little blue book zen peter jalesh
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The little blue book on
Zenof the Fundamental
realm
- Advanced Zen -- Advanced Zen -
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Other books authored
___________________
Temple of the Origin, Small Press, New York, 1991
A Portrait of the Artist as an Anthropomorphic Genius-
Machine, Novatrix Library, New York, 2002
Zen Handbook, Novatrix Library, 2004
On sale at Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com andOn sale at Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com and
selected book storesselected book stores
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The little blue book on
Zenof the Fundamental Realm
1234 notes, aphorisms, capping
phrases, koans.
Advanced ZenAdvanced Zen
By Peter Jalesh
Novatrix Library101 W. 55th Street Suite 7DNew York, NY 10019, USA
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This book is dedicated to all Zen monksliving within present universes.
If a Zen monk is the archer, a koan is the bow
and capping phrases are the arrows available
for use or for trade... True nature is like truetruth: redundant. Fundamentally there is not one thing.
Fundamentally there is One thing. Fundamentally a
flight lies within a bird. Fundamentally, a bird lies
within a flight. Fundamentally there is no shadow if
there is One thing. Fundamentally a true thing has no
shadow. Fundamentally the wind from the north makes
vibrate the bamboo stems from the south.
Fundamentally the sun from the east lights themountains from the West. Fundamentally things that
there are are as they are. Fundamentally things that
there are not are as they are. Fundamentally things
that go come; fundamentally things that come go.
Fundamentally what is emerging is withdrawing!Fundamentally love, hate, happiness, suffering,
understanding and compassion belong to bodhy:
everything you like or dislike lies there, including thecentered I. As you get rid of I try to keep your
integrity intact and be righteous to all beings, high or
low; hold in the highest regard equally - the ordinary
sentient beings and the Celestial Beings of the Infinite
Light. The stone man meets the wooden man: Hi!
Buddha smiles
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CONTENTS
_________________________
Preface 1
Essays
1. The Koan 5
2. The capping phrases 8
3. The Koan and theCapping phrases makeup 11
4. Realization 15
5. To the reader 19Notes, aphorisms, capping phrases
21-271
Prolegomena to Zen of the Realization Realm
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Preface
______
The enlightenment through a Zen practice
had been approached on a variety of ways, some
involving an intellectual pursuit (such as reading
Sutras and illuminating texts and doing lengthy
meditations), other concerning koan resolution
combined with Zen meditation (Zazen) . To a
beginner all these systems of Zen thinking are
obscured by the intuitive element immersed in
their rituals. Usually a Zen monk chooses one way
of Zen training or the other based on some affinitywith the methodology used by a particular school
and its implied promise to offer an unquestionable
and verifiable enlightenment. Most of the monksundertake an intimate look at the schools
methodology trying to find some constructive
elements used in training, be it meditation of all
sorts (including Zazen), Sutra reading or koan
resolution. Such constructive elements differ from
a school to another. Among the fundamentals that
all the schools have in common there are those
private meetings between a monk and his Zen
Master in which the monk has to produce
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sanzen meanings drawn out of his training.
Those meanings have a religious or philosophical
color for a Sutra reading or the color of an
epiphany for a koan practice. Most of the Zen
schools that use koans in their practice, including
those that follow the very same methodology in
training (such as Rinzai schools engaged in a
thorough koan teaching) differ in the positionsthat they take towards rationalization, towards
meanings that could be intellectually infered out
of a koan. Stricto sensu no qualified speculations
on a Sutra sacre text or a koan could be accepted
as trustfully valid. The only exceptions are the so
called revelations in which the anonymous
intuition seems to speak out with no interference
from the normal mind that we use for reasoning.
Intuition gets involved usually to resolve a
stalemate between mind and whatever proves to
be the unknown to reasoning. In case of a koan
this unknown is the emptiness. At the first sight itseems that all Zen schools are dogmatically
involved in a futile attempt to move beyond
language using language, and beyond mind using
mind. In this respect schools based on Sutra
readings are less rigorous so that production of
revelatory poems full of hyperbolic incantationsof the divine and sublime metaphors for the
Heavenly living is a common accepted outcome
for the graduate. As an alternative, Koan practice
produces capping phrases (jakudo), mental
fulgurations that the awakened could craft to
provide a glimpse into his ultimate experince. It
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may sound paradoxical that a Zen school based on
koan practice considers the mind unfit to witness
and the language imperfect to express anything
relevant to awakening, although it uses the
imperfection of language in order to put forward
the indefinable insight that comes with the
resolution of a koan. Of course, the mental
struggle that a koan resolution implies is not
present when a capping phrase is created so that
the monk could at his best create a hypothetical
insight. Once the mind is freely involved in the
process of this hypothetical insight the truth of
it could be hindered and displaced because of the
inadequacy of the rational mind to apprehend theineffable experience of emptiness. Furthermore, a
capping phrase cannot be taken and should not be
taken in any way as the unequivocal solution to a
koan. The insightful penetration of a capping
phrase depends utterly on the imagination of the
awakened that authored it. If one tried to use the
seriousness of a scientific research and so
scrutinize a capping phrase using a rich
intellectual base one may call into question
capping phrase relevance to a koan in particular.
Zen doctrine refutes such an approach as being
inadequate to its very nature. For a Zen adept
though such a reasoned connection is not
important. What is really important is that a
capping phrase might well serve to summon his
intuition to work so that it could render the koan
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in a new light and so feed the subconscious
tensions involved in its resolution. Capping
phrases should function as emptiness-testing-
devices. They should be used in the creation of
some meaning and yet work towards what
meaning is not. Sense is reduced to pure sense-
dust subtly emerged by mind in the inanimate
world of the emptiness that emanates with eachmoment of its manifestation phenomena, life and
spirit. The emptiness
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Note: I practiced Zen from 1978. My
Eastern Philosophy based experiences originate in
1975 with Hata Yoga, followed by Raja Yoga and
Bakhti Yoga that evolved by the end of 1977 into
Zen. I began writing about various Zen subjects in
order to feed or to register my own Zen
experiences. My only Zen achievements occurred
in 1982: a Samadhi incidence that, two days later,
was followed by an even more powerful event.
Both events lasted less than a couple of minutes.
None of those experiences repeated since. I kept
having various moments of elation that resembled
Samadhi, others that I could call revelations,
though none of them were as powerful as the 1982events. There is well known that Samadhi is one
of the most elusive events. What it gives to those
who experience it, is an overwhelming illusion of
mind merging with the whole universe, of a body-
mind getting dissolved in the universal emptiness.
The other side of the token is that - in real life -
one might understand the essence and the
invariance of the whole universe through every
days life and practice.
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Bio: PETER JALESH, born Boris
Musteata in Romania. In 1960 he graduated from
the School of Cinematography. In 1965 he
received a MS degree in Nuclear Physics from the
Polytechnic Institute, Bucharest, followed by two
MA degrees: in Linguistics in 1970 and inPhilosophy in 1974, both from University of
Bucharest. He began his writing career in 1958.
He published several volumes of poetry: Menuet
(1968), Poema (1970), Poemele Marii (1975),
Cintul Etern and Poema Dacica (1977), Luminile
de dimineata (1978, a novel - Vinzatorul de
memorii (1978), a volume of modern poetry
translated from Russian, other translations from
universal symbolist poetry. From 1970 to 1979 he
wrote scenarios for animation and documentary
features, commentaries for radio and television
shows. In 1978 he translated B. Malinovsky'sCultural Anthropology. In 1972 he became a
political dissident and spent the next years under
the surveillance of the Communist Secret Police
(Securitate). Before escaping to U.S. he was
subjected to numerous coercive interrogatories
and tortures.
In 1979 he asked for political asylum. He
became an American citizen in 1988. Since
emigration he published seven books on subjects
related to IBM computer software, two novels,
Temple of the Origin andA portrait of the Artist as
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an Anthropomorphic Genius Machine and a book
on Zen:Zen Handbook.
