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Studying Koans in Detail [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-06

One of the great delusions is the idea that one can “solve” a koan, become “enlightened”/awakened, and be all set for the rest of one’s life. So then why did Shakyamuni Buddha train religiously every day for the rest of his life, 55 years? Because that’s what real awakening is—seeing the necessity of endless training for oneself and others. The supposed conflict between sudden awakening and endless training is entirely bogus, just another clash of the opposites that we need to quiet down.

At mealtime, the Bhagavān put on his robe, picked up his bowl, and made his way into the great city of Śrāvastī to beg for food within the city walls. After he had finished begging sequentially from door to door, he returned and ate his meal. Then he put away his robe and bowl, washed his feet, arranged his seat, and sat down. From the midst of the great assembly, Elder Subhūti then arose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, and knelt with his right knee to the ground. With his hands joined together in respect, he addressed the Buddha, saying, “How extraordinary, Bhagavān, is the manner in which the Tathāgata is skillfully mindful of the bodhisattvas, and skillfully instructs and cares for the bodhisattvas! Bhagavān, when good men and good women wish to develop the mind of Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi, how should their minds dwell? How should they pacify their minds?”

Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra/Diamond-Cutter Sutra

Bhagavān, the Blessed One, how monks addressed the Buddha

Tathāgata, Thus-come or Thus-gone, how the Buddha referred to himself

Bodhisattvas, those in training to become Buddhas

Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi, Unexcelled Supreme Awakening

Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā, perfect wisdom that cuts like a diamond, or lightning bolts of wisdom that break delusion

A Buddhist vajra, a symbolic lightning bolt

Subhūti was referring to the Bhagavan’s training, as described above. Too many people suppose that only his words, recorded in Sutras and Vinaya, reflect his skillful care. We looked at some of that in The Buddha's Second Koan, the koan of teaching.

Shakyamuni Buddha is not conscious of being enlightened: do not look for the Lord outside the whole world, the ground and animate things. Everything in the universe is within the LORD’S EYES ; you too are standing within them—not only are you within them, they are you: the LORD’S EYES become a globule of your flesh and all is within all, standing straight, unruled by anything. Therefore, do not think that the LORD ’ S EYES are the LORD ’ S EYES and that you are you, constantly, unchanging. You were, are and will be the LORD ’ S EYES : the LORD is all of you. As this is so, what is the principle of enlightenment? I ask of you this question:– Were, are and will you be enlightened with Shakyamuni Buddha or was, is and will Shakyamuni be enlightened with you? If it is said that you were, are and will be enlightened with Shakyamuni, or Shakyamuni was, is and will be enlightened with you, then this is not Shakyamuni’s enlightenment and this cannot be the principle of enlightenment. If you want to understand the principle of enlightenment in detail, throw away Shakyamuni and you at the same time and know that they are “I.” The “I” and “with” in Shakyamuni’s first utterance was, is and will be the whole world, the universe and animate things; this “I” is not the old Gautama. Study in detail, think fully and understand “I” and “with.” Even if you can understand “I,” and you cannot realise “with,” you cannot understand fully; you see with only one eye. The “I” and “with” are not one and two; your skin, flesh, bones and marrow are all “with.” The LORD OF THE HOUSE is “I;” if you want to know the ETERNAL LORD OF THE HOUSE, you must not think of it as the whole world and animate things.

Keizan Zenji, Denkoroku/The Transmission of the Light, Chapter 1, Shakyamuni Buddha

Bodhidharma/Daruma doll with one eye painted, signifying half-awakened

There is a verse attributed to Bodhidharma, which begins

I originally came from the West to save all sentient beings.

But then he had a fuller realization.

This gave rise to the koan, “Why did Bodhidharma come from the West?” What was that greater realization? If you penetrate the other koans, you will see this answer like a jewel sitting in your hand. Until you do, you can have no idea what Bodhidharma was talking about.

There is no limit to the degree to which re-harmonization can be developed through on-going training. Nor is there any lack of problems to be solved. But now the trainee knows how to turn to the Eternal for the solutions, how to “wait upon the Lord,” how to listen for the quiet prompting of the Heart, and how to follow gladly and willingly when that prompting comes.

Great Master Dogen’s master told him, “Study in detail. Do not think it is easy.”

How to Grow a Lotus Blossom, by Rev. Abbess Jiyu Kennett

Are you ready to start? And then start again and again in each moment?

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