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The Koan of Arrival [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-10
There are many religions that teach a specific endpoint, a goal, of life’s struggles in a Heaven, or a Valhalla, or a transcendent state of union with the divine, or a complete escape from the world of Samsara. Others, such as Kabbalah, teach, in part, an unending succession of higher and better Heavens.
Zen says to throw all such notions away, or rather, to go there, come back, and then proceed onward. We will come back to all of that in taking up Tozan’s Five Ranks of the Ideal and the Actual. But if you have been following my koan Diary series, you can see that we are not yet ready for them. Anyway, these are their names, and you can go and read Tozan’s koans if you like, without waiting for me to get to them.
I: The Relative within the Absolute II: The Absolute within the Relative III: Coming from within the Absolute IV: Arrival at Mutual Integration V: Unity Attained
Shakyamuni Buddha trained for 55 45 years after his initial great awakenings, as described in many Pali and Sanskrit texts that have come down to us.
The Lord got dressed in the morning, took his bowl and robe, and entered the great city of Śrāvastī for alms. Then, after walking around the great city of Śrāvastī for alms, the Lord returned in the afternoon after eating the almsfood, washed his feet, and sat down on the seat set out for him with legs crossed, body held erect and attention directed in front of him. Then a great many monks approached the Lord, and after approaching him they prostrated themselves at the Lord’s feet, circumambulated the Lord three times, and sat down to one side. Moreover, on that occasion the Venerable Subhūti had joined that particular assembly and was seated with it. Then the Venerable Subhūti rose from his seat, arranged his cloak over one shoulder, went down on his right knee, saluted the Lord with his hands placed together, and said this to the Lord: “It is a marvelous thing, Lord, just how much bodhisattvas and mahåsattvas have been favoured with the highest of favours by the Realized, Worthy and Perfectly Awakened One, just how much bodhisattvas have been entrusted with the greatest of trusts by the Realized One. How, Lord, should one who has set out on the bodhisattva path take his stand, how should he proceed, how should he control the mind?”
It is the Buddha’s daily training round that the Venerable Subhūti describes as this marvelous favor and trust. The same can be said of his daily meditation, his regular teaching, and his care for his followers. The Vimalakirti Sutra explains how lay persons can train continuously, and it is a constant theme of Dogen Zenji.
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