Major one-man art exhibitions: Quasi
Still Life Series, 56 abstract paintings and
drawings, Deep Space Gallery, 11/1996, New
York, Abstract Endings on Large Canvases,
abstract paintings on oversize (11 ft. to 25 ft.)
canvases, Pearl Gallery, 02/2000, New York, A
Retrospective of Quasi-Action Painting, 82 old
and new abstract paintings, Mercedes-Benz
Showroom Gallery, 02/2003, New York, New
Abstract Paintings, 26 abstract paintings
60X48, Mercedes-Benz Showroom Gallery,12/2004-02/2005, New York.
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The second definition of a koan sounds
like and IQ test for a candidate to awakening. The
koan becomes a riddle, a puzzle, a masterly
written story in which logic and reason are
peripheral so that any attempt to interpret it falls
short of a solution. In fact the solution is not
on the table. Then what is the use of a koan?
There is this idea that by exploring the koan amind can produce no-meaning and so convey a
higher truth: the search for such truth creates an
overwhelming mental crisis in which learned
logics meant to shelter one from judgmental errors
dont make sense anymore. The desirable result is
a complete rewiring of ones brain: this change
allows one to be more and more able to merge his
self with the unmediated emptiness. The
awakening facilitates the ultimate truth to come
into sight as a super-coherent image that fuses
the awakened and the whole universe in its
manifestation into One.In any koan case the process of
transformation between the inception point when
one approaches a koan and the awakening, goes
through various stages where one can feel without
a doubt very subtle changes, fleeting states of
mind lying in some space beyond reach. The mindalteration is felt sometimes as a pleasant high
other times as a threat. What is essential in the
koan practice of laic people is to withdraw if
one can whenever one feels that ones mind
becomes amorphous or possessed by
unidentifiable forces. For a monk such things are
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okay and also desirable, since theyre part of the
progress a monk makes on becoming one with his
koan. Also a monk has a Zen master (roshi) to
approach when in doubt and entertains dialogs
(sassho) with him that direct, correct, redirect
ones mind towards a result that it doesnt throw
ones mind in a delusional world. The rule to
follow is that the transformation that koan practice
would bring forth should be clear and the whole
experience should give one the feeling that one is
able to scrutinize any aspect of it. It is not clear -
even to psychologists that commented on Zen -
what is the effect of a koan to ones mind. The
point is that the profound insight of a koan (that,at the beginning, seemed nonsensical, ineffable,
incoherent, delusional, ambiguous but also
intrusive, etc.) might result at a fortuitous moment
(that seems to resolve all the contradictoryroutines of the koan) into a state of mind of
infinite resonance and bliss. To get there monks
are using sometimes capping phrases which
phrases are parsed out of a koan or a comment on
a koan, though most of the time theyre
independent reflections that have to be researched
by intuition for any hidden content that could find
that what-visibly-lacks-a-connection-to-koan is
yet a consequential mode to see it through.
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The capping phrases
Just as it happens to a child while learningthe alphabet (a, b, c, d) and seeing the alphabet
harboring knowledge, so it is with capping
phrases. If the previous statement sounds like a
metaphor one cannot go any further than that with
capping phrases. In what sense and context such
capping phrases could help a Zen practitioner
(monk or not) clarify and then subvert a koan intosubmission? And then, what this submission
means? It depends! Most of the practitioners
would get enriched at some intellectual level (if
not on an even higher level) by the transcendental
view that an illogical, poetical or paradoxicalstatement could open wide. A few would become
one with their koan and suffer a profound change
that might result in enlightenment. What capping
phrases tend ultimately to do is to disable and
alienate your mind from strict reasoning while the
koan acts as the ultimate executioner of reasoning.
The few capping phrases that assembles in a koan
act as a counter point acts in music, bringing
different voices together to create harmony out ofdichotomy and chaos, which in the case of a koan
is nothing else but the harmony of the chaos or
emptiness in its manifestation. The main appeal of
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a capping phrase comes from its detached and
indifferent way of questioning, asserting or
negating something of an essence while trying to
entertain the ineffable, the inexpressible, and the
vague aura of a hypothetical thought. The words
are saying things, yet when youre reading them
theyre directing you towards something that is
missing. It is really something missing or
whatever is missing is conditioned by the form in
which things are expressed? A metaphor for
instance - if defined as something that is expressed
in such way that it suggests a resemblance while
pointing to things that cannot be part of a
comparison - introduces such a hole into thethinking process. Normally, the thinking process
works by building logic through known concepts,
comparisons, analogies, words found usually in
pertinent contexts, contexts that can be recognized
as part of reality or common knowledge. On the
contrary, the metaphor is sort of a negative image
in the sense that it puts together things from
different realities in images that would never
get resolved even if the images are developed
ad infinitum. Well, Zen resorts rarely to metaphor.
Is it because a metaphor is difficult to master? Or
it is just because a Zen expression should be as
direct as an arrow flying unobstructed towards a
target and so a metaphor - with its convoluted
meaning - would be ineffective as suggestion?
Whatever the reason, the capping phrases are not
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far from metaphor and poetry and they supply the
true literary ground to the koan realm. They
also support, supplement and enhance the superb
illusion of having an instrument at handy that one
might use to solve a koan by means of
reasonable processes, step by step, getting
closer and closer with every capping phrase that
gets absorbed. With capping phrases at handy theunbridgeable gap between a koan and its
solution seems getting narrower and the final
leap comes into view. The more intently one
focuses on the capping phrases the closer the
solution to the koan appears. Fortunately, the
process is dual, as any other process that involves
ones mind: a part of the process is conscious and
depends on reason; the other part is intuitive and
unconditioned by reasoning rules such as logic
(inference) or physics (cause-effect determination
law). If reasoning is an inference, the intuitive
process is alienation and withdrawal. If reasoninginterprets logically a context and engages in a
mediating course between ones knowledge and
the context of the capping phrase, the intuition
on the contrary acts as a hidden, passive but also
immediate reflex-interpreter of an essential truth
that any faulty or faultless phrase might contain.Although these capping phrases dont have
capacity to enlighten they may improve
undoubtedly through a reasoning effect the other
comprehension, the intuitive one.
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important when one engages obsessively to
resolve the koans riddle. What is the secret
behind the freedom that ones mind acquires
during this mental exercise? And, if any, what is
the transcendental aspect of such realization?
And if such transformation is conveyed by words
what is the fabric of those words that make them
so powerful in Zen? Most of the time a koan - andits capping phrases - are just allegories. Although,
even in the case when a capping phrase can be
assessed independently its meaning has a value
that can be fleetingly sensed as an insubstantial
element linked to a well perceived literary
meaning. One way to look at Zen allegories is by
sorting them based on the moods that they try to
project: that mood could be evocative (viewed,
heard), inferential (logical, illogical), absorbent
(self), indifferent (external), delusional (by intent)
or miracle-like, etc. with all equivocation inherent
to analogies. Besides what is obvious allegoricalthere is a very rich Zen jargon developed for
centuries - and kept secret - in which any word
representing a common thing has a Zen reading
attached to it. Thats why a Zen allegory has
multiple strata of meaning which asks for certain
techniques in order to be interpreted. As you readthis text Im on the process of writing such a
dictionary of Keywords and allegories in Zen
literature based mainly on Blue Cliff Records
books. Some examples of symbols used in a Zen
jargon could be dragon=>initiate, snake=>nave,
claws {and fangs of the cave of Dharma}=>
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koans, clarity=>enlightenment, etc. Although due
to all these stylish ins and outs it could be difficult
for most of us to create a new koan, a capping
phrase can be grasped easily and through an
immediate and intuitive process recreated on a
mental plan that could be similar but also
dissimilar to the original one. Since capping
phrases are not prone to analysis, critique or a
logical objection it makes it easier to an author to
include in such collection almost everything
plausible that could be sold as implausible, such
as proverbs, clichd sayings, metaphors,
paradoxes, illogical clauses-provisions-causes-
amendments-consequences-effects. One should bewarned though that capping phrases are not to be
taken as reasonable uttering. On the contrary,
one has to create a distinction between common
reasoning and revelatory (intuitive) reasoning,
between common knowledge and mystical
knowledge, between reason and non-reason, and
ultimately between reality and illusion. Those that
attained awakening know that the post awakening
period is difficult especially on matters that
involve mental activity, including simple
judgments, and, to the extreme, logical and
philosophical utterances. On this regard language
is felt as being an alien instrument to the
awakened so that whatever is expressed sounds
imperfect or incomplete, as if in need to be forced
to fit into a meaning; even simple exchanges, such
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as greetings, sound false and erroneous. It is as if
after the world of permanence is seen by the
awakened, neither the words nor the lives in
general with their infinite forms of
manifestation are matters of any interest.
