pang said, "I will do whatever is best."
It came to pass that he never shaved his head to join the sangha.

(The Sayings of Layman Pang, #2: "Subtleties of Daily Life")

The stew has ten thousand ingredients.
There is a single quarter-slice sliver of carrot in the ladle.
It tracelessly abides.
You may say, "The stew would be different without it" -- this is impossible.
The impossibility of otherwise: this is tracelessness.
Or: It leaves a mark, all right: a mark
Indistinguishable from
The effect of the whole --
A mark without impress to hill or dale, master or novice:
An unseen movement of lips silently praying.

"Shut up," he explained.

The Layman went to see Zen Master Shitou and asked him, "What about someone who has no connection with the ten thousand dharmas?"
Shitou put his hand over the Layman's mouth, and the Layman had a sudden realization.

(The Sayings of Layman Pang, #1, trans. James Green)

In the silence: no connection to the myriad beings.
In the silence: fully connected to the myriad beings.
In the silence: constant chatter.
In the chatter-chatter: silence.
Pointing to the moon: so futile, therefore necessary.
A dance pointless and beautiful and required.