CHASING SHADOWS

OCASSIONAL BUDDHIST WRITINGS

by

EDDY STREET

2

Contents OCASSIONAL BUDDHIST WRITINGS ......................................................................................... 1

by ........................................................................................................................................................ 1

EDDY STREET .................................................................................................................................. 1

Engaging in Post Enlightenment Practice ............................................................................................... 3

A Walk in Llandaff Fields .................................................................................................................... 11

The Boat Monk and the ‘zenny’ teacher ............................................................................................... 13

Reading Dogen...................................................................................................................................... 17

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Engaging in Post Enlightenment Practice1 One of my favourite enlightenment tales involves the master Yunmen who lived around 900

CA in southern China. He went to study with the master Muzhou and this is the account of his

enlightenment.

When Muzhou heard Yunmen coming he closed the door to his room. Yunmen knocked on the

door.

Muzhou said, “Who is it?”

Yunmen said, “It’s me.”

Muzhou said, “What you want?”

Yunmen said, “I'm not clear about my life. I'd like the master to give me some instruction.”

Muzhou then opened the door and, taking a look at Yunmen, closed it again.

Yunmen knocked on the door in this manner three days in a row. On the third day when

Muzhou opened the door, Yunmen stuck his foot in the doorway.

Muzhou grabbed Yunmen and yelled, “Speak! Speak!”

When Yunmen began to speak, Muzhou gave him a shove and said, “Too late!”

Muzhou then slammed the door catching and breaking Yunmen’s foot. At that moment,

Yunmen experienced enlightenment.2

This story interests me because it contains all those usual elements of the enlightenment

process that we think must exist. Here we have someone who is not clear about himself, so he goes to

seek someone he considers to be clear and who might have the answer to his problem. He is looking

for instruction to overcome his difficulty. He has to battle to get heard somehow and he struggles to

get himself into a position where he might receive the information that he so desperately wants. His

struggle ends in a different way to what he imagined and it comes suddenly. Indeed, it comes with

some pain! Then like all enlightenment stories, it stops at the moment of enlightenment and it doesn't

tell us what happens next!

Yunmen

1 A version of a talk given at Lam Rim Buddhist Centre October 2014

2 A Ferguson (2000) Zen’s Chinese Heritage. Wisdom Publications. Boston. Page 259

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We all seem to struggle to find out what happens next for ourselves, as this is what we strive

for. Yunmen, of course, has some idea of what is happening next, or to be more precise he has an idea

of what is happening now. He was known for his direct teaching and indeed, he understood the

problem that we all face as practitioners. Here is a quote of his; “So let me ask you all, what has so far

been the matter with you? What do you lack? If I tell you that nothing whatsoever is the matter I’ve

already buried you. You yourself must arrive at that realisation!”3

So let us ask the question; what has been the matter with you? What is it that you lack? These

questions were undoubtedly around at the beginning of your practice and you clearly thought that

doing meditation would provide you with some answer. Then in a manner similar to Yunmen when he

approached the master, you believed you must go through some kind of process to find the answer

because you believed there is an answer. However as Yunmen tells us there is not an answer to this

question, certainly not in the way that we imagine. So how are you going to ‘arrive at that realisation’.

It is with these ideas floating around that we keep knocking on the door and continue with our

practice as we have constructed it. But it is important to look into this and to examine what it is that

leads us forward and what our intention is. It is important that we examine the underlying issues in

our practice for in doing so we can find that there are particular kinds of problems that we create for

ourselves.

Firstly, we somehow can come to see meditation as being a skill or a task in which we must

become very proficient. It can seem as if what we are trying to do all the time is to attain mastery over

something. We can easily get into the position of believing that if we can only master the technique

then enlightenment will be ours. We come to think that the solution is in doing it properly. This way

of thinking often emerges from our overwhelming desire for instruction from a revered source. Then

because of this, our minds can turn even the simplest suggestion from that source into a demand we

place on ourselves. So if a teacher says follow the breath, it quickly ceases to become something that

we do at that moment and it becomes something that we have to do and something that we must strive

to do perfectly and continually. It becomes something that we have to master, something that we have

to do in order to gain control of what we think maybe controllable. Very often rather than being just

suggestions for how to sit and noting what may arise, instructions for meditation often and rapidly can

become something that we use just to beat ourselves up with. We can easily lose the essence of the

focus and berate ourselves for not being able to do it properly.