Gradually, as the mind is brought back into
compliance with reality, this malaise fades and
the mind regains some capacity to constructeloquent phrases about the world from beyond,
which is the delusional world of the awakened.
These utterances are sometimes taken as
revelations per se, when in reality there are neither
more nor less than inspired sayings created by a
mind that lived through and survived the unusual
circumstances of the awakening.
Regardless of the form of expression that
a capping phrase takes the important thing is the
capacity of such phrase to be suggestive, to go
some way towards engaging ones mind with
empty thinking. The empty thinking doesntuncover a meaning. It is easy to understand it if
one thinks that what a capping phrase is trying to
do is to create a strategy for the mind so that the
mind could find a meaning that is lacking within
the meaning that is given. For instance a capping
phrase like A thousand eyes open at once couldpoint to an awakening situation, or to that
perception that overwhelms the awakened, or to
the feeling of omnipresence that accompanies the
merge of the awakened with the whole One, the
universe in its manifestation. Would a phrase like
A thousand doors open at once do the trick?
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Obviously so! But the suggestion would be less
felt, less personal, less individualized, and less
illuminating.
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Realization
Realization (kensho, kensho-godo, kensho
jobutsu, satory, enlightenment) is the most
important concept in Zen. Its meanings include:seeing directly the nature of things, seeing ones
true nature, seeing into ones own true nature,
penetration into ones own nature, looking
directly into ones nature. How and in what
circumstances will such a seeing occur? Normal
knowledge (perception, representation, thought)
consists of a duality subject-object, seer-seen sothat what a seer is seeing as thing (object, self) is
always the other. Seeing into ones true nature
is an experience where the duality subject-object,
seer-seen recedes so that it (the experience) offers
to ones mind the pure inner vision of natureitself. In ordinary circumstances one assumes that
things are true when they truly respond to what a
practical experience and reasoning would expect
as response. This approach has a natural and
legitimate foundation for the living beings with
regard to the separation between self (body, mind)
and the other, whatever the other is. Realization
transcends the ordinary experience by fusing,
blending, merging, integrating, absorbing theones self into (with) the other (world of objects,
nature). At the instant when such a fortuitous
moment gets produced one gets the illusion of
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seeing the true nature (the whole) while being the
whole, the it. Reason cannot be invoked in this
realm in order to stamp such happening with
certitude. The paradox that is presented as the
casual meaning of post-realization is that both
reason and transcendental insight are truthful to
what nature is. Why then one would have such a
need to pursue Zen to see in ones true nature?
Such a need originates in ones doubts that what is
seen as reality is the only truth that exists. To get
an answer to such doubts one would inevitably
have to inquire into the origin of all that there is
seen and unseen, (to see beyond senses,
representation and ideas), to transcend matter andsoul that mark any living being with
impermanence, to go beyond the limits that
mortality imposes on ones body and mind. This
reasoning consists of elusive tendencies that
humankind nourished from the beginning of time
and sustains all religions. Each of these religions
is offering its own metaphysics (language,
grammar, texts) and methodology (practice) to be
used by an adept to get to see the ultimate truth,
that unequivocal truth of the origin that persists in
eternity, beyond bodily and mental
impermanence.
*
Koans and their capping phrases play an
important role in Zen religious schools and
monasteries. They function as seeds to meditation.
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Every koan is a mode to reveal emptiness though
the key to such revelation cannot be found by
indulging ones mind into interpreting the koans
common sense. A koan cannot be deciphered
(penetrated) before its logical and conceptual
meanings are transcended by the mind. Each
monk that begins Zen gets an initial koan to work
on during Zazen. Innumerable mental states canarise from within ones efforts to solve the
koans puzzle, most of them delusions coming
from the limits that a koan puts on conscious
interpretation until the koan is sensed as living
on its own at the center of all things and carrying
with it the very self of the monk. Capping phrases
are sometimes seen as obscure and unrelated to
the koan itself and at the very beginning, it is
difficult to recognize the relevance of a capping
phrase in relationship to a koan. It is also arguable
that regardless of the mode in which a koans
ultimate sense gets broken (passing through gate,penetrating the barrier) it provides a unique
solution. Proof of the contrary are the various
capping phrases accompanying various stages of
koan insight (kensho). Anyone familiar with
various collections of capping phrases
understands that a capping phrase is a potentialsuggestion of what an insight is while
nevertheless it cant be used as a substitute to a
koan with some exceptions when the koan
consists for instance of only one line in which the
koan is resolved (wato) such as the sound of one
hand, the original face, the great matter, etc.
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In monasteries where koans play an important role
in awakening the practice involves two players a
monk and his Zen Master (roshi) caught up in two
games a koan game that takes place during
meditation, (an activity considered as being
fundamental in sustaining the awakening effort)
and a checking questions game (sessho) in
which Zen Master checks the monks level of
insight and guides him towards production of the
final solution to his koan. Once a koan is
resolved the monk receives another koan so that
his mind could continue to live in that quasi
inauthentic reality of his mind which gradually
becomes the only reality he knows anythingabout. With this kind of a living through
meditation on koans a monk becomes more and
more detached from the objective world and
grows to be a sort of human creature living mostly
in a purely mental state. Everymans
consciousness is different and involves real
actions in a world that demands from one a
permanent focusing on the objective reality;
mental and bodily activities in the real world are
inherent to the living experience so that there is
not too much space left void in the brain for koan
resolution. To that everymans consciousness a
capping phrases book could be a source of poetry
and paradox that may slip away spontaneously
into ones own territory of revelations founded on
understanding, with the thought that such
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utterances come into being from a monks mind
that happens to live in a higher state of mind
elsewhere.
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To the reader
This collection of notes, aphorisms andcapping phrases is the result of a thorough
selection from manuscripts I have written between
1985 and 1998. What these writings show is that a
post-awakening life remains viable and creative
despite the experience of the ultimate merge with
the universe and also that matters-of-life and of
the living lingers at the heart of ones thinking
after awakening. An inflexible Zen individual
might say that such thinking breaks out of the
traditional Zen circle and so it looses a true Zen
identity, becoming a philosophical, ordinary way
of thinking. Im not going to set out todemonstrate that Zens position on this regard
brings forth emptiness instead of being anaspect that bothers me a lot and that by doing so
it creates out of existence an improper (and
absurd) subject of thought. What Id emphasize is
that in any natural situation living humans are
dealing with words and utterances that try to
penetrate the truth beyond appearances. And this
always works like that while humans talk. Though
even when one is using common language there
are special utterances, which are using convoluted
logic, paradoxes, negative thinking, and
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metaphors to help one penetrate a reality that is
uncertain or only partially knowable. These forms
add to such utterances the mysterious aura of
something that is inscrutable in what we know
that is real. By creating a koan culture Zen is more
ambitious than that, which this book tries to show
evidence of.
