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TEXT: Rinzai’s Attention to the Smallest Detail

‘Followers of the Way, as the Zen school sees it life and death are under a certain order. In interviews the student should consider the smallest details. When host and guest appear, there is an exchange of discourse.

Sometimes form is shown as corresponds to things. Sometimes the whole body (essence ) is borught into function. Sometimes the full power of solemn authority is exercised to evoke awe. Sometimes half the body (essence ) is revealed. Sometimes the lion is mounted, sometimes the elephant (respectively Manjustri’s and Samantabhadra’s mounts, wisdom and compassion).

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai - Tr. from the Chinese by Irmgard Schloegl)

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In this podcast:

How the living pay respects to the dead and the dead hold the wisdom and traditions of the people which help the people face day to day problems. The Zen master becomes the obstacle in the life of his students. It is the arising of such challenges that allow opportunities for transformation of heart and ripening of insight. Master Rinzai goes on to give examples of how a teacher might use circumstances to wake students out of their slumber.

How do the bodhisattvas reconcile the saying that ‘samsara is nirvana’ when there is also suffering in the world. If nirvana is peace then how can that peace include suffering?

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Samsara is Nirvana, Nirvana is Samsara.
The problem of evil
Doctrinally, the view from emptiness - ocean and wave - Tozan’s 30 blows
Projection of values - liking & disliking
Definition of Dukkha
Confucius - three men walk past an event
Inner strength - in practice
Fear = I

Martin gives a commentary on the following passage from The Zen Teachings of Rinzai tr. Irmgard Schloegl.

'Venerable Ones, do not delay and spend your days idly. In former days wen I could not yet see clearly, all the world seemed dark to me. I could not get beyond light and shade. I ran around with fever in my belly and with my heart in a flurry, asking about the Way. Later I gained strength and now I am here, preaching deliverance to you, followers of the Way. My advice is not to come here for just your food and clothes. Life in the world passes quickly, and it is difficult to meet good teachers; the Udambara plant only flowers once in a while.'

This is an extract from The Zen Way by Irmgard Schloegl who spent 12 years training in Zen Buddhism at Daitokuji. In this extract Martin Goodson reads an extract from the book detailing the daily routine of the monks plus the ordeal of entrance begging undergone by all monks to gain entry to the monastery.

In this talk Master Rinzai explains that he sorts the students who come to him into three sorts. This introduces us to the notion that is there in early Buddhism that the path is made up of stages. The Arhat path has five stages that go from the earliest stirrings of interest to Arhatship and the attainment of Nirvana. The Mahayana Path has the ‘One Way’ as explained in the Lotus Sutra that sees the earlier Arhat Path as the stage prior to the Bodhisattva Path to Full And Perfect Enlightenment.

In Zen too, the masters made distinctions in what is called ‘root ability’. What is required is for us to devote the training to fulfilling that potential that is already there. It does not matter if two people learning to play the piano one goes on to a career as a great concert pianist whilst the other becomes a music teacher in a school. In the Dharma, Rinzai explains, the Dharma is ‘equal and even’ in all things. In the above case both the concert pianist and the music teacher have fulfilled their path in the Dharma and will live fulfilling lives. So it is in the Zen Training. Hence the Zen Poem:

In the landscape of Spring,

There is neither better nor worse.

The flowering branches grow

Both long and short.

In this talk we hear the story of a young man who, becomes disillusioned with life and turns to a Zen Master for help.

The master then challenges him to a game in which if the young man loses he will also lose his head. In the process he discovers the inner strength of his own Buddha-Heart.

This story in many ways is similar to the story of the Buddha who as a young prince also became deeply disillusioned with the world and set out to find an answer.

This state of disillusionment, is a state of dukkha (suffering), and it becomes the spur to follow the spiritual life, but it is fraught because it can also become an angry rejection of the world.

This talk unpacks this story and explores the conditions, born out of necessity, for awakening.

The first week of December in the Zen tradition commemorates the Buddha’s Enlightenment. This story provides a backdrop to this memorial and points to the truth that the Buddha’s story is our own story as we embark along the Zen Way.

In this talk, which coincides with Halloween, a young man on his wedding day finds himself standing in front of Yama, Lord and Judge of the Dead.

The man bitterly complains having been taken away before his time and Yama in an unusual gesture of compassion agrees to send him back and also offers to send the young man three messengers so that he will be reminded that is time will come. What happens when the now older man finds himself once more before Yama teaches us that facing the truth of our own impermanent nature is so easily forgotten. Not because we are not surrounded by Yama’s messengers but because something inside us does not want to acknowledge this central truth of the Buddha’s own message.

The story is taken from a collection of training stories called ‘Look and See’ by Ven. Myokyo-ni.

Jamie Shavdia (www.jamieshavdia.co.uk) and Martin Goodson discuss the hugely popular book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

In this podcast, they discuss where this book sits in the development of contemporary spirituality and psychotherapeutic treatments which introduce the present moment as a psychological medicine for many of our modern complaints.

Eckhart Tolle had what he described as an ‘enlightenment experience’ spontaneously, following bouts of deep depression and suicidal ideation. Jamie and Martin discuss the fact that there are some people who, without any prior spiritual training, do have such genuine revelations and transformations of consciousness. In this wide-ranging discussion, Jamie and Martin investigate Tolle’s concepts of ‘Now’ and ‘Time’ as well as ‘the pain body’ and how anyone can enter into this transformative state of ‘Now’.

‘Followers of the Way, if you want to become Buddha, do not follow the ten thousand things. When the heart arises the ten thousand things arise too. When the heart is stilled, the manifold things cease. And when the heart does not rise, the ten thousand things are without blame. In the world and beyond the world, neither Buddha nor Dharma manifest themselves nor do they disappear. Though things exist they are only as names and words, sentences and catch phrases to attract little children; or expedient remedies for treating diseases, superficially revealed as names and phrases.’

The Zen Teaching of Rinzai tr. Imaged Scholegl

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In this podcast:

• How the heart and ‘things’ arise in a co-dependent way.

• The heart as the seat of consciousness the one which knows.

• How the teachings themselves are skilful means and not to be grasped, not even Buddha!

In this podcast: What are the characteristics of delusion and delusive seeing? What is the connection between suffering and delusion? How truth can become toxic. Karma and habitual thinking and seeing. --------- A man who has left home should know how to see clearly and calmly, should know Buddha from Mara, the true from the false, the worldly from the sacred. If he has got this knowledge, he can truly be called a leaver of home. If he does not know Buddha from Mara, then in effect he leaves one home only to enter another, and is what is called a karma-producing living being. He cannot yet be called a true leaver of home. For if Buddha and Mara happen to appear in one form, he could not differentiate them. Yet, as the gander king knows how to drink only the milk from the mixture of milk and water, so does the clear eye, (know how to differentiate). Followers of the Way, just beat up both Buddha and Mara. For if you love the sacred and hate the worldly, you go on floating and sinking in the ocean of birth and death. The Zen Teaching of Rinzai tr. Irmgard Schloegl

Q) Will all the problems go away when I stop thinking about them?

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In this podcast:

• The context for this question - mental health crisis over climate change etc.

• The disciple who reads the Vedas three times (introvert approach)

• Problem solving and the difference between the extrovert and the introvert approach

• God, grant me the serenity to accept the things

• I cannot change,

• The courage to change the things I can,

• And the wisdom to know the difference. (The Serenity Prayer Reinhold Niebuhr)

• Sitting with the dying and emptiness of the heart.

Followers of the Way, the Dharma of the heart has no form and pervades the Ten Directions. In the eye, it is called seeing; in the ear, hearing; in the nose, smelling; in the mouth, talking; in the hands, grasping; in the feet, walking.

Fundamentally, it is one light; differentiated , it becomes the six senses. When one’s whole heart comes to a full stop, one is delivered where one stands. Why do I speak thus? It is only because I see you, followers of the Way. All running about with an agitated heart, quite unable to stop, fretting yourselves over the playing’s of the old masters.

(The Zen Teachings of Rinzai tr. Irmgard Schloegl. Pub. Shambhala 1976)

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“Venerable Ones, get to know the one who plays with these configurations. He is the original source of all the Buddhas. Knowing him, wherever you are is home.

Your physical body, formed by the four elements, cannot understand the Dharma you are listening to; nor can your spleen, stomach, liver or gall; nor can the empty space. Who then can understand the Dharma and can listen to it? The one here before your very eyes, brilliantly clear and shining without any form - there he is who can understand the Dharma you are listening to. If you can really grasp this, you are not different from the Buddhas and patriarchs. Ceaselessly he is right here, conspicuously present.

But when passions arise, wisdom is disrupted; and the body separates from the changing pictures. This the cause of transmigration in the Three Worlds with its concomitant suffering. But as I see it; there is nothing that is not profound, nothing that is not deliverance.”

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai tr. Irmgard Schoegl pub. Shambhala 1975)

In this podcast:

The Grimm’s fairy tale of Lucky Hans
Why is our heart so restless - an experiment
The Buddha’s diagnosis of this restlessness
The estrangement of the Heart as cause - what the Buddha said on his awakening
The false self and the True Nature of the Heart.

One day, while wondering in the mountains, Shi Tou said to Shishi,

"‘just lop off that branch of the tree in front of me - its hindering me”

"I didn’ t bring a knife”,’replied Shishi.’ Shi Tou pulled out a knife and gave it Shishi.

"Why not let this come to me?’"said Shishi.

"What would you use it for?’"asked Shi Tou.

Then Shi Tou had a great awakening.

Q) Will you say something about the different types of bells and signals used in Zen?

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In this podcast:

• The use of clappers and inken in Zazen

• The use of the gong for the turning over of merit for the benefit of all beings

• Using the myokugyo or wooden fish for chanting along with the inken

• The temple bell

• The wake-up bell or drum/clap board

• Some symbolism surrounding the use of bells and their connection with banishing evil spirits (108 passions on NYE).

• The bells of sunken towns

In this podcast we look at how the Chan/Zen school arose in response to the complicated philosophy that had developed around Mahayana Buddhism that threatened to draw people away from the experience of ones own insight.

However there is a place for the teachings in Zen, as this discourse makes clear all skilful means are used to bring students to Awakening. The talk also looks at how the influence of Taoism impacted on the development of Chan/Zen to the Chinese mind.

This podcast is copyright to The Zen Gateway

Followers of the Way, do not take the Buddha for the supreme aim. I myself see him as a privy hole, and the Bodhisattvas and Arhats as beings who bind men with cangue and chains. This is why Manjushri grasped the sword to kill Gautama, and Anguilimalya took the knife to assassinate Shaka.

Followers of the Way, Buddha is not to be attained. The Three Vehicles and the Five Natures, as well as the Complete and Sudden Teachings are only traces. All are but expedient means temporary remedies for curing diseases. There is no real Dharma; it is all but surface manifestations, like printed letters on a sign board to indicate the Way. This is my teaching.

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai; tr. Irmgard Schloegl pub. Shambhala Berkeley)

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In this podcast:

• Understanding Rinzai’s disparagements of Zen in context.

• The teachings of non-attachment and the Middle Way

• The sword of Manjushri breaks the bonds of attachment & how this is used in Zen training

• Warnings about attachments to any views even the teachings

Q) What is ‘Heart-to-Heart Transmission’?

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In this podcast:

• Bodhidhdarma’s Four Line Verse

• The Buddha transmits the lineage to Mahakasyapa

• Rinzai’s ‘Not much to Obaku’s teaching’.

• How poetry works

• Transmitting the lineage

Venerable ones, I cannot these days cease from using a lot of words, and come out preaching many inept things. But do not let yourselves be deceived! As I see it, there are not really so many principles. If you want to act, just act; and if you do not want to act, then rest. It is said that the Six Paramitas and the ten-thousand practices are the Buddha-Dharma. I say they are both methods for spiritual adornment and for carrying on the Buddha’s work; they are not the Buddha Dharma.