3 U. App 1995 Master Yunmen: From the Record of the Chan Master "Gate-of-the-Clouds".

Kodansha America, Inc page 48

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Not only does the instruction become a demand but we also have a tendency to make it the

key to what we consider would be successful. This is because we fall into a way of thinking that

believes it will be our own successful action that will produce a result. We can easily believe that the

instruction contains the necessary conditions that must exist for us to become successful and hence

become enlightened. Therefore, an ability to follow the breath consistently and with concentrated

effort becomes in our mind a precursor of enlightenment. It becomes a key that will unlock the door

for us. The problem that arises as we practice over time is that we can come to acquire many keys,

putting them on a key ring; so we move from thinking how can I find the key, to thinking which key

on my key ring is it? With this mindset, our sitting ceases to become the occasion for just sitting as

we become focused on this being our chance, our opportunity to gain mastery. Here we create an

obstruction to the experiencing of the moment. If we recall the Heart Sutra it says ;-

Bodhisattvas relying on Prajnaparamita have no obstructions in their minds.

Having no obstructions, there is no fear and departing far from confusion and imaginings,

they reach Ultimate Nirvana.

Sometimes this word obstruction is translated as hindrance. But whatever translation you use

we are talking about something that gets in the way.

So what is it that gets in your way? Or perhaps who is it that gets in your way? We can see

that in the first instance what gets in the way is our attitude and approach to meditation itself. Then as

we encounter difficulties because of this hindrance we don't seem to get to where we want to be

through the process of meditation. At this point we can create a spiral of problems for ourselves, a

cycle of difficulty. We end up with some illogical ways of thinking such as, “if I were enlightened I

wouldn't get in my own way and I wouldn't have any obstructions to my practice. So somehow I must

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find a way of becoming enlightened as clearly what is stopping me becoming enlightened now is the

fact that I'm not enlightened so I better work on becoming enlightened in order that I can become

enlightened.” This is the convoluted way in which our mind works.

Of course, some of us fall into the psychological archaeology problem in which we consider

that all our hindrances and obstructions are deep within us. We can come to believe that these

problems are deeply buried and only touchable by deep sustained practice. Then we end up thinking

“oh if I wasn't me I wouldn't have all these problems and I'd be meditating much better and I would

become enlightened”. In fact, often the biggest hindrance that we face to our just sitting is the fact

that we saw meditation as being a solution to our problems rather than it being a wonderful

opportunity just to sit.

As we continue in the manufacture of our own problems we can end up believing that if we

are not getting to where we want to get to, then surely a consequence must be that our own personal

path is a very problematic one and this ‘poor struggling me’ is the path which has to be followed. We

consider that our path must involve a lot of work and effort and we can expect to encounter all sorts of

difficulties. This is where we adopt what I call the Olympian approach to meditation. Clearly to win

an Olympic gold medal in athletics or swimming or bike riding you have to give up a tremendous

amount and produce a concentrated effort in your desire to reach this goal. So Olympic athletes often

live away from their home in training camps, eat special food and generally put aside the simple

pleasures of life in order to hone their skills and perfect their expertise. We can all create this mindset

about our meditation. In fact, part of the in-house conversations of Sangha groups is always about

difficult practice sessions that we have endured. We even tell each other stories about how difficult

some retreats were for us and how hard it was sitting on the cushion, the unearthly time we had to get

up and how cold it was. It is can become like the Monty Python sketch where each character is trying

to outdo the other by saying how difficult their home life had been where someone begins by saying

that he only lived in a room.

Python 1: You were lucky to have a ROOM! We used to have to live in a corridor!