On all accounts though, this book should beviewed only as an intellectual contribution to Zen
in general for there is no ordering of the notes or
capping phrases and no specific links could be
drawn between them in order to bridge a possible
koan and give one that sudden confidence that the
enlightenment is around the corner. The word
Fundamental from the book title should be
taken as a metaphor, though nevertheless my own
experience with koan and koan training passed
that Fundamental stage that gives one the raw
sense that there is an ultimate truth coming with
realization. Furthermore, in my case, I consideredworthy of interest any other truths relevant to
what we call - in our normal states of mind -
reality, truths that deserve to be lived and
expressed at ones free will. Forewarning Clause:
The notes present in this book followed my
extensive meditation on koans. Koans solvingand other koan work outs will be the subject of
the next book titled: The little Orange book on
Zen of the Realization Realm. A few koan
resolutions present in this book should be taken
as an introduction to the subject.
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Notes, aphorisms, capping
phrases
1. What the sutra says is that there is
nothing in front and nothing behind
except the One itself, although the
One is empty.
2. Spring when blooming starts spring
when blooming leaves: time well
spent brings resemblance.
3. Look how ducks cross the moonlitlake: the moonlight stays unsoiled and
the water erases the traces of the blue
threads.
4. In doubt the one thousand eyes stop
moving.
5. Notes: The laughs one utters after acry; still inventing words to name the
unnamed; round after round of
nothingness; when the unknown
flares up; we, the leaves of the forest;
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the emptiness with all the words in-
between; no word will take you there;
a few breezes away, one wind nearer;
death will soon take you there;
million drums one sound; covered
with sand uncovered by the wind; a
breath of emptiness no address left
for beggars; one guard fit to guard, noentry beyond life; point to it and
youll see it gone; where all arrows
converge; a spinning coin keeps its
head/tail meaning intact; the creatures
of the emptiness; looking for words in
an universe that hands out
phenomena; all phenomena are
herded by words; voluntary
surrendering; trying to attain
enlightenment with no seeking in
mind; you could see the sun in the
cemetery, moving from a stone to thenext; when the snow blossoms and
the unseen moon becomes an
intellectual pursuit; thoughts used to
erect Zen pillars; not born yet, not
dead yet; the weeds grew into lianas;
eating, peeing, shitting words thatwill forever spread onto the brain; did
any small creatures witnessed your
awakening? Awaiting dawn with your
feet deepen in ice; white doves flying
across the snowy valley; wrestling
with a tiger for a meager meal of dear
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meat; in a dead village those left
behind are still living; a wave that left
behind signs of those who sailed
away; drawing water crushing ice;
words chained on a mouth that once
was alive.
6. To have a fine sense of what
emptiness is and still dissect
phenomena to unveil the mystery.
7. Future is measured in seconds; past is
measured in centuries
8. Organizing a kitchen to host orderly
guests: one stream of water for each
grain of rice
9. Notes: Things seen all at once seem
unbounded; the deep waters keep
their doors closed; (neither getting in,
nor going out; what is it?); When ten
empty directions lead to ten empty
targets; if the same moon comes again
to shine on the same lake, things stay;
10. When elephants climb up trees and
weightless clouds are sold as
pillows A mind in exile inherits
innocent phenomena.
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11. The mountain of sounds sinks in a sea
of silence.
12. Reality says: I gave you a mind as anatural Way to know me! Zen says:
Ill give you a direct Way to know
reality by knowing what mind is!
When moon passes through clouds
and evergreen trees which Way
should one use to know it? If mind
intrudes upon moon passes through
clouds and evergreen trees, as mind
says. If mind does not intrude upon
moon passes through clouds andevergreen trees. Learning and
interpreting what moon, clouds and
evergreen trees are makes the
evergreen look green. Not learning
but just reflecting makes the
evergreen look evergreen.
13. The dweller of a burning furnace
14. Notes: Nameless things; the last
comes first; in the order of their
leaving; terra-cote Buddha; a knee to
knee on; one bone one marrow;
song of the dead composed in
silence; one lamp no moon in sight;
time bears nothing; an icebox with
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water inside; doubts that forever
would have a meaning; an original
face encompasses all; I recall, I recall;
to make it happen then undo yourself;
silent and soundless; blind and
faceless; the sense of smell; one pearl
per shell; maternal bloom; same snow
two hills; cold glance icy maze;
timeless equality; a drum played by a
spirit in the essence of the mind; the
inexhaustible rain just stopped;
emptiness remembered; it is because
they were empty; the mind is
inherently cold; your denture fell inyour stool; many more will die before
youd be reborn; a message from
Buddha: where your breath; glacial
hypothesis.
15. What is measured - blossoms, what isrushed - doesnt bare fruit
16. If you seek youll not get there in
time. If you dont seek you may not
get there by all means. In this casealso, later is better than never.
17. The patience of lake water waiting for
moonlight
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18. Finding that the dream was reality
and vice-versa. Now I can look at
what is - even if it is not.
19. Clamoring awakening? Despite what
it is it needs neither clamor nor moan;
Awakening stares in ones eye as
ones eye stares at the awakeningprivate stare infinite
communication A dead eye cant
see it, a living eye cant rinse out its
image of illusion
20. Phenomena are like the whirlwinds
swarming a river.
21. Emptiness is the most revealedcreator: when crows fly low at night
there is always wither chaos involved
in its play or Buddhas unsoiled sutra
being recited elsewhere. Why it is so
is because what chaos can do Buddha
cannot undo. Though, why Buddha
would get involved when what
comes-goes, and both stay?
22. Frozen and searching when a breeze
comes by: the blossoming spirit is
asleep within.
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23. Thrusting your teeth here and hearing
the cry there Between root and
leaves no words to be exchanged
24. Neither the sense of small nor a
manifesting fragrance.
25. In winter times as you see a nakedbare tree you have the chance to
encounter your original face. As the
tree blossoms your original face goes
away. To be less chain-bound you
have to have less to see. White sandy
waters reflecting white clouds is a
better example. Although, remember,
seeing while there is nothing to be
seen is the best occurrence for dazing
the awakening. A black crow flying
through a pitch dark night
Throwing black coins into black
water
26. Hate or love death as you like, bothfeelings mean attachment. It could be
true that in order for the universe to
survive us, we all must die. The only
way to cheat this law is to close your
mind and to retreat in a place where
no-mind can show you how
magnificent this impermanence is:
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moments evaporating, how
wonderful, history in ruins, one
million years old archaeopteryx
feathers still able to fly, two billion
years old plum flowers, sixteen
billion years old bosons, wonderfully
preserved with jaws, claws and eye
patches immaculate and intact
27. On a one thousand miles high peak, a
frozen stool
28. If were asked to disperse, we
disperse; if were asked to flock, we
flock. Those who disperse flock,
those who flock disperse. Behind
close doors no words unfurl
29. Buddhas statue in the meditation
hall: cold steel eyes, cold marble skin,frosty nostrils, snow buried ears,
pearls of dust from yesterdays
sprinkle on his gold plated hands: the
quiet clouds are full of hidden
thunders
30. Already there though the calls for
help were not answered
31. Questions could be asked if you
promise not to imitate the answers
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32. Images enveloping my eyes, soundsenveloping my ears: nothing allowed
to get in, nothing left to get out.
33. Emptiness stares at me: Be what you
are! There is nothing else you canbe
34. Lying on such a transparent fabric
that it depicted it breaks. Trying to get
a sense out of it ignites fire flakes
Although the endless fog of ignorance
cant go through the eyeless tiger
can. So do the phenomena heading
back to the essence.
35. Yesterdays phenomena lay in state
36. Mind named them names before
knowing them so the names became
clouds that cover their clarity. Nowthat the names have been banished
from speech and writing would the
silence succeed to mingle with things
and let them do the saying? The lakemight say: Clear down to the
bottom The rain might say:
Bound to fall and become as
inglorious as a puddle is. Every
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voice-thing returning a favor to what
the words used to name
37. A worm crawling away under a birds
watchful eye
38. One day you do Zazen and feel theimmeasurable sky as it draws near
and the bird songs fill the air and
youd like to converse with Buddha
and ask him about the Way you
should choose to get there; and you
get no answer. And as you awake
from meditation the whole universe is
roaming around, and you understandthat the Way is there, in the buzzing
street, in every aspect of life that goes
on around you. And Zen becomes a
simple matter, easy to handle doing
your everyday chores. So many words
have been spent to make Zen a cult.