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai tr. Irmgard Schloegl)

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In this podcast:

• The relationship between teachings and insight

• Bodhidharma’s famous verse as a summation of the Zen approach is also a middle way.

• Being our ordinary selves is not always easy

• The Six Paramitas as a foundation for Mahayana Practice

• The Parable of the raft is the prescribed medicine when it comes to this relationship between teachings, practice and insight.

“The Great Way is not difficult,

It merely avoids picking and choosing.”

On Faith in the Heart by Master Sosan, tr. Myokyo-ni

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In this talk:

• Sosan is 3rd Patriarch receiving the Transmission from Eka.

• What is The Great Way and why is it important?

• What is picking and choosing?

• Why does picking and choosing make following The Great Way difficult?

Q) As a complete beginner to Zen, can you give me some tips for starting a Zen practice?

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In this podcast:

• The three pillars of daily life practice, meditation practice & wisdom practice.

• The root practice of giving myself wholeheartedly into whatever is just now being done, supported by ethical and cultural form practice.

• Cultivating a meditation practice daily

• Study of the Buddha’s teachings - finding a middle way between study and practice - the 3-fold wisdom.

One monk asked: “What is the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West?

The master said: “Had he had a purpose, he could not even have liberated himself.”

The monk asked: “If he had no purpose, how could the Second Patriarch attain the Dharma?”

The master said: “To attain is not to attain.” The monk asked: “If it is not to attain, then what is the meaning of not to attain?” The master said: “It is because you are running about seeking everywhere and cannot put your heart at rest that the patriarchs say ‘My, the fellow with his head on his shoulders is looking for his head!’ When on hearing this you turn your own light in upon yourself, and do not seek for anything special, you will know that in your body and heart you do not differ from the patriarchs and Buddhas. All at once you will have nothing further to seek. That is what is called attaining the Dharma.

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In this podcast:

A brief description of the life and role of First Patriarch Bodhidharma
The difference between purpose and meaning
Acting not as ‘I’ want but responding to the needs of the situation.
The Buddha nature is inherent; there is not need to look outside

Master Yoka cautions: ‘Getting rid of things and clinging to emptiness are the same illness. It is like throwing oneself into fire to avoid being drowned.’

(The Wisdom of the Zen Masters by Imrgard Schloegl)

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In this podcast:

The Buddha’s first teaching of the middle way.
The problem of the five ascetics
What happens when ‘I’ give up smoking?
Some advice on ‘giving up’ - don’t (TL advice to a smoker)
Giving myself into Zen practice; the practice brings about the transformation

National Teacher Daito (1283-1338) founded the monastery of Daitokuji in Kyoto and Rinzai Zen Training monastery.

Before his death he gave his admonition to his monk which gives the essence of his teaching and points to just that which is most important for the training of his monks.

The full text can be found here.

This Dharma talk includes:

The importance of both physical as well as spiritual wellbeing.
How form and discipline encourages us to practice letting-go and going with the flow.
How the outer circumstances, even in the training sodo is not the most important issue. What is important can be done anywhere.
The importance of the transmission of the teachings & practice.

Followers of the Way, when I say that there is no Dharma outside, the students do not understand and deduce it is necessary to search within themselves. Then they sit, leaning against a wall, tongue pressed to the upper palate, and remain so motionless. That they take for the patriarch’s gate of the Buddha-Dharma. What a great error!

(The Zen Teaching of Rinzai; tr. Irmgard Schloegl, pub. Shambhala 1975)

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In this podcast:

What is Dharma?
Mumon’s treasures of the house v. Hogan’s ‘Is that stone inside or outside?
Master Mumon’s looking for fire with fire…
Wisdom arises out of the samadhi of the situation

“As I see it, there is nothing complicated. Just be your ordinary selves in an ordinary life, wear your robes and eat your food and having nothing further to seek, peacefully pass your time. From everywhere you have come here; all of you eagerly seek the Buddha, the Dharma and deliverance; you seek escape from the Three Worlds. You foolish people, if you want to get out of the Three Worlds, where then can you go?”

The Zen Teaching of Rinzai tr. by Irmgard Schloegl

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In this podcast:

Some background on Rinzai and early Chan in the context of Chinese Buddhist development.
Why do ‘I’ want to be famous?
The cult of ‘more and more’, the disease of ‘I’.
What are the Three Worlds and what is their significance?
A wholehearted life v. escaping boredom.

The God of Buddhism is the god of wisdom. In Buddhism, the Buddha means one who knows, the knower. One who knows one’s own wisdom is Buddha.

Our eyes, which have the faculty of seeing; our ears, which have the faculty of hearing; our other senses - smell, taste, touch - are all manifestations of the power of knowing. So our sense organs are the eyes of Buddha. Every one of us is Buddha. However, Mr. So-and-so is not Buddha, but our ‘persons’ are Buddha.

… The Buddhist believes in a pantheistic god. This personal, pantheistic god is god-nature in me, in you, in all sentient beings - in everything… There is no such word in the Orient as ‘individual’! The Buddhist believes that souls are not created by God, one by one, but that each is a drop of water in the ocean of soul. The ocean of soul is existence; it is Being existing from the beginningless beginning to the endless end. So there is no creation of the universe and no destruction of the universe. Each wave of the ocean has its own character, its own shape, its own power, and its own velocity, yet all waves are nothing but the body of water that is the sea. Each individual has his or her own keynote and characteristics, yet all individuals are nothing but waves in the ocean of soul.

The Zen Eye: A collection of Zen talks by Sokei-an; ed. Mary Farkas pub. Weatherhill 1993

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In this talk:

The etymology of consciousness. Is consciousness possible without ‘I’?
Sense consciousness & awareness. To whom does consciousness really belong?
Immanence and transcendence - What is the difference between monotheism, polytheism and pantheism?
Emptiness and dependent origination, the awareness of being in relationship with everything and the principle of reciprocity.

The unborn Buddha-mind deals freely and spontaneously with anything that presents itself to it. But if something should happen to make you change the Buddha-mind into thought, then you run into trouble and lose that freedom. Let me give you an example. Suppose a woman is engaged in sewing something. A friend enters the room and begins speaking to her. As long as she listens to her friend and sews in the Unborn, she has no trouble doing both. But if she gives her attention to her friend's words and a thought arises in her mind as she thinks about what to reply, her hands stop sewing; if she turns her attention to her sewing and thinks about that, she fails to catch everything her friend is saying, and the conversation does not proceed smoothly. In either case, her Buddha-mind has slipped from the place of the Unborn. She has transformed it into thought. As her thoughts fix upon one thing, they're blank to all others, depriving her mind of its freedom.

(The Unborn: The Life & Teachings of Zen Master Bankei 1622-1693 tr. Norman Waddell)

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In this podcast:

Bankei’s awakening
Legacy - spontaneous v. written legacy and Bankei’s admonition against writing his words down.
[Udana 8.3] : “There is, practitioners, an unborn, unproduced, unmade, and unconditioned. If there were no unborn, unproduced, unmade, and unconditioned, then you would find no escape here from the born, produced, made, and conditioned. But since there is an unborn, unproduced, unmade, and unconditioned, an escape is found from the born, produced, made, and conditioned.”
Myokyo-ni’s ‘Quiet spaciousness” in Zazen and then in Kinhin and then in daily life a return to.
Picture no. 7: Stay not where the Buddha is; hurry by where he is not’ - ‘Cultivate the heart that doesn’t settle anywhere’.

In this podcast:

The language of religion and how different schools of Buddhism teach.
The importance of the lineage (Master Sesso)
The Heart-Buddha is the source of the teachings which only appear to come from outside.
The story of Rinzai’s own awakening
Avoiding the stink of Zen; Joshu’s ‘Mu & Uu’.

As we enter the holiday period, I recall that you talked about setting aside the Zen practice for a while. Why is that a useful thing to do? What happens if I find it difficult to re-start the practice after the holiday is over?

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In this podcast:

The value of taking a break from the timetable and regular practice - 2 types of student
Using common sense
Why things become ‘chores’ and why the practice becomes a duty rather than a support.
Returning to the practice after the holiday period.
‘I’ don’t want to… finding inspiration again
The Three Refuges - Reading some Dharma; joining a group
A hearty admonition to oneself
Clean the shrine
Acts of cultivation

Here in a quiet and dusty room they lie, Faded as crumbled stone or shifting sand,

Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry -

Meadows and gardens running through my hand.

In this brown husk a dale of hawthorn dreams,

A cedar in this narrow cell is thrust;

It will drink deeply of a century’s streams,

These lilies shall make summer on my dust.

Here in their safe and simple house of death,

Sealed in their shells a million roses leap,

Here I can blow a garden with my breath,

And in my hand a forest lies asleep.

(Muriel Stuart)

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In this podcast:

Zen & poetry: How it appears in the training.
The Buddha uses an agricultural analogy with farmers to explain how things arise.
Creating causes and conditions (Make the things you want easy, the things you don’t want difficult).
Right Intention, the making of a vow
Creating conditions for practice: a timetable & ritual practice, a meditation space, regular exposure to the Dharma, good friends in the Dharma etc.
How to perfurme consciousness - How we read the writings of the Zen canon.

Q) I’ve heard you say that in daily life practice we should give ourselves wholeheartedly into what we are doing. How do I know when something is being done wholeheartedly?

…………….. In this talk:

The problem of teaching someone how to ride a bike.
The three ways ‘I’ give myself wholeheartedly in everyday life already
The quality of flow in wholeheartedly being given into what is being done.
Use the body

Exercise: The disliked chore

In this Podcast we discuss the effect that culture has on our development and the difference between loneliness and being alone.

This month:

You have mentioned the - wisdom of the body - several times. However, the body is also the place where we commonly think of our instincts and impulses. How do we differentiate between this wisdom and impulsiveness?

…

In this podcast:

A short history of differing conceptions of ‘body’ and ‘nature’ East & West
The problem of evil as assisting everything to its ‘right’ place.
The human state on The Wheel of Life. The aspiration to full humanity. Why only humans have ethical codes?
The Arhat path, the Bull herding pictures 1 - 7 - the transformational path.
The story of the royal couple unnerved by the realisation of their own selfishness.
The passions are the Buddha Nature… the Bull also wants to come together with the herdsman.

Master Dogen said: ‘The flower petals fall though we love them, the weeds grow though we hate them - that is just how it is.’ (Wisdom of the Zen Masters by Irmgard Schloegl)

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In this podcast:

The difference in meaning between the Buddha’s liberation and political liberation & freedom.
The link between picking & choosing and attachment to self and between self & fear
How attachment to self is attachment to restriction of movement and to life.
The paradox of the practice of restraint leading to freedom from the restriction of self.

Why do we place a count on the out breath in Zazen meditation practice?

In this podcast:

Meditation on the breath - Four Foundations sutta
The focus of attention is where the heart energy goes - Tibetan spider story
Mind - body split and healing the rupture with samadhi
breath to out breath - to count on the out-breath aligns body and mind together

How the practice of bowing is at the heart of spiritual practices.
Setting the mood for practice - The Great ‘Yes’ - Acceptance practice
Cultivating reverence - looking up rather than dragging down.
Sincerity in bowing - before the shrine, before a meal (an expression of gratitude & dependency)
The bow as an expression of love

In this podcast:

The illusion of ‘I’ being in control.
Some neurological insights into how ‘I’ appear to be in charge.
Conscious control and unconscious management
Reflective consciousness and the appearance of ‘myself’.
No-I is not a ‘state’ of consciousness but the true nature of consciousness.
The sun behind clouds and the giving of myself away into… the forgetting of ‘I

In this podcast:

The difference between ‘knowing in the head’ and ‘knowing in the body’.
Knowing by doing - learning through embodied action and how it works in practice.
How faith is key to exploring the ‘miraculous’.
This wisdom of the body aligns with the wisdom of the universe.
How ‘my’ notions get in the way of this ‘ordinary’ functioning.

