People who study Buddhism
Should seek real, true
Perception and understanding.
If you attain real, true
Perception and understanding,
Birth and death don’t affect you;
You are free to go or stay.
You needn’t seek wonders,
For wonders come of themselves.
- Linji (d.-867?)
Another year about to end In my empty mountain abode; Rivers and clouds, Their trails indistinct; Pines and cedars, Their natures the same. I arise from my nap To find the taro roots done; As the incense fades out, I finish a scripture. Who knows that real pleasure Lies within stillness and silence?
- Wen-siang (1210-1280)
"I support the destruction of the Think-Tank." - Avatar, August 2008
As for me, I delight In the everyday Way, Among mist-wrapped vines And rocky caves. Here in the wilderness I am completely free, With my friends, The white clouds, Idling forever. There are roads, But they do not reach the world; Since I am mindless, Who can rouse my thoughts? On a bed of stone I sit, Alone in the night, While the round moon Climbs up Cold Mountain.
This one is particullarly beautiful...SRD could have written it in regard to a brave Haruchai (imho)..it's called Letter to a Dying Man
Bassui wrote the following letter to one of his disciples who was about to die:
"The essence of your mind is not born, so it will never die. It is not an existence, which is perishable. It is not an emptiness, which is a mere void. It has neither color nor form. It enjoys no pleasures and suffers no pains.
"I know you are very ill. Like a good Zen student, you are facing that sickness squarely. You may not know exactly who is suffering, but question yourself: What is the essence of this mind? Think only of this. You will need no more. Covet nothing. Your end which is endless is as a snowflake dissolving in the pure air."
WHEN Ninagawa-Shinzaemon, linked verse poet and Zen devotee, heard that Ikkyu, abbot of the famous Daitokuji in Murasakino (violet field) of Kyoto, was a remarkable master, he desired to become his disciple. He called on Ikkyu, and the following dialogue took place at the temple entrance:
IKKYU: Who are you?
ninagawa: A devotee of Buddhism.
IKKYU: You are from?
ninagawa: Your region.
Ikkyu: Ah. And what's happening there these days?
NlNAGAWA: The crows caw, the sparrows twitter.
IKKYU: And where do you think you are now?
NlNAGAWA: In a field dyed violet.
Ikkyu: Why?
NlNAGAWA: Miscanthus, morning glories, safflowers, chrysanthemums, asters.
ikkyu: And after they're gone?
ninagawa: It's Miyagino (field known for its autumn flowering).
ikkyu: What happens in the field?
ninagawa: The stream flows through, the wind sweeps over.
Amazed at Ninagawa's Zen-like speech, Ikkyu led him to his room and served him tea. Then he spoke the following impromptu verse:
I want to serve you delicacies. Alas! the Zen sect Can offer nothing.
At which the visitor replied:
Tin' mind which treats me
To nothing is the original void—
A delicacy of delicacies.
Deeply moved, the master said, "My son, you have learned much."
"I support the destruction of the Think-Tank." - Avatar, August 2008
A man was being chased by a ravenous tiger. He came to the edge of a cliff and began to climb down a hanging vine. Then he looked and saw a second, equally ravenous tiger waiting at the bottom. At that moment, a mouse began to gnaw at the vine. Something caught the man’s eye - a luscious, red strawberry growing just within his reach. He plucked it and ate it and exclaimed, “How delicious this is!”
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon
Waking me up
To the spring that’s come
Water trickles down
The valley, and long crag-bound ice
Now cracks open, slides free.
- Saigyo (1118-1190)
If you want to be free,
Get to know your real self.
It has no form, no appearance,
No root, no basis, no abode,
But is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility,
But its function cannot be located.
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from it;
When you seek it
You turn away from it all the more.
- Linji (d. 867)
"I support the destruction of the Think-Tank." - Avatar, August 2008
Pure and fresh are the flowers with dew Clear and bright is the singing of the birds; Clouds are calm, waters are blue. Who has written the True Word of no letters? Lofty are the mountains, green are the trees, Deep are the valleys, lucid are the streams; The wind is soft, the moon is serene. Calmly I read the True Word of no letters.
"Stop thinking about the shot!" the Master called out. "That way it is bound to fail."
"I can't help it," I answered, "the tension gets too painful."
"You only feel it because you haven't really let go of yourself. It is all so simple. You can learn from an ordinary bamboo leaf what ought to happen. It bends lower and lower under the weight of snow. Suddenly the snow slips to the ground without the leaf having stirred. Stay like that at the point of highest tension until the shot falls from you. So, indeed, it is: when the tension is fulfilled, the shot must fall, it must fall from the archer like snow from a bamboo leaf, before he even thinks it."