They rented a Buddhas statue, a
piece of plaster as old as ones shoes,
they peeked into some easy way to
figure out what koans are saying and
under controlled circumstances they
produced mini awakenings, mini
Buddhas, enlightened flies fleeing the
Way without knowing that the Way
was here.
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39. What draws near shines afar; the fiveoclock dew is younger than the six
oclock dew; wordless talk; one(1)and 2(two) paired together; will still
be visible; emptiness-loving thoughts;
when the bottom touches the ceiling;pain of the distance; thoughts beingmisused; down here mirroring down
there; census: whos living, whos
dying; sentences mothering words;
original face in ones resemblance; no
dreams while awaken, no thoughts
while asleep; the gates of death;
hidden into It like an untouched
virtue; one inch apart, an eon into the
making; who had ever heard it would
die for it; seeds that sprout even in
death; find your trace by smelling the
wind; under the weight of ones foot
the road becomes void; the reality
killed him; savoring illusion; peeringbackward at pain; awakening the
silence with a silent word; infinite
fires before the end; seeing the map
but not the roads; youre still a freespirit if you want to become a
messenger.
40. The eternal side of a bird in flight.
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41. The rise and fall of anger is like
drunkenness stirred by heavier
drinking
42. When the thoughts cease to spin
understanding and the weightless
layers of emptiness break out at once:
phenomena running for cover
43. Pursuing form, chasing illusion;
seeking self, chasing understanding;
experiencing no-mind, apprehending
nothing.
44. A stationary flight.
45. To transcend subject and object is like
reaching the world where world-is-
not with a mind-that-is-not.
46. A thought lost in a mind would
eventually find its way out.
47. What is more truthful than what is
true? Forget the logic: wisdom eats
dinner at the fools table.
48. Notes: Seeking outside or externals isas counterproductive as seeking
inside and internals. The greatest
delusion would be to think that
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outside and inside have nothing in
common to be sought. Chasing form
and sound outside, chasing form and
sound inside! As far as mind goes
both ways cover the same territory.
One seeks the true perception,
representation, understanding,
knowledge of phenomena, the other
seeks the true intuition, the essence,
the eidos, the reality beyond senses
and therefore beyond a birth and
death reality. Is this beyond birth
and death reality of any relevance to
the living? Whatever is beyond alifetime is eternal anyway. One cant
drop history to be present at the
beginning of the world, and one cant
drop the future to be the witness of
the world demise. While seizing with
its claws your mind and holding it
prisoner the reality says: thats me!
And what the mind says? The world
wherein I wander and ponder is what
it is: thats me! Both views are
impermanent. Isnt it pity that in those
two impermanent worlds of a lifetime
the most impermanent moment is the
awakening?
49. A tree bows, Buddha picks a fruit
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55. In a restless world sleep comes with a
snore.
56. The errors (non-truths) or the truthshave the same order number in the
hierarchy of things that smell. Whensenses are cut and nothing stays onthe way to either error or truth, is
there anything besides order to
consider? If there is no telling the
error is shut out. If there is telling the
truth is shut out. As youre hardly
trying to nail the question using Zen
logic you get nowhere. The story of
the monk who inadvertently fathomed
the ultimate answer while
stumbling on a bamboo stick, what
does it says? Though, the legitimate
question on this respect is: If the ear
is capable of tiptoeing, why the nose
is not? Try it: tiptoe with your nosebehind a smell, and be the smeller and
the smellee, both at the same time.
While you do that remember: no
senses are allowed to be usedthrough
57. Seeking Buddha, getting pain that
extends beyond ones body
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promise an eternal life, although it
hopes to find out how to get there.
The delusion arriving from Zen
promises to cut the roots of birth and
death and therefore it offers to the
awakened an eternal life, though the
hope and everything else has to be left
aside in order to avoid getting caught
in attachments and seeking.
59. A bone to a dog but a living sparrow
to a kitten
60. What is beginning-less is endless: nobarrier wherever it turns; silent clarity
in an empty realm
61. The tide borrows water for a shortshowing. You can learn what the tide
says without hearing the lesson.
When tides begin to emerge, theirforms are wrought by the wind, and
their bodies are made out of water.
As they reach the mind, they cant
enter the mind. As mind reaches thetides, the ultimate truth comes into
view as the wind withdraws.
62. Beneath the mirrors circle
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63. To give birth to a new mind in the
same body: looking everlastingly,
cleansing the seen of seeing.
64. To force a mute to talk and a deaf to
listen
65. Do in this life what you did in theprevious life, just do it a little bit
better. If you could live both lives at
once youd know how to proceed.
Even what you dont do would then
have some meaning to you. Since this
aint going to happen try to do good
as much as you can. Not to linger
over good or evil concerns the
judgments that you apply to other.
Good should inspire and determine
you to deny to yourself the right to do
evil. Seeing good as being godlystuff, seeing evil as not being
humane
66. A flawless color shattered by a wrong
sight.
67. Phenomena that defy the emptiness:there is sand in every cement block.
68. Notes: An immortal awakening has todeal again and again with a mortal
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awareness. In a moment of awareness
the differentiations and
discriminations vanish. Then ordinary
moments of conventional perceptions
rise and fall emptying the awareness
of timeless light and Buddhahood
until a new moment of awareness
comes and turns the conventional
perception off. Awareness and
conventional perceptions are sitting at
the same negotiating table: doubts
cant lock up one to benefit the other.
Self confidence cant influence the
awareness drifting into conventionalperception except for those moments
when conventional perception
ascends to moments of awareness.
Thats whats like dwelling in both
worlds the fundamental and the
ordinary.
69. When reality was still in its infant
years.
70. For Ill not think to act before they
bow
71. Making a point about Zen and the
Land of Overwhelming Gratitude:
those who didnt make it get a ride
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around the blue lake where, they say,
a dragon cries for every
unenlightened man.
72. The sun leaves the scene when moon
appears.
73. Dying from desiring to die? Cut offyour desires and youll live forever.
Thousand Buddhas are waiting to see
your life arriving in Heaven so that
they could convert it into elements.
74. The catch a mosquito lost in an earpassage without shutting off its buzz.
75. All the lights lighted at once, all the
swords blades cutting the same one
piece of reality.
76. Negative ad for Zen: So much bullshit, so much cow shit, so much horseshit. Youre invited to see how the
shit is made: plop! Then another plop!
It isnt finished yet, oh, it will never
ever be finished! Plop! Be a bull shit,be a horse shit! Be Zen. Horse shit
holds more truth than the ultimate
truth.
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77. The toads are croaking so you can
hear It.
78. When he was a small child Buddhaused to have lots of tantrums. What is
the significance of such behaviorwhen knowing what Buddha became?That a tantrum is locked in the
knowing and that illumination has
nothing to do with it.
79. The eyes of a stone arc are buried
deeper than the eyes of a mirror.
80. If the truth of the awakened isbeyond what is true (real) and what
untrue (unreal) is, it is then beyond
this statement also be it true oruntrue. Although, if we say that the
truth of the awakened is not within
comprehension were revisiting
religion and metaphysics. Getting
there were not talking about the truth
itself, but about the truth that
reminisce what mind left out as being
neither true nor untrue. To talk about
the truth of the awakened one has to
master what no-mind can teach,
neither having any means to arise the
emptiness from its sleep nor the
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words to dribble with when the
emptiness awakens. Isnt it strange
that the truth of the awakened puts the
awakened back into defending what
if true doesnt need to be defended?
81. The fundamental stone shines whenwet with fundamental water.
82. Suspending a dry shit on a balance to
measure the weight of a pearl.