In this podcast:

‘giving myself’ = samadhi. A phrase used by Master Daiyu as a counter to ‘mind/mindfulness’ Rhys Davids translation early 20th century.
Phrase emphasises embodiment rather than mind-led activity. citta = heart; Five Skandas are field of consciousness and rupa = body and senses used as counterpoint to the thinking centre of the samskaras - helps to kick the habit of heart residing in thoughts.
The 3 situations where ‘I’ naturally give myself away into the ‘doing’
Use of forms to facilitate ease of giving myself into… athletes and classical musicians
Phrases such as ‘at home in the body’ suggests a natural resting in the physical form. The Buddha talked of the ‘four positions of sitting, standing, walking and lying down’.

“In America, when we meet a friend, we shake hands; the strength is in the arm. When you walk on the street, you should put strength in the abdomen and walk straight. Some people give the impression of being intoxicated, their walk is so weak. A gentleman or lady must cultivate dignity. Therefore, you must practice the shape of meditation whenever you have time. People who cannot keep this shape are very undignified. They come to a house as a guest and very soon are leaning back with their feet up on a chair. Such slouching is undignified. Naturally there are formal, semiformal, and informal attitudes; but even the so-called informal has a kind of formality.”

from The Shape of Meditation by Sokei-an

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In this podcast:

inka literally means a stamp or seal that authenticates and gives permission to teach in the Zen tradition.
As with most things that develop over time, it has been given several meanings. Mainly it is used to either authenticate deep realisation or to covey dharma transmission from master to pupil. One who has been given inka may be referred to as Zen master.
inka as dharma transmission was developed in China to give confidence in the dharma being taught at a particular monastery. It received its authority by being part of a lineage that traced itself back to the Buddha.
inka was also seen as a fulfillment of the Four Great Bodhisattva Vows. - See Torei/Daibi quote.
Requiting the debt of gratitude to the buddhas and patriarchs.

“Master Sessan said: ‘In our daily life we should remember three things: joining the palms as in prayer; bowing as in worship; and charity. Joining the palms is the best practice for bringing the body and mind into a state of unity; the bow means honour and respect for others; charity is the basis for peace in society. If we practise them, it is certain that we shall in turn receive.’”

(The Wisdom of the Zen Masters by Irmgard Schlogel, pub. New Directions 1975)

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In this podcast:

The aim of a mindful awareness practice is to bring us into ‘right relation’ with ourselves and the world.
Some early mistakes we can make in our assumptions about the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of Zen practice.
How bringing the mind and body into alignment develops inner strength.

“In working with the fires you say that this process burns away the sense of self. Can you unpack this comment a bit more. Also where does this practice come from? Would you also just go through the process of ‘how to’ work with the fires please?”

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In this podcast:

The Satipatthana sutta as the basis for this practice, in particular the 3rd Foundation of Mindful Awareness.
Master Daiyu Myokyo taught what her own teachers taught. Sesso tells the Zen he was taught and goes back through the lineage.
Creating the bridge between East and West and Master Daiyu’s use of Jung’s psychology - in particular his use of alchemical fire symbolism.
The fires are the universal power that can erode the attachments that afflict consciousness - The Four Noble Truths link suffering and attachment.
How to… the middle way - containment, which means not acting it out and suffering through which brings release.
Starting small

In this podcast:

The three main archetypes outlined by Jung as part of his process of individuation.
Early meditation and mindfulness and the exposure to the awareness of shadow
Animus & anima - tolerating the presence of the ‘other’
The archetype of the Self - a perfect marriage

And how, monks, does a monk dwell practising mind object contemplation on mind objects? …

Herein a monk dwells practising mind object contemplation on the mind objects of the five hindrances…

Herein, monks, when sense desire is present in him the monk knows, "there is sense desire in me", or when sense desire is absent, he knows, "there is no sense desire in me…

Herein, monks, when anger is present in him the monk knows, "there is anger in me”…

Herein, monks, when sloth & torpor is present in him the monk knows, "there is sloth & torpor in me”…

Herein, monks, when agitation & worry is present in him the monk knows, "there is agitation & worry in me”…

Herein, monks, when skeptical doubt is present in him the monk knows, "there is skeptical doubt in me”…

(based on The Heart of Buddhist Meditation by Nyanaponika Thera)

Q) Sometimes I find it difficult to stay awake during zazen, particularly at the beginning of sesshins (Zen retreats). Why is this?

………………

Zen retreats as part of Zen practice.

Slowing down the pace of life turns attention inward to the psyche

Retreats sharpen up the skill of both meditation and mindfulness

Different people can experience retreats very differently

Encountering repressed material on a retreat and factors that help us to cope

Practices of restraint can leave us feeling ‘pumped’.

In this podcast:

What is ‘Mind’ and what are the Buddhist theories of Mind?
The Three Fires and how they drive the Wheel of Rebirth
How fear can distort the way we ‘see’ the world around us
How delusion causes ‘mis-direction’ of the causes of our distress
Making a pact with the devil!
Encountering the Shadow and the importance of this in spiritual development

Q) In one podcast you mention dealing with lethargy. Will you say some more about this please?

In this podcast:

Master Daie says: “If you want strength, first you must conserve it.”
The energy/power that fills and underpins all phenomena in all the worlds
How my picking and choosing turns that power against ones Right Intentions and actions
Form and timetables - colluding with the enemy (Mara) - TL and the debt collector
Vows and dedications - Jewel stealing dragon

“And how, monks, does a monk dwell practising feeling-contemplation on feelings?

When experiencing a pleasant feeling, the monk knows: ‘I experience a pleasant feeling’; when experiencing a painful feeling, he knows: ‘I experience a painful feeling’; when experiencing a neutral feeling, he knows: ‘I experience a neutral feeling.”

(Maha Satipatthana Sutta tr. Nyanaponika Mahathera)

…..

In this podcast:

The difference between feeling/vedana and emotional feelings
The two expressions of vedana/feeling in subjective experience and in objective movement orientation.
The importance of vedana in instinct and as a life-guide also in the complexity of habit-formation.
Reversing the flow of energy from established habit - the phobia treatment.
Use of restraint - what helps and what hinders the formation of required habits.

And again, monks, a monk when going, knows "I am going"; when standing, he knows "I am standing"; when sitting, he knows "I am sitting"; when lying down, he knows "I am lying down"; Or
he knows any other positions of the body. Thus he dwells practising body – contemplation on the body internally, or externally, or both internally and externally. He dwells contemplating origination factors in the body, or he dwells contemplating dissolution factors in the body, or he dwells
contemplating both origination and dissolution factors in the body. Or his mindfulness that "there is a body" is established in him to the extent necessary for knowledge and mindfulness.
Independently he dwells clinging to nothing in the world. Thus indeed, a monk dwells practising body contemplation on the body.

(Maha Satipatthana Sutta tr. Nyanaponika Mahathera)

Thus have I heard. At one time the Blessed One was living among the Kurus, at Kammasadamma, a market town of the Kuru people. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhu thus: "Monks," and they replied to him, "Venerable Sir." The Blessed One spoke as follows:
This is the only way, monks, for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nibbana, namely, the four foundations of mindfulness. What are the four?
Herein (in this teaching) a monk lives contemplating the body in the body,ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating feelings in feelings, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating consciousness in consciousness, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief; he lives contemplating mental objects in mental objects, ardent, clearly comprehending and mindful, having overcome, in this world, covetousness and grief.

Satipatthana Sutta - tr. Nyanasatta Thera (1994)

Q) Is there a parallel in Zen practice for the psychological process of integrating the archetype of the shadow?

…

In this podcast:

What is the shadow in psychology? - Jung and the archetypes -
Opening up to the unconscious?
What if meditation makes me worse?.
Seeing things as they really are - warts and all
Shadow as the portal through which all the other archetypes are known, plus repressed elements and future aspiration
Going beyond the personal - buddhas, bodhisattvas and insight-wisdom

The text used for this talk is taken from chapter 2: Dharma Preaching, of The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings which prefaces The Lotus Sutra tr. Gene Reeves pub. Wisdom 2008

…

In this podcast:

Time as a component of practice and spiritual development
Introduction to the role of skilful means in the bodhisattva training
The danger of taking Buddhist doctrines outside of the context of Wisdom & Compassion
The foundational nature of ‘emptiness’ in Mahayana understanding
How attachment to appearances leads to confusion and suffering

How do the bodhisattvas reconcile the saying that ‘samsara is nirvana’ when there is also suffering in the world. If nirvana is peace then how can that peace include suffering?

…..

In this podcast:

Samsara is nirvana; coinciding not ‘going’, the Mahayana innovation
The bodhisattvas in the six realms
The nature of the passions - emotionality and nirvana. Being in the world not of the world
Bowing into the fire of opinion, moving the body to create space around the ruminations

Welcome to The Zen Gateway Interview: This time we interview Meido Moore, Abbott of Korinji, a training temple based in rural Wisconsin.

We recently reviewed his latest book Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realization, a practical manual on energetic development in the Hakuin lineage of Rinzai Zen. Along the way we take in martial arts, the history of energetic practices, Koan training and differing models of mind, body, energy and spirit.

Due to a snowstorm at Korinji during this recording there is some sound dropout. Hopefully this will not impair your enjoyment of the discussion.

This is a recording of a public talk given to the Kettering Buddhist Group during Rohatsu Week - the commemoration of the Buddha's Enlightenment.

This talk centres on the three temptations of Māra, the Lord of Samsara who was the final obstacle the Great Bodhisattva who sat under the Bodhi Tree had to face prior to his Enlightenment.

The character of Māra is important in both early and developed Buddhism. In the Mahayana sutras he is converted to Buddhism but does not lose his character rather becomes a part of Buddhist cosmology and thus has two roles. One is as tempter the other to test those who seek to enter Nirvana to see if they are ready.

This talk uses this platform to explore the nature of emotion and attachment in Buddhist practice.

This time:

I am finding it harder to get myself to sit meditation and I don’t know why?

In this talk we look at the sort of reasons why some people find it difficult to meditate? We can end up fighting with ourselves to get onto the meditation seat, which is in the end counterproductive. Instead we can take the opportunity to gain insight into our own hearts and minds - which is the purpose of meditation in the first place.

Subhuti, what do you think? May the Tathagata be perceived by the thirty-two marks [of a great man]?

Subhuti answered: Yes, certainly the Tathagata may be perceived thereby.

Then Buddha said: Subhuti, if the Tathagata may be perceived by such marks any great imperial ruler is the same as the Tathagata.

Subhuti then said to Buddha: World-honoured One, as I understand the meaning of Buddha’s words the Tathagata may not be perceived by the thirty-two marks.

Whereupon the World-honoured One uttered this verse:

Who looks for me in form

Who searches for me in sound

His footsteps go astray

He cannot find the Tathagata.

(Text based on: The Diamond Sutra tr. AF Price & Wong Mou-Lam)

………………….

In this podcast:

The role of the 32 marks in early Buddhism and later Mahayana
Representations of Buddha and changing conceptions of who/what Buddha is?
The function of Buddhist art and images in Buddhist practice
Contemplation and meditation and embodied realisation
Discussion around using images for practice without attachment and idolotry.

Sam van Schaik is an English Tibetologist. He obtained a PhD in Tibetan Buddhist literature at the University of Manchester in 2000, with a dissertation on the translations of Dzogchen texts by Jigme Lingpa. Since 1999 he has worked at the British Library in London, and is currently a project manager for the International Dunhuang Project, specialising in the study of Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang. He has also taught occasional courses at SOAS, University of London.

In this podcast we discuss his new book Buddhist Magic a translation of spells from a Tibetan monk-magician of 10th century whose manuscript was part of the collection at Dunhuang.

Now in the midst of the assembly was the Venerable Subhuti. Forthwith he arose, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt upon his right knee, and, respectfully raising his hands with palms joined, addressed Buddha thus: World-Honored One, if good men and good women seek… [Complete and Perfect Enlightenment], …by what criteria should they abide and how should they control their thoughts?