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest -Paul Simon
This is Han Ong's famous, "What is happiness? What is sadness?" His whole life he used only this speech to teach other people. Outside, happiness appears, luck appears, sadness appears, but he is not moving. "What is true happiness? What is sadness?" Not moving. This mind is very important. Originally there is nothing. If you attach to something, then you have luck, happiness, sadness, suffering -- everything appears. If you don't attach, this is clear mind. Then there is no sadness, no happiness, no unhappiness -- they all disappear. So if you attach to name and form, if you attach to words, then your mind is also moving. Don't attach to anything. Then your mind is enough. Then appearing, disappearing, whatever happens outside doesn't matter. Then teaching other people is possible. So Han Ong's friends and all his students learned from him. Only one word: "What is sadness? What is happiness?" This means your mind moving is no good. If you make happiness, if you make sadness, that's no good. Don't make anything; don't attach to anything; don't hold anything. Then you are complete. This was his teaching.
After Bankei had passed away, a blind man who lived near the master's temple told a friend:
"Since I am blind, I cannot watch a person's face, so I must judge his character by the sound of his voice. Ordinarily when I hear someone congratulate another upon his happiness or success, I also hear a secret tone of envy. When condolence is expressed for the misfortune of another, I hear pleasure and satisfaction, as if the one condoling was really glad there was something left to gain in his own world.
"In all my experience, however, Bankei's voice was always sincere. Whenever he expressed happiness, I heard nothing but happiness, and whenever he expressed sorrow, sorrow was all I heard."
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
Seeking enlightenment, the student approached the Master;
"Master, Where is the Buddha?" enquired the student.
"In the Hall" replied the Master.
"But the one in the hall is a statue, a piece of Wood!" exclaimed the Student.
"That is so." answered the Master.
"Then where is the Buddha?" asked the student again.
"In the Hall" repeated the the Master
Whereupon the student was enlightened.
by Camden Benares, The Count of Five
Headmaster, Camp Meeker Cabal
A serious young man found the conflicts of mid 20th Century America confusing. He went to many people seeking a way of resolving within himself the discords that troubled him, but he remained troubled.
One night in a coffee house, a self-ordained Zen Master said to him, "go to the dilapidated mansion you will find at this address which I have written down for you. Do not speak to those who live there; you must remain silent until the moon rises tomorrow night. Go to the large room on the right of the main hallway, sit in the lotus position on top of the rubble in the northeast corner, face the corner, and meditate."
He did just as the Zen Master instructed. His meditation was frequently interrupted by worries. He worried whether or not the rest of the plumbing fixtures would fall from the second floor bathroom to join the pipes and other trash he was sitting on. He worried how would he know when the moon rose on the next night. He worried about what the people who walked through the room said about him.
His worrying and meditation were disturbed when, as if in a test of his faith, ordure fell from the second floor onto him. At that time two people walked into the room. The first asked the second who the man was sitting there was.
The second replied "Some say he is a holy man. Others say he is a shithead"
Fishermen
by a rocky shore,
winds blowing wildly,
in a boat unmoored--
such is our condition.
- Saigyo, 1118 - 1190
But whatever you do,
Do not hold on to the open mind;
For in doing so,
You will close it.
Abandon control;
The more you force it,
The more you remove yourself from it.
If it cannot come naturally,
Be open-minded about it and accept it;
Then the mind will open on it's own,
Without you obstructing it.
- By Anders Honore
Perceiving Mind
I asked a child, walking with a candle,
"From where comes that light?"
Instantly he blew it out.
"Tell me where it is gone --
then I will tell you where it came from."
- Hasan of Basra
We pray for our life of tomorrow,
Ephemeral life though it be;
This is the habit of our mind
That passed away yesterday.
- Ikkyu
I'd like to
Offer something
To help you;
But in the Zen School,
We don't have a single thing!
- Zen Master Ikkyu
We all sat in silence. This guy walks onto the stage and up to the microphone.
He adjusts his glasses. This is him, D. T. Suzuki, we've seen pictures of him before,
but he looks smaller. He reaches out and taps the mike. A hollow ping sounds
though the hall. He says: "Zen Buddhism, Very hard to understand. Thank you."
Then he walked off the stage.
"I support the destruction of the Think-Tank." - Avatar, August 2008
, so here's a couple from Joshu. (778-897??)