83. Like sheep jumping in void from
Mount Summeru cliff: that awakening
was rather a wolfs than Buddhas.
84. A heron wrapped in cotton fog: white
shadows that cant be undone.
85. Fragrance that you can stare at when
blossoms snow.
86. The fallen leaves are turning intomud. How the beetle is going to
sharpen its teeth now? For those that
bring upon themselves seasonaltransformations one mirror is saying a
differing thing than the other. Does a
mirror have any knowledge of the
other mirror? Mirror in itself is
reflection. Reflection in itself is
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mirroring. For a mirror to have
knowledge of another mirror would
ask for a reflection to have knowledge
of another reflection. That is, a
reflection should be knowledgeable of
any other reflection that exists.
Trapped in Heaven: Four walls with
eight windows but no door to get in or
out.
87. Sitting is a deceiving thing. Coming
and going is even more deceiving.
Although, when sun is setting the
moon comes into view
88. The presumption that the moon wouldstrike one day the temple bell could
be proven to be true. Though, this
blossoming would never see the fall
coming The moral is that
happenings beyond time and spaceare free and within a mind touch.
While happenings within time and
space are like the wooden horns on a
stone head: they can touch each otheronly if they crack.
89. The mystery of seeing is like clarityvisiting a pine tree: once, just once
The breeze says what is it The
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leaves and the flowers quiver as they
pick up gently the sound- bits
90. Before your eyes the sky unfolds: it isjust so! The low grass is weaving: it is
just so! If you abolished the mind or
if you raised it in front of your eyes
the world wouldnt change: it is just
so! Buddha sitting in contemplation
may exclaim: Does the voidness
really care about what is mundane
versus supra-mundane?
91. The emptiness in action: knowing
neither idling nor haste.
92. No backtracking, no spilling water to
wash the traces. To make any
progress youd have to leap into the
air, one leap at a time. This is the
edge of the cliff where some perished,
other got enlightened.
93. The essence never decays; the
nonexistent never dies.
94. The reed flowers are snowing: neither
as white as the plum flowers nor as
black as a coal smoke; a goose is
busily hissing Flower to feather are
like mist to cloud
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95. When a form becomes formless? Or a
sound becomes soundless? How the
discrimination surpasses this change?
Form and non-form are not divided.
Non-form and non-sound are not
distinguishable.
96. You cant discover what the secret ofa blossom is by uprooting a tree.
97. The essence is formless, without
name and without witnesses. Bathed
in the body of inexhaustible
phenomena and trying to find the
essence in vain. What it wields is just
s teasing evidence, sort of an
objectivity of the deceit. No way to
think of what it is, though you know
that it is just so!
98. Ice denting the water
99. In the inward view nothing to be
seen. In the outward view just a senseof seeing. Holding a bowl to get a
measured potion of boiled rice.
100. Eat slowly so you could learn what
starving is.
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101. Butterflies are too ephemeral to
survive a long Zazen. Thats why
those who meditate on butterflies tend
to overlook the oxen plowing in front
of the window.
102. As it draws things in, it does notpreserve anything. As it manifests
them anew it handles them with a
carrying poise. All you need to know
is that you should not hold onto
anything. Drums get silenced; the
ploughed field has no traces to follow.
Finding the place where things lieawaiting their turn to flee
103. Leaning on your own bones, letting
the mind get through
104. In the Virgin Islands flowers bloomthroughout the year. Zen looses theprivilege to call spring flowers or the
winter snow on its behalf. Although
the permanence of flowers helps
continuously the mind to tackle theemptiness on the presumption that
one day the permanence will vanish.
105. Dualism hidden under monotheism
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106. To loose the sense of seeing and toget it back with a remembrance: was
it, the moons silver neck surveyingthe blossom as it got carried away
or was it not?
107. The ignorance of the one who askedis lower than that of the one who
answers.
108. That swim-is-inseparable-from-water explains why the swimmer
doesnt actually move since the water
doesnt move either. Waves can be
parted only on a drawing board, one
wave knocking the tip of the other
wave, some waves as small as a
musical note on a score, other evensmaller, and invisible, like sheep seen
from a mountain peak in the valley.
Emptiness emerging as phenomena isnot just an emblematic Zen game in
which the whole mystery of the
universe is laid out; it is also what an
inner mind is seeing as thus. The
mystery of what is not seen is the
unspoken guide to the living. The
living is though the spoken side of the
unspoken. While one is outer and
while one is inner is relative to who is
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looking and who is the seen. If the
absolute is perfect and not relative it
cant be spoken. If the absolute is
perfect and also relative it is spoken.
To understand it subtly, imagine a
perfect drop of water touching the
surface of a lake.
109. Whose is that blossoming? Like apearl that fades in a slit open shell..
110. The milestone to North was covered
by beach send; the milestone to South
was covered by waters.
111. The only aspect of the world that isnot Zen is the attachment to what one
loves: that shows how much one live
as opposed to how much one gets
enlightened. Though, after
enlightenment - love follows
112. Phenomena can pass through an iron
gate unscathed
113. In the universe, spirit rolls inward;understanding rolls outward. Speech
though carries both within, like a river
reaching its source and its ending at
any single time. When speech is
complete there is nothing to be
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spoken. When speech is defective it
has to communicate, although nothing
concrete, just something about the
state of reality like: I see it! I see it!
114. On one hand discrimination,dichotomy, differentiation! On theother hand, emptiness, the multitude
of facets and dimensions unified as
One! A wife being married to two
husbands should be faithful to one
while cheating on the other. Be
faithful to reality, cheat on emptiness!
Then exchange partners.
115. Water foams when soap attends the
washing.
116. Notes: Sailing, sailing: a wall ofwater! A drum that fell silent!
Washing a mirror of dust; utterly
within; the Way - impossible to tell
apart from death; Gods are indifferent
to rank; the pit covered by a shell;
beyond East and West, but not far
away from them; reason abolished,
reality neither known through words
nor dented by senses; a clean stool but
a stinking smell; cannons to fulfill a
bows broken dream; a shade of a
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tree is worth an echo of a fallen leaf;
in a long Zazen a mind will grow
cobwebs; timeless emptiness value
less than an ephemeral fly; waiting
for the moon to rise from the water; if
the universe will become ashes the
knowledge will become a gap-
knowledge; seeking Buddhahood,meeting the inscrutable; blind walls,
nameless stories; leaning on a hidden
doubt; neither arbitrary talk, nor
arbitrary silence; the silence of a
lightning from afar; even if you
stitched eternity to ones tongue hell
have a flys fate if he says a word; tea
evaporating, awakening squashed;
talking during Zazen is like eating in
sleep; what youre talking about, what
youre devouring? If there is beyond
the beyond it must be also within thewithin and also lacking the lacking
and all-the-way-through through, etc.
The advice to Zenists is: Just follow
the steps of what common living
persons call vocabulary and youll be
understood.
117. The embarrassment from judgingright from wrong
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118. The realm of the solitary BuddhaNo senses whatsoever Beyond birth
and death the bitterness of the lifelessemissaries: saying what? Saying no
thing! Thousand calls for an answer
and no response. And then theawakening - offering no alternative tothe living from birth to demise
One ardent prayer still echoes
inside The inner ears are silent
119. Never speak with rage or act with
anger; bless their flesh, bless their
bones
120. So much donkey shit had been spenton making Zen a respectable cult!
Some teachers resorted to renting aBuddha statue, a piece of plaster as
old as ones shoes, peeking into some
easy to figure out koans and under
controlled economic circumstances,
with a bunch of well-behaved answers
for any question-to-be-asked, they
produced mini-awakenings, mini
Buddhas, enlightened flies fleeing a
fly whisk Although, Zen could be a
respectable cult only if those
teachers were excommunicated
from teaching
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121. The One that only emptiness could
bring forth
122. A retreat: The forest spread onto thestreets of the old village. The
footprints are from people that came
from elsewhere They say the forest
leaves make sounds that reminisce of
old songs. At the foothill a stone from
the old temple
123. The war drums sounds louder than the
peace drums
124. Plum flowers follow a path never
hidden
125. Down the web ladder a spider gotenlightened. Those caught in the web
rang the bell, rang the bell No ear
could hear it; no eye could lookupon Does this mean that those
attached to the self would never be
saved?