… Buddha said: Subhuti, all the Bodhisattva-Heroes should discipline their thoughts as follows: All living creatures of whatever class, born from eggs, from wombs, from moisture, or by transformation whether with form or without form, whether in a state of thinking or exempt from thought-necessity, or wholly beyond all thought realms all these are caused by Me to attain Unbounded Liberation Nirvana. Yet when vast, uncountable, immeasurable numbers of beings have thus been liberated, verily no being has been liberated. Why is this, Subhuti? It is because no Bodhisattva who is a real Bodhisattva cherishes the idea of an ego-entity, a personality, a being, or a separated individuality.

(The Diamond Sutra - tr. by A.F.Price and Wong Mou-Lam)

…

In this podcast:

The Diamond Sutra in its historical context
Who is Subhuti?
An explanation of the four modes of birth and its relationship to dependent origination; its links to No-Self and Emptiness
Investigating consciousness beyond the notion of ‘myself’.
Nesting selves and extended being
Corporeal and incorporeal beings as interacting and interpenetrating.
What this means in practice.

…………………………………..

Q) If the philosophical underpinnings of Chan (emptiness & oneness and so forth) came out of the Huayen school, were these Buddhists in close contact with Chan Buddhists? Did Chan Buddhism come to these similar ideas by coincidence, or is it possible that Chan itself emerged out of the the Huayan school?

In this podcast:

The development of Chinese Buddhism.
Emptiness sunyata and oneness samadhi from Indian Buddhism
The inter-relationship of Chan/Huayen
Dependent origination and Indra’s net a Chinese rendition of relationship
Fa-tsang (3rd patriarch of Huayen), the rafter and the house, sameness and difference
Five ranks of koans
Book recommendations.

If I didn’t obey my hunger I would starve. Animals obey their instincts in order to survive. Why did the Buddha link desire to unhappiness and dissatisfaction?

This, O Monks, is the Truth of the Arising of Suffering. It is this thirst or craving (tṛṣṇā) which gives rise to rebirth.which is bound up with passionate delight and which seeks fresh pleasure now here and now there in the form of thirst for sensual pleasure, thirst for existence, and thirst for non-existence. (First Sermon of Buddha)

In this talk the term 'tṛṣṇā" is investigated and we see how the compulsive nature of blind thirst narrows our perspective and outlook on life and can trap us into harmful ways of thinking and being.

How is 'desire' different from the aspiration for Nirvana or Buddha-hood? Why do the Zen masters say that desire-based intention 'misses the target'?

These questions are covered in this talk

Tim Barlow is an actor of stage, film and TV. He has worked in Hollywood and the UK from 'Hot Fuzz' to Dr Who. He is also a Zen Buddhist practitioner. In this interview he discusses the spiritual side of life and lessons that he has learned over the years in this frank and wide-ranging discussion.

Q) I have read that Buddha was a man not a deity and yet some of the stories from the scriptures make him sound god-like. Who or what is he?
………………….

In this podcast:

The Buddha is asked about himself… who is he?
The development of the notion of Buddha from man to transcendent figure
Buddha, buddhas and bodhisattvas
What is a dhyani Buddha
Development of the notion of Buddha nature

In this podcast:

Aeons, kalpas and the re-making of Genesis
Myth, memory and history: The contrast between the literal and metaphor, perfuming the present
Impermanence, karma and The Wheel of Life
Re-making the future

1.

Bare-chested and bare-footed he enters the market,

Face streaked with dust and head covered with ashes,

But a mighty laugh spreads from cheek to cheek.

Without troubling himself to work miracles, suddenly dead trees break into bloom.

2.

In friendly fashion this fellow comes from a foreign race,

with features like those of a horse, or again like a donkey.

But on shaking his iron staff, all of a sudden

All gates and doors fly wide open for him.

3.

From out of his sleeve the iron rod jumps right into the face.

Genially and full of laughter,

He may talk Mongolian, or speak i Chinese.

Wide open the palace gates to him who, meeting himself, yet remains unknown to himself.

(The Bull and his Herdsman by Zen Master D.R. Otsu, pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

………………………………

In this podcast:

The Great Bodhisattva returns home having completed his journey and brings with him great gifts.
The gift of fearlessness as the source of liberation.
The Bodhisattva is motivated by wu-wei the secret of non-intentional activity.
In alignment with the Dharma helping hand now appear.

This month:

You have mentioned the ‘alaya’ which you call ‘store’ consciousness a few times in your talks. What is this exactly?

………………………………

In this podcast:

The definitions of the terms ‘alaya’ and ‘vijñana
The problem of the seeds - bijas
The genesis of the Yogacara school: Asanga and Maitreya in the Tushita heaven
From 18 Dhatus to 8 Consciousnesses via the dharma samtana - stream of conscious elements
The feedback loop: seeds > ripening fruit > karmic action > seeds: Pratityasamutpada
Theories of alaya vijñana - from several to one - Vasubandhu to Huayen
Theory of Mind: Buddhism v. Cartesian Dualism
Gambira Dharma: mantras, koans, how the seed mix draws necessary conditions
Satori stories: inner and outer alignment for awakening

1.

Returned to the origin, back at the source, all is completed.

Nothing is better than suddenly being as blind and deaf.

Inside his hermitage he does not look out.

Boundless, the river runs as it runs. Red bloom the flowers just as they bloom.

2.

The great activity does not pander to being or not being.

And so, to see and to hear he need not be as one deaf and blind.

Last night the golden bird flew down into the sea,

Yet today as of old, the red ring of dawn flares up in the sky.

3.

Done is what had to be done, and all ways are completed.

Clearest awakening does not differ from being blind and deaf.

The way he once came has ended under his straw sandals.

No bird sings. Red flowers glow in crimson splendour.

(The Bull and his Herdsman: The Ten Traditional Pictures by D.R. Otsu, pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

…………………………..

In this podcast:

Why the Buddha equated Wisdom with the end of desire.
How awakening changes everything and yet all is the same.
The importance of the return to the world.
Not being caught by sacred and mundane and yet being able to clearly differentiate ‘Buddha & Mara’.

This month’s question:

I’ve heard you use the phrase ‘daily life practice’ in some of the talks. Is this different from mindfulness practice?

….

In this podcast:

The meaning of a word is in how it is used.
The basis of Buddhist practice, the three pillars and the Satipatthana sutta.
Differences between the schools of Buddhism
Principles and styles
Translations into English and the adoption of mind/mindfulness

Why ‘daily life practice’ and its relationship to zazen.

Roberta Mansell is a Buddhist artist whose magnum opus has been to illuminate the Lotus Sutra. The Zen Gateway has been privileged to feature her work. In this interview she talks to us about life, art and her spiritual journey.

1.

Whip and rein, bull and man, are all gone and vanished.

No words can encompass the blue vault of the sky.

How could snow pile up on read-hot hearth?

Only when arrived at this place can a man match the old masters.

2.

Shame! Up till now I wanted to save the whole world;

Now, what a surprise! There is no wold to be saved!

Strange! Without ancestors or successors,

Who can inherit, who pass on this truth?

3.

Space shattered at one blow and holy and worldly both vanished.

In the Untreadable the path has come to an end.

The bright moon over the temple and the sound of wind in the tree.

All rivers, returning their waters, flow back again to the sea.

(The Bull and his Herdsman: The Ten Traditional Pictures - Zen M)aster D.R. Otsu; pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

………………………..

In this podcast:

The meaning of Bodhidharma’s replies to Emperor Wu
Emptiness as the way to a Great Mystery!
Looking at Koans instead of the source they come from
The importance of lineage both personal and Dharma lineage.
Mystery as a presence rather than something to be solved

A talk on insight meditation

and

Separating work and leisure when working full time from home.

This month’s question:

What is the best way to help someone who is dying and afraid?

…………………………………….

In this podcast:

Jung’s letter to the bereaved mother and finding meaning in death.
The personal and the mythic, the phenomenal and the eternal.
Prince Gotama and the question of ‘loss’.
Passing through the opposites of birth and death Vedas x 3
Dying as a natural process.
Sudden death and the landscape of Spring.
Being with the dying - staying out of the way of the process.
Listening not alleviating the situation
Being with the dead

At home - what is it to feel 'at home'. How can we use mindfulness to explore this concept?

1.

The herdsman had already come home on the back of the bull.

Now the bull is forgotten and the man is at ease.

He may still sleep though the sun is high in mid-heaven.

Whip and rein are now useless, and put away under the eaves.

2.

Though the herdsman has brought the bull down from the mountain, the stable is empty.

Straw coat and bamboo hat, too, have become useless.

Not bound by anything and at leisure, singing and dancing,

Between heaven and earth he has become his own master.

3.

The herdsman has returned home. Now home is everywhere.

When both things and self are wholly forgotten, peace reigns all day long.

Believe in the peak ‘Entrance to the Deep Secret’ -

No man can settle down on this peak.

(The Bull and his Herdsman: The Ten Traditional Pictures, Zen Master D.R. Otsu, pub. Zen Centre, London 1989)

…

In this podcast:

Going beyond the psychological into the spiritual
The one way of the Arhat path to Nirvana leading to the Bodhisattva path to Buddhahood
How the images of the herdsman and bull also must be laid down.
Discipline as a means to an end and also how it forms us into rounded human beings
A heart that can travel anywhere and call everywhere a home.
The profound and deep mystery at the heart of religion.

This month’s question is:

What is ‘mu-shin’, and what is the importance of it in Zen training?

………………………

In this podcast:

Etymology of ‘mu-shin’, and its appearance in the Mumonkan.
Good and bad translations of sunyata.
The Buddha’s dilemma under the Bodhi tree.
The Bodhisattva Path and the practice of the paramitas
The centrality of Prajña in The Platform Sutra - ‘Wisdom and zazen is of one essence’.
Torei’s “There begin’s a different life.”

1.

Not for a moment may the herdsman drop whip and rein

Or the bull would break free and stampede into the dust.

But once patiently trained and made truly gentle,

He follows the herdsman without halter or chain.

2.

Now the bull may saunter through the hill forests,

Or else walk the much travelled roads, covered in dust.

Never will he touch fodder from another man’s meadow.

Coming or going requires no effort - the bull quietly carries the man.

3.

In patient training the bull got used to the herdsman and is truly gentle.

Should he walk right into dust, he now no longer gets dirty.

Long and patient gentling! In one sudden plunge the herdsman has won his whole fortune.

Under the trees, others encounter his mighty laugh.

(The Bull and his Herdsman Comments and pointers by Zen Master D.R. Otsu pub Zen Centre London 1989)

……………………………..

In this podcast:

How the traditional entrance begging of the monk’s is a test of aspiration for the training.
Sesshins (Zen Retreats), help cultivate inner strength.
Gentling through trust rather than through control
The six dusts and the afflictions of the Heart-Mirror
The warmth of the Mahayana as part of Heart’s aspiration

First talk of 2020, a review of where we have been and looking ahead to where we are going.

A podcast talk to take us into 2020. This month takes its name from the Roman God Janus, a threshold deity with two faces, one looking backwards at where we have come from and one forwards to where we are going. This podcast takes a closer look at Buddhist daily life practice and offers suggestions for going forward.

In this podcast:

The importance of reflection in developing insight wisdom.
The three aspects of all Buddhist practice.
Meditation practice, cultivating the mind of meditation on and off the cushion.
Ethical conduct, precept practice, turning the Noble Eightfold Path into practice, the importance of realising ‘ethos’.
Wisdom practice and using scripture and the Zen canon as a basis for speaking with the Buddha-Heart.

This month’s questions:

Buddhist practice places an emphasis on ones own training, but how can this help when faced with all the very real problems in the world such as war, environmental catastrophes, injustice etc.?
As a Buddhist should I celebrate Christmas?

………………………………………….

In this podcast:

The problem of ‘Right View’ and the Wisdom pillar.
Ananda becomes and arhat.
The story of The Wooden Sword - Karma and the butterfly wing.
Buddhism as a traveling religion and how it relates to indigenous faiths.
A season of goodwill and the Four Brahma Viharas

1.