Python 2: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of living in a corridor! It would have been a palace to

us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a

load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!?

Python 3: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of

tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.

We can come to view the meditation session as an endurance event as if the only goal is

getting to the bell. However, meditation is not something that is done correctly or incorrectly; it is not

something to master; it is not that we are trying to turn meditation into something that we are good at.

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Barry Magid talks of the underlying intention in meditation as being ‘no gain’4. This speaks to the

idea of the absolute value of each moment, where there is no means to an end and this often stands in

direct contrast to what we do in most of our life. We do everything to achieve or attain something.

Even in our motivation for practice; we begin it so that we can get somewhere. Magid calls this our

secret practice5 - the very personal reason that we begin practice in order to become a certain type of

person, to get rid of certain characteristics, or to live in a certain way. Underlying our practice, we

have this secret aim such as to become a calm, welcoming, open person as opposed to the closed,

angry, unhappy person we feel ourselves to be. It is as if we have a plan for what we want our

meditation and practice to ‘do’ for us. We come to view our meditation and our practice in the same

way as when we buy a piece of equipment for our kitchen or an app for our mobile phone. We want

something that washes our plates or boils water or puts us in contact with other people and sends

photographs across the Internet. All these things ‘do’ something for us and our belief is that our

personal satisfaction and ease will come from having these things. With this attitude, we approach

practice by expecting it to do something for us and that something we hold inside as a secret which we

cherish and often cover with Dharma ‘chat’.

The true purpose of meditation is just to leave everything as it is. To put aside all our projects,

aspirations and improvement plans and just let be. By leaving everything just as it is, we can then

begin to experience and appreciate the intrinsic beauty, stillness and equanimity in everything. This

indeed is the religious purpose of meditation; experiencing the nature of the universe including

everything that is ourselves and others and everything else, just as it is. Of course, the immediate

difficulty we encountered here is appreciating that if this is the case then what is the purpose of

practice itself and how is it that enlightenment seems so elusive. If it is the case that in meditation you

just flow then what is the purpose of doing it as a practice. Indeed when we come to this point, we

arrive at Zen master Dogen because this was the central question that he posed for himself and for us.

Indeed, he expressed it as an ongoing koan which he stated in the first sentence of Fukan- Zazengi

(The Universal Guide to the Standard Method of Zazen)

The Way is originally perfect and all-pervading. How could it be contingent on practice and

realization? The true vehicle is self-sufficient. What need is there special effort? Indeed, the whole

body is free from dust. Who could believe in a means to brush it clean? It is never apart from this very

place; what is the use of travelling around to practice? 6

The correct mental attitude for zazen according to Dōgen is one of effortless non-striving, this

is because for him, enlightenment is already always present. The primary idea underlying Dōgen's

4 B Magid 2013 Nothing is Hidden. Wisdom. Boston

5 B Magid 2002 Ordinary Mind. Wisdom. Boston.

6 http://www.sfzc.org/sp_download/liturgy/21_Fukanzazengi.pdf

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Zen practice is the "oneness of practice-enlightenment". For Dōgen, the practice of zazen and the

experience of enlightenment were one and the same. This point again is clearly stressed by Dōgen in

the Fukan Zazengi: “Practice-realization is naturally undefiled. Going forward in practice is a

matter of everydayness”

This then brings us right back to the questions that Yunmen asked of us; “So let me ask you all, what

has so far been the matter with you? What do you lack? If I tell you that nothing whatsoever is the

matter I’ve already buried you. You yourself must arrive at that realisation!”