126. Dispersed leaves, untold autumn
stories
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127. Buddha mounting an elephant madeout of pink marble: it looks like the
pink marble knows who Buddha is
128. Estrangement from the original empty
state of mind makes us embracewords for prayers and inventprophets
129. Neither excessive use of language nor
lingering within the silent realm:
language is limited silence is
limited. Beyond guiding, where else
the truth never turns into words?
130. This stream serviced the boats forcenturies. The stream on the other
side of the mountain dried out longtime ago: thats why a boat ride on it
takes longer
131. Shall I look, shall I listen? The bull
passes the gate entrance holding his
tail in his mouth
132. Your next realization stage would
allow you to relieve your previous
realization stage
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136. To seek awakening while workinghard to prove that it cant happen? If
you see it happening let it happen! Ifyou see that it is not happening prove
that it cant happen.
137. On the distant peaks the samemoon The yesterdays one travels
through the immaculate fields of
Heaven.
138. To see thus youd have to free yourmind from knowing this. Watch out:
as phenomena (this) go in and go out,
thus neither goes in nor goes out. You
just have to be careful when its
revealed not to acknowledge its
wonder. Is this thus? Your mindcannot touch thus! Your no-mind is
thus in its long longing to see it.
Some use to call this longing holy!
139. Every day is a new day; the old flag
pole soaked with yesterdays rainfall
takes flight
140. The battered leaves scatter around;
new buds begin to bloom.
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141. Notes: The breath of Buddha shoutsup with every fragrance; gazing at a
written word thats illegible;
wrestling with Buddha and winning;
Buddha taking a seat among mortals;
roll another Sutra parchment cries
the man on the death bed; even then,
even now a lone stare that cannot
follow an arrow in its flight;
Buddhas molded hands embracing a
sprouting bud; sure the reason
brought so much resemblance of what
we say with what we see: doesnt it
look like remembered illusions?
Every day, sampling the reality tofeed a voracious mind; the arrows
target is point-less; an example of
emptiness: putting a string into a
needle hole.
142. Under ones feet life remembered;
above ones feet the morning mist
143. When a chick is born the eggshell is
forgotten.
144. The inner loss is always greater than
the outer loss though they get
recorded in the same folder
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145. The drum beat is hidden under the
drum skin.
146. You shall cut off your thoughts andenter the no-mind realm. Thought by
thought, one thought at a time
147. A bowl of rice mixed with teeth of the
former guests
148. To see what is beyond emptiness islike moving your mind in its middle
and exploring its surroundings. You
can hear the emptiness speak.Although beyond emptiness there is
always some cattle in its own right to
graze formless grass.
149. Mud washed with moonlight
150. Each thing has a guardian assigned byemptiness! A guardian of a snow
flake falls down with the flake, melts
when the flake melts When a flake
dies one thousand white cows are
flying over the frosty forest
151. Exchanging thoughts for a bowl of
rice
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152. In the distant Tibet I lost a close
relative
153. Put some light cloth on and stay: teawould be served as usual, and then
the bell would be sounding as usual.
Unfortunately Id have to go before
the heat of the day awakens. Id also
have to see a doctor. On the way to
Lassa, my feet bled. Undoubtedly
wisdom is sweeter than tea. Though,
playing a guest could be even
sweeter. As far as your feet are
concerned, let them bleed
154. Your daily life teaches you what
youre going to do after you get
enlightened
155. Break through the gate, get lost
156. For monks that are monks no more:
the immobile dirt statue of Buddha
157. Nothing but emptiness: emptiness
but nothing. What else is a bow with
no arrow?
158. Learning to respect ashes as if theywere a living Buddha
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164. Old man telling about broken
dreams
165. Questions as many as grains of sand;
and only one truth to seek
166. How could itbe answered when it hasnever been asked?
167. The day when the bamboo stems
would play the anthem
168. Not executing thoughts while having
lots to do.
169. Even after a thundering awakening it
is never too late to acknowledge that
you still dont know a thing about it
170. Not falling into a deep hole face to
face with the unknown
171. Lonely journey on an empty ground:the healing wound asks the body how
it did it. Killing an explanation doesprovide the right answer.
172. Holding the moon captive in his
eyeball before letting go.
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173. He worries from not being awakenedyet. If hes going to live one more
year his whole ego would leap out.Ive been stolen of my only
treasure, hes shout. Remember, I
told him, that a monk that is not yetawakened is still part of the family.What happens then to the
awakened? So many arrows
pointing at him! They look at him and
see the same face though his face is
one eon-distance apart. Then, is he
still part of the family?
174. Notes: If the center is everywherewhere is the boundary? To discover
that the moonlight weights a million
tons; at the feet of the mountain, abutterfly moists its feet in a dew drop;
to see through things and still not to
be able to gather enough gold to make
a decent meal; mourning the day as it
departs to become yesterday; not
falling within mistaken behavior; to
shoot a bird in flight through a thick
wall; clean conscience with all deeds
on the mark; the barrier gave way just
enough to let a thought take a peek;
better not to see than to see too much;
an articulate statement says less than
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and then came back against your will;
one thing asks questions, two things
reply; so that they know that there is
an emptiness that we all share and
that there is a path on which were
subtly trapped to walk alone.
183. No need for a golden hammer to tap
on an iron nail.
184. Pines trees telling of pine trees.
185. Showing compassion by dropping
ego, body and mind
186. When the wind sweats the riverswells
187. Autumn: Old trees are leafless and
bent; young trees are leafless and
solemn. The water floats equally totheir roots. And the moral is that
those that dont have the know how
take It for granted.
188. Though his eyes are okay he lost the
sense of seeing.
189. Fishs desire to fly ended up on beach
sand.
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and virtuous. Though, as one
approaches the Way with innocence
the path turns through dark alleys
with no compassionate voice to be
heard. Walking on kneaded iron nets
where not even a dragon would risk
adventuring
197. An awakened voice sounds muted
198. Wanting to separate what is realityfrom what is falsehood while looking
at a tree I found the following facts: 1.
As trees are trying on their flowery
spring-dress the butterflies fly around
the tree branches; 2. As trees are
wearing their summer leafy gowns
butterflies fly towards the river; 3. As
trees are loosing their leafy gowns
butterflies are barely to be seen; 4. As
trees are barren naked under theirsnow coats butterflies are nowhere to
be seen. In Samadhi all seasons are
gone, the trees are staring at the
sentient beings, butterflies are alwayspresent but no sentient being could
see them. Hard to know whats the
difference between normalcy and
Samadhi if there is no judgment
allowed to be applied! Although, if
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one puts all these in ancient terms one
needs to get any meaning out of
reality before they can be applied to
Samadhi. Isnt this confirming that
only full knowledge could make a
Samadhi worth while? In reality there
is not even a hair-width difference
between the reality that one is seeingand the reality seen by the other.
Same is with Samadhi
199. Mu: Emptiness pulled by a rope
200. An iced moon in an icy pond Wind,
riding a stony tiger turned into snow
flakes..