With great effort the herdsman succeeded in catching the bull.

But stubborn, wilful and strong, this bull is not easily gentled!

At times he breaks out and climbs up to the high plains,

Or rushes down into foggy marshlands to hide himself there.

2.

Hold the rein tight and do not let go.

Many of the subtlest faults are not yet up-rooted.

No matter how gently the herdsman pulls at the nose-rope,

The bull may still rear and try to bolt back to the wild.

3.

Though caught where the sweet-scented grass reachers sky-high,

The herdsman must not let go of the rein tied to the bull’s nose.

Though the way home beckons clearly already,

The herdsman must often halt with the bull, by the blue stream or on the green mountain.

(Gentling the Bull: The Ten Bull Pictures, A Spiritual Journey by Myokyo-ni; pub. Zen Centre London)

………………………….

In this podcast:

The symbolism of the rope, how the Bull and the herdsman are always conjoined either consciously or unconsciously.
Neglected aspects of consciousness continue to have an impact in our lives and the need for integration.
The heart of transformation is the sincerity of the relationship rather than brute force.
The lifelong process of discovery between the conscious and unconscious aspects of being.
The need for discipline as a revealer of truths.

You can download this podcast here.

You will find the previous podcasts in this series here.

This month’s question:

Now that I practice Buddhism (and meditation), should I give up psychotherapy?

…………………………..

In this podcast:

How Western psychology looked East for inspiration.
Mental health and the Buddhist Way out of Suffering, are they the same thing?
How do conceptions of Mind, psychology and intentional action differ East & West?
The analogous nature of karma & rebirth and the psychodynamic model.
Does it matter that Zen practice and psychotherapy use different methods?

Finding the Bull

1.

Suddenly a bush warbler trills high in the tree top.

The sun shines warm, and in the light breeze the willows on the water’s edge show their new green.

There is no longer a place where the bull can hide himself;

No painter can capture that magnificent head with its soaring horns!

2.

On seeing the bull and hearing his bellow,

Tai-sung, the painter, surpassed his craft.

Accurately he pictured the heart-bull from head to tail,

And yet, on carefully looking, he is not quite complete.

3.

Having pushed his face right against the bull’s nose,

He no longer needs to follow the bellowing.

This bull is neither white nor blue.

Quietly nodding, the herdsman smiles to himself.

Such a landscape cannot be caught in a picture!

(Gentling the Bull: The Ten Bull Pictures, A Spiritual Journey by Myokyo-ni; pub. Zen Centre London)

………………………….

In this podcast:

The Heart-Bull as the source of life.
The teachings that open the Dharma-eye.
Kano paints the Myoshin-ji dragons & Bai-yu plays the magic harp. Establishing the correct relationship between herdsman and Bull.
The passions and the Buddha nature: The Two Truths of appearance and reality the perspectivism of Yogacara teachings.

This month’s question:

Do we really need a Master to follow the path or can we do it alone?

…………………………..

In this podcast:

What is it that we seek from the Buddha’s teachings? Specifically what is it that we suffer from?
Putting down ‘good roots’ as a valid path in Buddhism - The path of the laity.
A problem may arise that calls us to go deeper - Hakuin Ekaku and the fire sermon
Delusion means ‘I’ cannot see -why we need a representative of Buddha to guide us
Can we do it alone? Buddha’s period in the forest. There is aspect where training is oneself.
Over reliance on the teacher can also be a mistake.

Under the trees by the water, the bull’s traces run here and there.

Has the herdsman found the way through the high, scented grass?

However far the bull now may run, even up the far mountains,

With a nose reaching up to the sky, he cannot hide himself any longer.

Many wrong paths cross where the dead tree stands by the rock.

Restlessly running round and round, in his little nest of grass,

Does he know his own error? In his search, just when his feet follow the traces,

He has passed the bull by and has let him escape.

Many have searched for the bull but few ever saw him.

Up north in the mountains or down in the south, did he find his bull?

The One Way of light and dark along which all come and go;

Should the herdsman find himself on that Way he need not look further.

(Gentling the Bull by Myokyo-ni pub. The Zen Centre London)

…………………………….

You can find The Zen Gateway’s course on these ten pictures here.

In this podcast:

What are the traces of the bull?
Freud & Jung: The Unconscious and the Bull Herding Pictures
Discovering the shadow to oneself; the evidence right before the eyes.
Why do we tend to ignore the evidence of the existence of the Unconscious?
The power of frustration to increase Right Effort.
Becoming aware of the light and dark way in daily life practice.

This month’s question is:

‘In a recent podcast you used a phrase ‘informing information’, to what does this refer?’

………………………………………..

In this podcast:

Buddha nature, True nature, Original nature is empty but not ‘void’.
The development of the concept of Buddha nature from Tathāgatagarbha - the Buddha womb.
The similes of the Tathāgatagarbha Sutra.
The functioning of Buddha nature as informing information.
The flowering trees and pollinating insects, two ways of seeing this arising.

In this series of talks the verses traditionally attached to the Ten Bull Herding pictures will be discussed in terms of the stages of transformation in Zen training. What do they reveal about each stage and how do they impact on our practice of working with the emotional household?

1

Alone in a vast wilderness, the herdsman searches for his bull in the tall grass.

Wide flows the river, far range the mountains, and ever deeper into the wilderness goes the path.

Wherever he seeks, he can find no trace, no clue. Exhausted and in despair,

As the evening darkens he hears only the crickets in the maples.

2

Looking only into the distance, the searching herdsman rushes along.

Does he know his feet are already deep in the swampy morass?

How often, in the fragrant grasses under the setting sun,

Has he hummed Hsin-feng (Shinpo), the Song of the Herdsman in vain?

3.

There are no traces in the origin. Where then to search?

Gone astray, he stumbles about in dense fog and tangled growth.

Though unwitting, grasping the nose of the bull, he already returns as a guest,

Yet under the trees by the edge of the water, how sad is his song.

(Gentling the Bull by Myokyo-ni pub. The Zen Centre London

……………………………

You can find The Zen Gateway course on these ten pictures here.

In this podcast:

Why poetry is used as a medium for spiritual experience?
A recap on who is the herdsman and what is the Bull?
The need for trauma to create the motivation to start the spiritual search.
Looking afar for what is near.
How we create an oasis of safety around ourselves and how this is shattered by spiritual experience.
Sorrow as the initiating circumstance for beginning our spiritual journey.

Q) Why, in the scriptures, does the Buddha refer to himself as ‘I’? In the Satipatthana Sutta he says of the monk practicing mindfulness of breathing ‘I know I breathe a short breath’ etc. If he teachs the doctrine of ‘No-I’ then why does he still use the first person?

…………………………….

In this podcast:

Conventional and absolute truths (samvrti/ paramartha)
The Doctrine of the Two Truths in early and developed Buddhism
Different expressions of this truth appear in Samsara/Nirvana, appearance/reality, sun obscured by clouds etc.
What is the basis of reality in Buddhism? The theory of the dharmas.
Cinema model of dharma samtana

There are said to be three requirements for Zen training:

A Great Root of Faith
A Great Ball of Doubt
Fierce Determination

In this podcast:

Faith in the teachings and the lineage, the difference between belief and faith.
The Buddha’s advice to the Kalamas, fire-walking the test of faith.
The problem of doubt? A pearl from an irritating grain of sand,
A determination that moves mountains.

This month’s question,

Why is it suggested that for Zen training we use a timetable? How does this work, in practice?

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In this podcast:

What is the timetable in Zen practice and what is it for?
Living beings like structure, but how does it work?
The difference between what is good for the person and personal preference.
How does the timetable feed into the practice of ‘giving myself wholeheartedly’?
The practice of restraint as the revealer of truths.

This podcast is based on an excerpt from a sermon of Master Ta Hui (jp. Daie). You can read the relevant extract here.

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In this podcast:

A short biography of Master Ta Hui

The Mahayana universalises Buddha nature, making Buddhahood available for all

The development of the teaching of ‘Buddha Nature’ from Tathagatagarbha.

How the teaching of the Trikaya (Three Bodies of the Buddha), works in practice.

The relationship between Buddha Nature and the Six Realsm on The Wheel of Life.

This month’s question:

Q) If a person has no soul, what is re-born?

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In this podcast:

Discussing: soul, psyche, animus - but is this the same as ‘anatman’?
The Old English notion of ‘soul’.
The Wheel of Becoming as the essential teachings of the Buddha explaining how beings arise without agent or ‘do-er’ to make things happen.
The principles of re-birth as rooted in doctrine of karma.
The Zen koan, Master Zuigan calls to himself three times.
The ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ of personality.
Jung and the Shadow.

Continuing the discussion on the fundamentals of Zen training, this podcast examines the importance of ‘form’ in practice.

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In this podcast:

The two types of form - personal form and the form of places and situations
The universality of form amongst different species and how it aids in living in-form.
Sokei-an and the shape of meditation - how form gives dignity and collects the heart.
The form in behaviour - how to set up a timetable and why?
Suggestions for practicing ‘good form’.

Would you talk about how people experience transitions of awareness in sitting meditation and in daily life practice?

The document referenced in this podcast is: What is it like to meditate? Methods and issues of a micro-phenomenological description of meditative experience - hal.archives-ouvertes.fr

An online version of this document is here. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01653495/document

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In this podcast:

How can science talk consistently about human experience from inside subjective experience?
Questions around phenomenology and its use in the social sciences.
Some critique of phenomenology and how it has been used in anthropology.
Benefits of this method and is there a correlation with Abidhamma studies?
A question of aims and objectives in meditation and mindfulness practice.
Is subjective experience like exploring a place or does it create the place?

In this podcast we feature a timely reminder of just what it is that constitutes a ‘Zen Buddhist Practice.

Including:

The importance of every-minute Zen practice.
How the body is the focus of practice and keeps us present in the here-and-now.
The Six Paramitas as the basis of Mahayana practice.
The connection between living in the body and insight practice.
The transformational power of the emotions and beginning to work with the ‘fires’.

Bruce Ginsberg has been a Zen practitioner for over 50 years. Originally from South Africa he traveled as a journalist to Japan in the late 1960s to ‘get closer’ to the Zen tradition that so fascinated the counter-culture of the 1950s & 60s. He spent time as a layman in Zen monasteries in Korea as well as Japan.

He came to the U.K. in the 1970s and took over the running of ‘Dragonfly Tea’ a family owned British tea company.

He has been involved in British Buddhism ever since and is also involved with inter-faith work with practitioners from other faiths as well as academics.

In this podcast:

Bruce gives a personal account of what took him to Japan and what he found there.
How the small events in life in the temple gave life-long lessons that he still lives by today.
The importance of using positive energy in everything we do.
Realising the connection with Nature and living out of that connection.
Also realising the presence of the inner nature as not apart from the nature of the wholeness of Nature.

Coping with despondency in daily life practice.

Our question this time is:

Are there dangers to practicing meditation or mindfulness?

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In this podcast:

The view of meditation in earlier years in the U.K. compared with now.
Meditation without a supporting daily life practice that includes working with the emotional household. A personal story.
Beginning a daily life practice and then incorporating sitting meditation (zazen).
Sitting for longer, retreats (sesshins) and silence.
The support provided in group sitting.

The Second Talk: The master ascended the hall and a monk present asked, ‘A teaching has come down which says that the return to the source and original nature are not two, but that there are many entrances through the skill of means. What is it to return to the source and original nature?’

‘You question, I answer,’ replied the master.

‘But what does it mean, by entrance through skill of means?’

‘You answer, I question,’ replied the master.

‘Where will this lead to?’

‘Why turn everything upside-down?’ said the master.

Again a monk asked, ‘One body constitutes innumerable bodies, innumerable bodies constitute one body, but what is meant by innumerable bodies?’

‘One body,’ answered the master.

‘This being so, then the ancient [assembly on] Vulture peak is to be seen

today,’ said the monk.