201. Notes: The difference between whatis thought as reality and what is
residual, only subjective, false
echoing, thought mocking, centered
but not part of it, nothing but learned
stuff, the unlikelihood of what is
neither thought nor I; emptiness
burden which is either what it is or
what it is not; unwelcome
contribution of speech on the subject
(or object); unfinished perception
getting frozen by a sudden demise;
you seeing what is not to be seen;
thoughts that are not born yet;
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Samadhi followers chanting,
chanting
202. The master of the blossoming yields
way to the master of the flower-
snowing Equal wisdom
203. Water swells and then recedes: thefaceless moon-unshaken
204. A butterfly making a brief stop
between a lions claws
205. A woman wearing a fragrant flowerunder her armpit
206. Riding through the emptiness on a
wooden horse
207. As long as he lived he could listens to
brass music for days. After he died
although he could hear only the
drums beat he never stopped
listening. Buddha would come along
and theyd beat the shit out of the
pigskin drums for days in a row
208. The aura of an ordinary being comesfrom the unknown drawing nearby.
The aura of an awakened one comes
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from the unknown drawing afar.
Hearing what truth is in the silence of
an unspoken word
209. When a mouth talks the mind notices
a seems like situation
210. Thousand cattle roam the Heaven: noshepherd though
211. Valued by their health and weight
though no one would tell you the
price. Now that nobody is interested
in buying them they graze the
mountain meadows East to West,
North to South.
212. Emptiness paints the sky blue and the
grass green
213. There is no cause if there is no
consequence: emptiness acting
stealthily
214. Between being born and dying or
before being born and after dying?Things are the same if you ignore
Karma.
215. Emptiness and the sense of its
nonsense
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216. Something happened but nobodyknows why. The silence of happening
is though different than the silence ofnon-happening.
217. Making sentences out of nothing toillustrate what emptiness is.
218. Hate has more fear in it than love has
courage.
219. The transcendental emptiness with its
ephemeral release: dew is
evaporating; birds are flying beyond
the horizon.
220. To separate a shell from its sea-bound
path.
221. A half-lighted moon has no path to
choose: on the lake surface gallopingmosquitoes Loading an empty iron
boat with iron until it drowns
222. The emptiness drew nearer when thetide submerged.
223. Senses left out to vanish
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230. No Buddha around? Im still alive living my arbitrary life. Buddhaaround? The ghost of April
blossoming in immaculate
appearances snowing over the whitesand of the estuary. What knows no-mind enters no-life
231. Awakening: A privilege one cant get
by birth or inherit through a will
232. Webs of ignorant thoughts, too wide
to catch a winged robber
233. The mystery of life is in the living.
The mystery of mind is in no-
thinking. (The sour taste of life is
noisy; the sweet taste of mind is
quiet).
234. Iron flies with the power of iron
bulls
235. Caught up on anger I charged my bowwith no target in mind. The arrow
went deep into my foot; no one
though perished. Thats whats
strange about anger: it hurts the one
who seizes it without naming a target.
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Remember: flowers grow thorns in
secret in order to avoid anger; why
then one would need to breed anger
while getting stung by thorns?
236. The black power of a concealed act?
237. I lived through a brief encounter withBuddha although no secret word was
whispered into my ear The secret
word is not in the appearance, I
heard
238. Languages perpetuate the idea that
rains are helping crops grow.
239. A sinking boat with no holes in it has
the same market value as a sinking
boat with holes in it. Practice Zen
wisely
240. When dragons know that you sawthem - they hide, otherwise they
appear
241. The bell-flower is a bell-ringer. Whenit fades its bell sound fades. As
opposed to the bells bell
242. Eyes open, ears open, nostrils open
One can sense whats going on and
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words got emptied here; no thinking,
no saying; playing with no-mind will
do for now
245. Before the myriad corners of theuniverse are all illumined by an
enlightened mind the original face
with no eyes gets there, the plum
flowers traversing the spring get
there, the nuptial day-night picture
gets there, the shallow path of the
dragon gets there, the soft summer
wind gets there, the lonely grown-
through-rain-and-snow pine get there,
the sky-etched fireflies get there.
With so much light around who needsan enlightened mind to illumine?
246. Scent that is beyond the sense of
smell; smell is who I am; scent is
what Im not.
247. Ears frozen: no sound can get in. In
water the snakes moves have no
sound; in the grass the cats moves
have no sound. You cant hear it even
if you listen. What about a thunder?
What is then listening but not
hearing? Its neither like being absent
nor like being deaf. Again: it is
listening but not hearing, like
listening but not hearing through a
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thick stone wall, like sound that
sounds but doesnt enter the gate of
senses and interpretation, like passing
from sound to what sound is when
not hearing one. Finally, it is not like
closing your ears not to hear it, its
like opening your ears wide and
hearing no sound.
248. Virtues crowned with thorns, vices
crowned with thorns
249. With delusions rampant, whos going
to point to that innocent thought thatwould allow mind to grow into
Buddha?
250. If coming full koan-circle meansusing words, expanding words,
decanting words, thinning them out,
dropping them, then againdiscovering words, using words, etc.
whats the point to live outside words
just to prove a Zen-point?
251. Words pronounced in silence travel
easily through mountainous walls.
252. A flower hits the mark, a thorn hitsthe mark, a word hits the mark A
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question of whats true reigns over us:
away from home and without an
answer yet What is going to happen
to a mind if delivered from thinking?
Is non-thinking going to hit the mark?
Sometimes ignorance is the exchange
currency for nothing. Mixing words
with guilt of using words asimperfect as the sense they convey
253. At night it rained. At dawn it rained
254. To walk the Way you have to followthe answer back to the question.
Then, before the question is askedyoud have to watch the inexpressible
question-marks that try to unfold. As
you get to see the very moment when
they try to stir the mind, stop them,
catch them, and throw them in apathy:
you cant undo an answer if youre
not willing to undo the question.
255. The pine trees lack seasons
256. Whether we are awakened or take theliving moments to a new height: there
is renewal even in failures
257. What is intimately felt could be
wrongly taken as something of the
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ultimate importance: In joy, for
instance life clearly manifests itself.
In sorrow, death clearly manifests
itself. Though the only thing of
maximum importance in this case is
what transcends joy and sorrow. The
answer can go as far as what spring
flowers communicate to a breeze or
what a flicker of a firefly tells to
moonlight. Nothing is void in the
manifested world if not beyond cause
and effect. And even then the
emptiness has a secret to whisper
about.
258. No being to invoke above, no bones
to invoke below
259. All morning the wind raised the
leaves back to their branches. As all
pathfinders had been fired no leaf
could find the trace back home, not
even those that piled up near the
trunk.
260. In fog frogs weight their jump: no
lotus leaf in sight
261. Teaching with one eye while glancingwith two: discrimination is a mind
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issue though if you see One with two
eyes youre better off than seeing One
with one eye. Why? This question is
already in the answer. Why not? This
answer is already in the question. Its
just that question and answer reflect
each-other And you dont need a
teacher to confirm that.
262. A frosty look at awakening afterawakening Eyes lost the wonder,
ears got back the sound
263. Knowing that youre back home bylistening to the toad croak.
264. Not this, not that! Neither this, northat! Neither that, nor this! Try to find
a reality where this logic doesntapply, that is something that
definitely is the fabric of
everything, like what a crow would
say about darkness: It matches my
color but it wouldnt crow. .
265. Neither to be known as being known
nor to be known as being unknown
266. River like a mirror, moon like awhite falling bird. Both imprisoned
by mind, though neither one is in nor
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is one out. When theyre around
youre missing no one. When theyre
not around put your hand over your
mouth though neither word could
bring them back, nor silence. How
wonderful, how wonderful! Humans
are mourning what could never be
lost. Although there is no way out of
thinking that river is like a mirror and
moon is like a white falling bird.
267. The sun finds its way back opposite to
the West.
268. People are like numbers: there is
some divinity there but also rules to
peek into if you want to use them.
269. Dharma Queen wearing a white-feathers hat Fallen with the
snowstorm, white cormorants fallenin the snow, herons fallen in the
snow. Would they ever come back to
see Dharma Queen wearing a white-
feathers hat?
270. Sudden sound: too late to follow the
mind guiding arrow Is this a
crowned fish breaking the pond
waters?
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271. Within the inner silence the miracle
of the outer sounds
272. A mind temple to hide into: q
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