‘Just go on with practice,’ said the master and added, ‘When all the Buddhas of the three worlds have once confirmed a venerable monk, what is it that that venerable monk has understood? If, in the moment of understanding, there is no transformation, then there is no fine connection that could lead to change. Why is this so? It is because the venerable monk is still past, present and future. When the venerable monk is really not of these three periods, then the fertile rains that nourish the great ocean fill him drop by drop. In one mote of dust, the empty original nature of the dharma-realm is present in its entirety. Now keep well!’

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In this podcast:

The interdependence of the opposites, question answer, Buddhas and Maras, Wisdom and delusion and how they are ‘not-two’.
The story of Master Kyogen, how the teachings must touch us to make any effect.
The importance of including the emotional household as the agent of transformation of consciousness.
The different transformations of the body, the one and the many; how perceptions can fool us into making mistakes in seeing.
The samadhi of practice, the riding saddle with no horse or rider.
Three time periods arising from one source or origin.

“In the landscape of Spring there is neither better nor worse.

The flowering branches grow, both long or short.”

Ryokan ( 1758-1831)

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In this podcast:

The opposites in Chinese thought, YinYang etc. The Sixth patriarch’s advice to his senior students.
Ven. Myokyo-ni’s comment on Ryokan’s poem above.
The burning of Notre Dame and how the fire at York Minster was interpreted.
The Environmental protests currently taking place and the changing way we view our world.
The shift from object relations to subject relations.
The Golden rule of religion and the its necessity as the basis for goodwill & compassion.
Sameness and difference and the danger of anthropomorphism.
The many selves of Katherine North by Emma Green - a fox’s view of the world. The teaching of the six realms.
The importance of renewal in spiritual practice.

Q) As the Buddha taught the doctrine of ‘No-I’, who decides?

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In this podcast:

In a life without an ‘I’, how can any decisions be made?

How can things happen in a human life without any desires to make them so?

The question of ‘agency’ in Buddhist teachings.

What does neuroscience have to say about the existence of a self as the centre of decision-making?

The differing conceptions of purposelessness in Chinese thought and European rationalism.

What is ‘Tao’ and the connection with ‘wu-wei’ or ‘non-intentional activity’.

Acting from wholeness rather than selfhood and its ramifications for daily life practice.

DAIBI COMMENT: Master Torei was born in 1720 at Kanzaki in Goshu. His family name was Nakamura. He left home when he was nine, and received ordination from Ryozan Osho [1] at the local temple. At the age of seventeen he went to Nikko and trained under Kogetsu Osho; later he continued under Suigan Osho. After that he spent three years as a wandering monk in Kyushu but attained nothing and finally he returned home and lived for two years in retreat on Renge Peak. He gained entrance when he was twenty-two. After that he went to Suruga where he trained for several hard and bitter years under Master Hakuin. At the early age of twenty-six he had throughly penetrated to the bottom of the Great Matter in Master Hakuin’s Sanzen room. This is the time he refers to as having completed the training and come to maturity. He had clear insight into the Principle [2], but as to the old masters’ wonder-arousing mysterious state behind differentiations, he had not yet attained freedom in it.

Realising that his practice in the matter of differentiations had not yet gained him this freedom, he went to Kyoto and lived as a hermit by the Shirakawa River. There he ceaselessly practised severe austerities for more than a hundred days. Master Torei indeed knew the ways of the old masters; feeling deep remorse about his own power being seemingly insufficient, he made a desperate effort to penetrate right to the marrow of his bones. This gave him the strength to continue according to his vow, heedless of health and life; but he carried his austerities too far, strained all five organs and became seriously ill.

Though he now did his best to effect a cure, instead of improving, his condition became worse. He suffered as if all the illnesses of the world afflicted him. Further complications arose, and he was bed-ridden three times. Relapse followed improvement, his illness became ever more grave. Even the doctor gave him up, telling him that though he might recover temporarily, he had only a few more years to live. Master Torei was then twenty-eight.

He was not unduly perturbed about his approaching death, but regretted that after so much stringent practice he was still unable to fulfil his vow. All his hardships and sufferings seemed to have brought him nothing but harm.

He resolved that before he died he would leave something for posterity. In this he was guided by the example of the ancient Chinese Master Choho. Master Ho (4th century) was said to have been one of the four last descendants of Kumarajiva. However that may be, the Emperor, made aware of the Master’s exceptional qualities, ordered him to return to lay life and enter Imperial service. On Master Ho’s firm refusal the Emperor became enraged and condemned him to death. Master Ho requested a delay for seven days in which he put down the results of his many years of study, the one volume ‘Treatise on the Treasure Storehouse’. Having completed it, he calmly faced his execution. His death Gatha [3] became famous:

‘The Four Elements [4] have no master.

The Five Skandhas [5] are themselves empty.

When the head meets the severing blade -

No more than a flash slicing the spring breeze.’

Indeed the old Master’s faith was firm as a mountain. Taking him as an example, Master Torei, too before he died wanted to leave some last words for the sake of the Dharma.

[1] Osho - the incumbent of a temple or monastery.

[2] Principle (Ri) - that which underlies all phenomena, inherent in them. For details see Reinhard Kammer, Zen and Confucius in the Art of Swordsmanship, .pp. 18-19, and Trevor Leggett, Zen and the Ways, pp. 122-123; both Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978.

[3] Gatha - verse.

[4] Here the physical body.

[5] The Five Skandhas - constitute the bundle of flux which through delusion seems ‘I’. They are, Form, Feelings/ Sensations, Perceptions, Mental Configurations/Action Impulses, and Consciousness/Awareness.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Tore Enji Zenji. pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

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In this podcast;

The background of Master Torei and the events leading up to him writing this Discourse.
The importance of knowing the lineage within which we train. Beware of false lineage!
Why the training has to be intense
The Zen sickness of Master Hakuin and how he effected a cure through Taoist alchemy.
The story of Master Ho and his fearlessness in the face of his own death.
Why a thorough training, even without mentioning ‘Buddha’, ensures that the Buddha dharma continues to be of benefit to all beings.

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I’m having real problems coming to terms with the doctrine of karma and past lives. Yet, I’m told that it is central to Buddhist teachings. How can this be reconciled with a more materialist world-view.

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In this episode:

A brief history of materialism

How the Buddha re-interpreted the teachings of Hinduism to give a Buddhist twist.

How the Buddha had to re-define agency having declared ‘No-I’ (Anatman).

Does it matter if we derive interpretations that did not exist directly from the Buddha?

The flow model of spiritual beliefs.

The teachings as navigational principles for practice.

You can download this podcast here.

You can download previous podcasts in this series here.

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TOREI X: Turning the Wheel of the Dharma is the beginning and end of the whole training. With this aspiration one starts giving one’s whole heart to the training; with one’s heart in it, one does it. Depending on it, one looks for the wonder-arousing, mysterious state behind the differentiations. That attained, the transformation of one’s life has been completed. One grasps the fangs and claws of the Dharma-cave, and without let or hindrance freely walks the way of the gods, entering the coarse and the fine, the real and the seeming, raising one or two genuine seedlings and transmitting the Dharma to one’s heirs, so that it can continue for ever as a brilliant light shining upon the world.

This light which is inexhaustible, shines for the benefit of all.

From life to life, from world to world, we make our abode in the Six Realms of Being [1] and the Four Modes of Birth [2]. Having faith that the freedom of liberation, the freedom to benefit all accrues from the training after Satori we believe that this wonder-arousing, mysterious state can be reached. With this faith we can continue to forge and temper ourselves again and again.

[1] Beings in the hells, hungry ghosts, animals, fighting demons, men, heavenly beings.

[2] From the womb, from the egg, from moisture, by metamorphosis.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

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In this podcast:

What does it mean to ‘Turn the Wheel of the Dharma’?
How the ‘body of the Dharma’ is made up of all who walk the path, past, present and future.
How the life-blood of the human heart flows into whatever the heart gives itself to.
One spiritual power which differentiates itself into all phenomena and how this can be cultivated in spiritual practice.
On having faith in the human heart.
Liberation, as being free from fear of life & death.
Faith as the necessity for walking the Buddha’s path.

This time:

I’ve heard Buddhism described as a ‘non-theistic’ religion. How is this different from atheism?
How does one deal with stress mindfully?

In this podcast:

What is the difference between ‘mind’ and ‘Mind’?
Is Buddhism really a religion and does it have a concept of the divine?
Why do Hindu gods appear in the Pali Canon?
Are there methods to help combat stress and anxiety in Buddhism?
How pain and suffering cuts us off from life and those around us.
How can a practice of gratitude reconnect us back into the web of life?

TOREI IX: Now whether withdrawn on a mountain, or retired in a city, or whatever, the essential thing is the long maturation. For this, it is good to keep the examples of the old masters in mind, or we shall be pulled back into the dust and delusion of the world.

DAIBI COMMENT: The ninth chapter deals with maturation - the long maturation of the holy heart. When the training has come to an end [1], this maturation is of utmost importance. Whether it takes place in remote mountains or in a crowded city depends on the affinity links of the individual. There is a poem by Master Kanzan, ‘The little retreat is to hide among wooded hills; the great retreat is to vanish in the capital.’ But the choice of place does not indicate that one person is better than another. For their maturation, Daito Kokushi [2] lived with the beggars under a bridge in the busiest part of Kyoto, and Kanzan Kokushi became a herdsman in the Ibuka mountains of Mino. In some such way it has always been settled, for it is of utmost importance not to be pulled back into the dust and delusion of the world. We may take the two masters Daito and Kanzan as examples.

[1] The training having come to an end is the formal training under the guidance of the master. It is said that the training itself is endless.

[2] Kaito Kokushi and Kanzan Kokushi, respectively the founder of Daitoku-ji and Myoshin-ji monasteries in Kyoto. Master Kanzan was Master Daito’s ‘most illustrious heir’. Kokushi is a title bestowed on outstanding masters and literally means ‘Teacher of the Nation’.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, comments by Daibi Zenji, pub. The Zen Centre London 1989)

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In this podcast:

The importance of training in ‘the world’ in Zen practice.
What does it mean ‘Samsara is Nirvana, Nirvana is Samsara’?
What is the real source of our suffering according to The Buddha?
The role of affinity-links in Buddhist practice.
Making the personal circumstances the training ground for Zen practice.

As the Pali Canon was not written down until 500 years after the death of the Buddha and Mahayana texts appearing some centuries later, Tibetan texts and termas showing up after that and with Pure Land and Chan/Zen coming in as well, what can we trust as the authentic teachings of the Buddha, so we can analyse them for ourselves?

In this podcast:

The difference between scriptures East and West.
The diverse history and lineage of early and later Buddhist scriptures
The importance of revelation in giving authenticity
Historical and utilitarian authentication
The importance of scripture in the Zen schools

Master Shenhui ( jp. Kataku Jinne), was a successor to the Sixth Patriarch, Hui neng. He was a fierce advocate of the 'Southern' school of Chan advocating 'sudden' awakening. As such, he was considered a 'strident' opponent to the 'gradual' approach to liberation of the 'Northern' school. His school died out during the Buddhist persecutions that took place in China during the 9th century.

This podcast expands upon Shenhui’s comments on ‘unwholesome’ mental configurations; the purification of the heart as the essence of the patriarchal school; the importance of thorough training to penetrate the heart level and not being satisfied with intellectual understanding and not being taken in by words.

TOREI VIII For the sake of the one important matter of the transmission from the teacher, and out of gratitude and reverence to the Dharma, do not turn back even if it costs your life. Throughout history all the patriarchs showed their gratitude in this way. Crushing the bones and breaking the body is not enough - but if only one or two genuine seedlings are raised, this is the beginning of requital.

Daibi Comment: The transmission from the teacher is the inheritance of the riches of the teacher, the transmission of the Heart Seal of Buddha and patriarchs from master to pupil. This is the one important matter.

The sayings of the Buddha were collected and became the sutras. These were transmitted from India to China. The translated works were studied deeply, and based on these, various schools formed and flourished. However, in our school a special transmission was passed down to this day, from Sakyamuni to Kasyapa, and through twenty-eight Indian patriarchs to Bodhidharma. He brought it to China, where it continued through the Sixth Patriarch to Master Rinzai, and all along the line of patriarchs who followed after. Hence the transmission from the teacher is of the utmost importance. Keeping the line of the Dharma true, the line of transmission from master to pupil clear, together with reverent gratitude to the Dharma, these are the foundations of requital. Even with your lives at stake do not fail in this One Great Matter. All patriarchs throughout history have maintained and transmitted this great Dharma with no thought fo their own lives. Gratitude is the same, whether past or present. Regarding the vastness and limitlessness of gratitude to the Dharma we, who are today’s heirs to it are also to put our lives in the balance out of this gratitude.

Thus, raising even one or two genuine seedlings who can truly pass on this great Dharma is a small requital of our gratitude. But in today’s system of the school, monks enter a monastery just to become the incumbent of a temple. With the essential points of the training thus ignored, successors to the great Dharma are no longer found. Indeed, thinking of the great Dharma, I cannot contain my grief.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, pub. Zen Centre London 1989)

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In the accompanying podcast:

The fulfilment of the Bodhisattva Vows in the Transmission of the Lamp from Master to pupil.

The story of the first transmission to Kasyapa.

The Three Vehicles and the One Way.

The Two Truths: the written teachings and the transmission heart to heart.

Faithfulness and thoroughness of practice.

Gratitude to the Buddha, Dharma & Sangha and the problem of requiting the debt.

In this podcast we commemorate in this first week of December, Rohatsu Week, in Zen temples and monasteries around the world.

A week long sesshin (retreat), where practitioners do not lie down for the duration, is the norm, but what is it all for?

The Buddha’s awakening is commemorated and celebrated at this the darkest time fo the year.

In this podcast:

The meaning of Rohatsu
The historicity of the Buddha
The Buddha’s life as symbol of the Great Life.
The Buddha’s path as our own path.
The story of the Buddha’s Enlightenment.
The Final Awakening.

TOREI VII: The strength and its functioning vary greatly according to the depth or shallowness of insight, and the corresponding freedom of action. It is for this reason that now as in the past students with the same insight and training differ as to strength and virtue. [1]

DAIBI COMMENT: The seventh chapter deals with strength and its functioning. The strength referred to is the power of the Way. The functioning is its active mode, energy in motion. Only those who can let the right attitude always prevail and thus continue Advanced Practice, are capable of the free use of great strength and great functioning. Though it may be said that Kensho [2] is the same, yet ‘strength and functioning’ are dependent on the depth or shallowness of insight. For some the seeing is no more than by the light of a fire-fly, for some as by the glow of an incense-stick, for others as by the light of a paraffin lamp, or as by the beam of an electric torch, or as by the light of ten candles, or a hundred, or of ten thousand candles. Though all may be called Kensho, yet the depth and penetration vary with the degree of effort made. After Kensho, too, differences in the strength of insight show in whether its everyday functioning has become completely familiar or is as yet uncollected. For this reason, even among students of the same insight and of the same practice, and who have made the same bone-crushing efforts under the same teacher, differences in their power of the Way and in their strength of insight become of themselves evident.

[1] Virtue - in the sense of ‘by virtue of’; moral fortitiude, or inner strength, cultivated in teh training.

[2] Kensho - literally, ‘seeing into (one’s True) Nature’; but as it is also a technical term and has become known as such in relevant literature, it is left here as such.

Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, pub. Zen Centre London 1989

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In this podcast:

The difference between essence and form.
The many interpretations of ‘The Way’ and its use in insight.
The Three Bodies of the Buddha.
The importance of virtue as ‘containing strength’ in Zen training.
Individuals as unique expressions of the One Principle in Mahayana Buddhism.

In this month’s podcast:

A French Buddhist scholar and Buddhist said that Westerners are formidable colonisers. He was afraid that the West will do to Buddhism what was done to other parts of the world and their religions. Reading recently an article about the British Police adopting "mindfulness to beat burnout" and knowing that mindfulness ‘without the Buddhism’ is already a reality at schools, work, hospitals, the army etc, one can ask if this process, isn't happening faster than even the French scholar realises? It's true that everything is subject to change and Buddhism isn't an exception to the law of impermanence. But the colonisation of Buddhism (cherry picking what is considered as useful in Buddhism and ignoring The Buddha’s teachings) is it the most dangerous change for Buddhism and Buddhists in more than 2500 years ?

Can one be a Buddhist and a Christian?

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In this podcast:

A potted history of the Western contact with Buddhism in its Eastern forms.

Why Western science has a mistrust of religion?

The tendency for us to look at the new through the lens of what we already know?

How this approach can exclude new ways of interacting with the world and different forms of truth.

How perspective can change the way we experience the world and the questions we ask about it?

The role of Christianity in uniting disparate groups and the assimilation by Buddhism of other religions and deities.

The Delhi Durbar of 1877: the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India… By Illustrated London News, 1877 - http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1600_1699/shahjahanabad/clocktower/clocktower.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19903917

Torei VI: Have deep faith in the Advanced Practice; work now with utmost effort and do not allow yourselves to slacken. Penetrate one by one the barriers set up by the Buddha and patriarchs. This is not an easy task, but reflecting on the reality within yourselves again and again in Sanzen, get the Nanto Koans of the old masters clear. In them is hidden the essence of the patriarchal transmission. But unless this is done by diligent practice under a qualified teacher, little will be gained.

Daibi Comment: This concerns the sixth chapter on Advanced Practice. The barriers set up by Buddha and patriarchs are the above Nanto and Nange Koans, the Dharma-Gates of deliverance. Though with utmost effort you may have smashed through these barriers, there remains yet the matter of final Advanced Practice. The true life of our school lies in this. It can also be called the final phrase. An old master put it like this, ‘With the final phrase one arrives at last at the prison gate.’

Practisers must have faith in this and should exert their utmost effort without even a moment’s slackening. Examples of this are Rinzai’s ‘Breaking the Summer Retreat’, Hyakujo’s ‘One More Sanzen’, and Hakuun’s ‘Not Yet There’. Because these are truly difficult, reflect on the reality within yourselves - Steadily and honestly deepen your insight by ceaseless practice. From of old there have been many practising the Way but they generally give up at the stage of Insight into one’s True Nature. Though they are fortunate in achieving this insight, but with yet insufficient strength, the insight does not go deep enough. So they give up when it comes to breaking their backs on the Nanto Koans. Very few go deeply into Advanced Practice.

The essence of our school is the patriarchal transmission, the transmission from heart to heart. It has come down like water poured from one vessel into another. For this (transmission), Advanced Practice is essential. But without being forged by diligent practice under an enlightened master of the school, and without the fusion of vital energy face to face, the patriarchal transmission cannot be inherited. An old master said that self-styled Satori without a master goes naturally astray.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji, pub. The Zen Centre 1989)

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In this podcast:

The importance of advanced practice in Zen training.

What happened when the Buddha revealed to the Arhats the existence of the Bodhisattva Path?

Establishing the principles of zazen in the activities of daily life as part of the Zen training.

The story of Rinzai breaking the summer retreat.

The notion of the ‘Way’ in Zen and the enlightened one’s freedom of activity.

This week some answers to the following questions:

In Theravada Buddhism it states the buddha gave four postures for meditation: sitting, standing walking and laying down. In the zen practice do you just do the sitting.
Is there any practice that would be useful as death approaches and the body and mind deteriorate. I know the Tibetan Buddhists have particular practices but I was wondering if other traditions have anything.

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This podcast discusses:

Formal meditation practices and practice in our daily lives.
The subtle practices of ritual behaviour to support a meditation and mindfulness practice.
The importance of consistent training and not compartmentalising Buddhist practice.
The centrality of death in spiritual training.
How death provides motivation for practice.
The incomprehensibility of the conception of death in Buddhist belief.
The mystery of life and death and awakening to our inborn strength and wisdom.

TORE V: Always check your ordinary functioning, and above all cultivate right seeing. What is extremely difficult is to function in accordance with all situations whether deep or shallow, coarse or fine. In order to get this differentiation clear, carefully and minutely study the sayings of the Buddha and patriarchs, and ardently strive to attain that wonderful place. This is called ‘The Single Eye of Passing the Barrier’.

DAIBI COMMENT: With the stage of Authentication of Attainment attained, the next chapter on Passing the Barrier, stresses the importance of the functioning of the insight in everyday life. Continuous right thinking and right acting are essential for checking this functioning. ‘Once-only Satori’ is quite useless for such free continuous functioning within all differentiations, deep and shallow, coarse and fine.

For the checking of the ability to function thus in all circumstances , there are from of old many sayings of Buddha and patriarchs. These are the so-called Nanto and Nange Koans. [1] To study carefully and minutely the sayings on differentiation, and to penetrate them in Sanzen, is to attain freedom within the realm of differentiation. the old sayings of Buddha and patriarchs are by no means a senseless tangle! On the contrary, each one is a Dharma-‘gate (teaching) of deliverance. To gain entry into this wonderful place is called ‘The Single Eye of Passing the Barrier’.

[1] Nanto and Nange Koans - a series of koans difficult to penetrate. See Miura and Sasaki, The Zen Koan, 1965 p. 57.

Discourse on the Inexhausitible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, pub. The Zen Centre London 1989

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In this podcast:

The barrier set up by Buddha and patriarchs

The importance of after-training following the first satori

Seeing the one-in-the-many and the many-in-the-one

The importance of differentiating between things without either splitting them apart or laying judgements upon them.

How these considerations impact on our training in seated meditation and in daily life practice.

Welcome to the latest in our interactive Q&A podcast. Remember if you would like to ask a question of make a comment then please send it in an email to: thezengateway@gmail.com; putting ‘Troubleshooting’ in the subject line.

In this podcast we look at the following questions:

Can you have more than one Buddhist teacher?
I have been reading "The Zen Koan" by Isshu Miura and Ruth Fuller. Various other books also mention them and stress their importance, such as "Discourse on the Inexhaustable Lamp", I have also heard them referred to in Zen Gateway podcasts and articles. So they appear to be very important for the training, but seem to need testing face to face with the teacher in a formal temple training setting. Is there a way that they could be part of the practice at home?
For insight meditation certain schools use the breath at the nose others use the breath at the abdomen as it allows greater awareness of the body so not reducing peripheral awareness as much as when focussing on the breath at the nose. Comments?

The answers cover the process that underpins the teacher/student relationship in practice; the practice of pilgrimage in the Zen tradition; what are koans? How they work and how effective are they? We also take a look at different methods of samatha or ‘quiet’ meditation practices.

TOREI IV: Genuine insight into one’s True Nature only emerges in the midst of Great Doubt and Great Faith; it is not the result of accumulated learning and discrimination. When the time is ripe, it appears of itself. Following this ripening process step by step is the purpose of this book. It is relatively easy to accomplish the important matter of insight into one’s True Nature, but uncommonly difficult to function freely and clearly (according to this understanding), in motion and in rest, in good and in adverse circumstances. Please make strenuous and vigorous efforts towards this end, otherwise all the teachings of Buddha and patriarchs become mere empty words, rather than the living Dharma. Tread the path of sincere practice with uninterrupted concentration, and once things have become clear, then it is the time to take up and penetrate the sayings (of the Sutras and Masters).

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji with comments by Daibi Zenji; pub The Zen Centre London 1989)

All rights reserved

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The accompanying podcast to this excerpt includes:

The parable of the prodigal son from the Lotus Sutra.
What is the Buddha Nature? It’s history and development from Indian Mahayana Buddhism.
The process of koan training.
The three requirements of Zen training.

I have read about some scandals involving Zen Masters. How can an enlightened Zen Master do bad things?
Are Buddhists pacifists?
How long and how often should I practice sitting meditation?
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In this podcast we consider the questions above discussing the guru complex or teacher/student relationship East and West; differing levels of enlightenment; the history of violence in Buddhism, whether pacifism can always be the preferred option?; building up a sitting meditation practice in stages.

This podcast is copyright to The Zen Gateway

Torei III: One should be aware of the errors of little knowledge and insight (the Realm of Delusions).

Daibi Comment: People who have done but little training in the true spirit may have ‘experiences’, and those who train with wilful ferocity experience strange states (Kyogai) [2]

For example, when doing Zazen with all their might, they may feel as if they are rising up high into the air; or again as if they are sinking down to the very bottom of the earth. Also, when cutting off wrong and delusory imaginings, the chest may feel cool and a strange world appear in which they feel that they are embedded as if in rock crystal. It may happen that extraordinary states such as these arise, but all are just manifestations of the present world. While one’s experience in training is yet shallow, one repeatedly mistakes such manifestations for Satori [1[. If one recognizes them as illusions they become useful stepping-stones but if one is attached to them, they become worlds of delusion and erroneous fancies. The Ryogen (Surangama) Sutra describes in detail fifty kinds of such delusory worlds. Do not draw such misfortune upon you! You should be able to see clearly and so to distinguish between right and wrong. This is set forth in the third chapter, ‘The Realm of Delusions’.

[2] Kyogai - though here translated as ‘states’, the term means literally the present world, our surroundings and circumstances, or simply objects, things. Buddhistically the term also denotes the world of Karma. Hence these ‘states’ are not outside or above the known - as the following text passage makes clear.

[1] Satori - the attainment of genuine insight. It is better not thought of as an ‘experience’, for it is not something that I can have.

(Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji. pub. The Zen Centre London 1989)

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In this podcast is discussed:

The Parable of the blind men and the elephant.

How ascetic practices can be used in spiritual practices and the warnings attached to them.

Spiritual highs that happen during zazen and what to make of them?

How meditation on the six realm can be used to counter the ‘error’ associated with extreme states.

Not mistaking the acquisition of power with spiritual insight.

Troubleshooting Zen Study & Practice 6

This month on Troubleshooting Zen Study & Practice we have three more questions and answers:

If a baby is born disabled, is that because of bad Karma from a previous life?

How do I choose a good teacher?

What did the Buddha mean when he said there is no self?

(P.S. Ignore the voice that says this is Troubleshooting "number 5", it really is 6!)

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Subjects covered by this podcast include: The development of the principle of karma from Hinduism through to Buddhism; intrinsic and extrinsic meaning; Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu; the importance of affinity links between teacher and student and the basis for the Buddha’s teaching of ‘No-self’.

If you would like to ask a question please send it to: thezengateway@gmail.com

TOREI II: One has to know (how to) practise with Faith in the Heart (cf. the Third Patriarch’s poem with this title).

Daibi Comment: When we speak of Faith in the Heart, we are inclined to think of prayers for future rebirths or for bettering our present conditions However, by faith here is meant sincerity. There the faithful heart is the True Heart. ‘Faith’ usually implies that we are apart from and other than gods or Buddha, or from anything other than the known. However, when one speaks of Faith in the Heart, there are no such objects in opposition to oneself. The phrase simply states that within oneself is the True Heart which is the heart pure and unalloyed. The task is to bring out this Faith in the Heart, and to train with pure dedication. The second chapter, ‘Faith and Practice’, shows the form that this practice takes.

Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji, trans. Yoko Okuda, pub The Zen Centre 1989

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In this podcast is discussed:

The difference between faith and belief.
What are the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and why do Buddhists pray to them?
The role of faith in opening the heart to mystery.
How meditation empties out thought without destroying thoughts.

This month on Troubleshooting Zen Study & Practice we have three more questions and answers.

Can a Westerner become Enlightened?
Is a Buddhism a religion, and can you believe in God and be a Buddhist?
How do we deal with distracting thoughts that cause us to lose the object of meditation?

The wide-ranging questions produce wide-ranging answers looking at what enlightenment is, how it relates to the Buddha’s Enlightenment, atheism East & West, how the Buddha incorporated the Hindu deities of his day and how that has conditioned the deities found in Esoteric and Tantric Buddhism; the use of ritual and the body in meditation as a foundation and aid in practice.

Don’t forget if you have a question that you would like to ask then just send it to: thezengateway@gmail.com for next month’s Troubleshooting Zen Study & Practice.

Chan master Jiaoran of Mount Changsheng in Fuzhou (Fujian) was a native of Fuzhou. After gaining entry to Xuefeng’s room, he privately inherited the Heart Seal and then stayed as the attendant for ten years in all.

18.481 Chan Master Fuzhou Changsheng Shan Jiaoran

Question: ‘When encountering a man of the way, answer neither with words nor with silence. What is not yet clear is how then to answer?’

‘What can inky squiggles on paper do?’ replied the master.

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Translated by and copyright to Randolph S. Whitfield

You can hear a podcast commentary on this extract here.

How non-attachment relates to independence and liberation in the Buddha’s teachings.
How the elaborate teachings of the ‘Great Way’ relate to our everyday attitude to daily life.
How the teachings of the Middle Way point to non-dual seeing as independent of ‘I’ based seeing.
The role of the master as skilful remedy to the one-sided attitude of the student.

This month we look at the following questions:

Do Buddhists eat meat?
What is Enlightenment?
Is there a difference between meditation and mindfulness?

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These questions touch on the wide interpretations of the Buddha’s prohibition on killing sentient beings and karmic results; the different motivations for not eating animal flesh or products; the history of food rules in Buddhism and the ritual and symbolic meaning of food; a re-telling of the Parable of the Rope and the relationship between sitting meditation and meditation in activity.

If you would like to ask a question then please email it to: thezengateway@gmail.com

Please put ‘Troubleshooting’ in the subject line.

The men of Mount Muping

Of appearance classic and simple

Are sparing of words

Regarding each other as strangers in common

Their hearts are like the bright autumn moon

Their threadbare patchwork robes

Were not spun by silk worms

Their peaceful song is of the sound of birds

To the city towers they come today

Already soaked through by the dawn

(CDL 20.588 Chan master Shandao)

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You can download a podcast commentary on the above extract here.

In this podcast is discussed:

The symbolism of the ‘mountain’ in Buddhist teaching

Why the monastic life helps in Zen training

The importance of silence in getting to know others

Taking care not to blame objects for our attachment to them

Why the bodhisattva returns to the hurly-burly of the marketplace from the mountain peak

Torei: I will start with the lineage of our school, and some details pertaining to it.

Daibi Comment: Master Torei shows up the affinity links (Innen) behind the continued inheritance of our school. Its purpose is seen in the verse,

‘A special transmission outside the teachings,

Not depending on the written word,

Directly pointing to the human heart,

Seeing into its nature, and becoming Buddha.’

It is also said that in the historical transmission of the Heart Seal, all patriarchs had the Single eye of the School.

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In this podcast is discussed:

The relevance of the lineage for authenticity and faith in the practice.
What is an affinity link?
The importance of becoming aware of the impact of the past and the present circumstances on who we are and what we will become in the future
How genuine insight is tested by comparison with the tradition of extant teachings.

This month on ‘Troubleshooting Zen study and practice’ we address the following questions:

Do I have to believe in reincarnation and past lives to be a Buddhist?

Which is the best school of Buddhism?

“Another real obstacle I’m having is this timetable. When I first started it I had some enthusiasm but as time has progressed I’ve noticed real resistance to it culminating in it essentially not being followed or if it is being followed it’s quite halfhearted. It’s mostly the mealtimes but it seems to be seeping into other areas of practice”

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The answers cover the centrality of Karma and rebirth to the Buddha’s message; Cultural appropriation of another religion; Keeping to the Buddha’s message of testing things for ourselves rather than making up our minds beforehand; Spiritual consumerism and the danger of picking and choosing different Buddhist schools; the timetable as a spiritual practice, restraint of picking and choosing as the way to uncover attachment in the heart & the process of transformation of the heart energies.

If you would like to ask a question then please email it to: thezengateway@gmail.com

Please put ‘Troubleshooting’ in the subject line.

Torei: If you really want to grasp this Discourse, you should painstakingly follow its exposition from cover to cover. It would be wrong to select words and phrases as fancy dictates. Daibi Comment: The text is divided into ten chapters, 1. Concerning the Lineage of Our School; 2. Faith and Practice; 3. The Realm of Delusions; 4. Authentication of Attainment; 5. Passing the Barrier; 6. Advanced Practice; 7. Strength and its Functioning; 8. Transmission from the Teacher; 9. Long Maturation; 10. Turning the Wheel of the Dharma. The thread of the discourse becomes clear only if these chapters are taken as a continuous, interconnected whole. Readers should therefore carefully go through it from beginning to end, as a unity, and must not choose bits here and there according to their own inclination. (What Torei says) truly takes the words out of my own mouth. people these days say that they are busy, and in spite of being cautioned against it, will try to extract the gist by picking and choosing. But in the practice of training one’s heart, one cannot gain strength without being collected and thorough. (Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp by Torei Enji Zenji with comments by Daibi Zenji. pub The Zen Centre, London) ………………………………………….. In this podcast we take a look at Master Torei’s opening lines from his preface to his Inexhaustible Lamp as well as the Daibi comment. The subjects covered include:

A brief look at historical development within Buddhism.
The factors that influenced that development.
The Tendai School’s classification of the teachings and the unifying role of the Lotus Sutra.
Mapping this development onto the series of pictures showing the Bull and his Herdsman; a Zen analogy of the training process.
The practice implications of this development.

In this podcast we look at the following questions:

How do I deal with distracting thoughts during sitting meditation?
Should I 'go into' the thoughts or leave them alone?
How do I know if I am being wholehearted in 'giving myself'? Can you give some practical examples of what this practice is?
How do we practice with other people at home, work or in our social lives?

Answers are given within the context of a Buddhist (Zen), practice.

If you would like to ask a question for a future podcast email your question/suggestion to:

thezengateway@gmail.com

Master Torei Enji was a Dharma heir to Master Hakuin the great reformer of Japanese Zen. Following his appointment, Torei was struck down with a life-threatening illness. Being convinced that he was soon to die and feeling it a pity that his insight would not benefit others he wrote the text known as The Inexhaustible Lamp, carefully laying down the Hakuin system for Zen training.

Having completed this text Torei recovered and was of a mind to destroy the manuscript but his teacher, Hakuin, intervened saying that it could still be of benefit to future generations. Thus it became famous in its own right and formed a book that could be relied upon for reference from the beginning of the training right the way through to its completion.

In 1930, Master Daibi, another Zen master, gave an extensive commentary on Torei’s terse, almost aphoristic, text which opens it up yet still requires careful examination and pondering.

Both texts were translated into English, for the first time, by Yoko Okuda and edited by Master Daiyu Myokyo. It was published in serial form in the Zen Centre’s house journal, Zen Traces, and later in book form during the 1990s.

This podcast, the first of several looking at extracts from this seminal work, begins with part of the preface by Master Daibi, who sets the scene for what is to come.

We begin a new series of podcasts where we trouble shoot aspects of Buddhist study and practice. If you have a question you would like to ask about the teachings or practice of Buddhism, specifically Zen practice then please do get in touch at: thezengateway@gmail.com

This week we tackle questions about zazen or sitting meditation practice.

Why to some people sit facing the wall when others do not?
Do I have to put a count on the breath when meditating?
How long should I sit for?
What if my home circumstances prevent a regular sitting practice, is there any thing I can do?

These and other questions related to zazen practice are given answers in the following podcast. So please do listen and take part by sending in your questions or comments to the above email address.

The 8th January sees the memorial day for Master Rinzai Gigen (Ch. Linji), so we have a sermon from the collection known as the Record of Rinzai.

In this extract he discusses the wearing of robes as a metaphor of the personalities that we put on and take off in our daily life. Our intentions create these robes which have their use but can be misleading if we mistake them for who we really are.

This talk looks at this subject of different roles or forms the personality takes. It looks at ways we can explore this subject in our daily life practice to reveal how they can work. It also discusses how they can lead us to be blinded by the process of identification and thus make us prone to the fear of death.