How do we arrive at that realisation given that it “is naturally undefiled” and “is never apart from this

very place.” The difficulty that we all encounter here is how to allow the everydayness of

enlightenment into our striving against our perceived lack of enlightenment. Kazuaki Tanahashi helps

us with this when he says “Dogen accepts this image of a linear process of seeking.” Here, he is

saying that Dogen recognises that we all start out seeking to reach a goal and this too is a component

of the process, as Tanahashi goes on to explain, Dogen, “also talks about the way as a circle. For him,

each moment of practice encompasses enlightenment, and each moment of enlightenment

encompasses practice. In other words, practice and enlightenment—process and goal - are

inseparable.” What is being said here is that trying to reach the goal is part of the process and the

process itself is enlightenment. Tanahashi again, “The circle of practice is complete even at the

beginning. This circle of practice-enlightenment is renewed moment after moment. …. At the moment

you begin taking a step you have arrived, and you keep arriving each moment thereafter. In this view

you don’t journey toward enlightenment, but you let enlightenment unfold.” 7

So as enlightenment is always present, how is it that we can fail to recognise this so easily.

We struggle so hard to find a breakthrough when in fact what is important is realising the absence of a

breakthrough. So how can we begin to experience the non-seeking aspect of our own unfolding

enlightened? Do we have to sit here and wait for it to happen? However much we try it is difficult for

all of us to give up the idea that in enlightenment there is some kind of difference. So how can we

examine that for ourselves? It may be useful therefore to think of what may be different if we were

experiencing being enlightened. How would this moment be if suddenly we were an enlightened

person? What would this moment be like if it was after enlightenment; if it were the moments

following our awareness of enlightenment? How would this moment be different? What sort of

7 http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/fundamentals-dogens-thoughts

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experience do you imagine you would have if you were sitting here right now after your

enlightenment? What would be your post enlightenment experience?

Here we can now try some experiments. Just sit here now this minute and think about the

answers to those questions. Imagine you are enlightened in the way that you think about it. How is

this different from how you imagined it to be? How could it be different? What is actually happening

at this very moment?

So let us see if we can undertake a practice that eliminates some of our problems with

meditation and construct a practice based on our experiment of ‘what it is like for me to be

enlightened’. Let us see if we can eliminate the mindset of endurance and competitiveness and having

to put ourselves through something which is going to be difficult if not painful. So at home just once

in a while, instead of your usual meditation session, sit in a chair, have yourself the mindset that this

is something that you are going to do in which you will not report to anybody, perhaps not even

‘report’ it to yourself by going over it after you finished. Perhaps just find a time which is different to

your usual set period of meditation. Just sit and be quiet, turn off the radio or TV, don't check your

phone. Just let there be a moment of not doing anything. Maybe if you begin to do this, you will start

to identify what your project or plan is for yourself in meditation. Maybe you will be able to articulate

what it is you are trying to achieve by becoming enlightened. Maybe you will be able to verbalise

what your secret practice is. We do need to know what drives us and it is helpful if we allow space for

these intentions to arise. Then when you have found it you can put it down.

So sit in a chair; there is nothing to be endured. No bell is going to be rung at the end. Just put

your emphasis on presence, on being present, be open to the experience of what is happening to you.

Try to avoid distractions; just sit there in your chair looking at what is opposite you, the wall, window,

the empty computer screen or whatever. Notice the noises around you; there is no need to follow them

just let it be. Focus on what is arising within yourself and don't try to put anything inside yourself.

The biggest distraction we can have is following our thoughts. Appreciate the thought as a potential

distraction but treat it as a thought, an ordinary bodily function, allow it to come, allow it to go and

then move on. If you do follow a thought pattern then that is okay, watch when it starts, watch how

you want to follow it and watch how it stops. Just focus on your experience moment to moment; just

let it be.

Ask yourself the question, am I looking for a particular state of mind? We can become

enamoured with talk of the still mind, of the empty mind, of the complete calm egoless mind, which

takes over our body. Don't be focused on looking for experiences. Experiences are just experiences,

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no one is better or worse than the next, they are all just part of the flow of who we are. Give up the

observation and the searching for particular states of mind. This involves a major shift of imagining

that we are moving from where we are to somewhere where we want to go. There is nowhere to go -

our thought experiment is that we are enlightened already. There is no movement of getting from here

to there. There is no way that you can get the lost or go down the wrong route. The flow is the flow.

The things we do and what goes on in our mind are what we do and what we are, allow them

to rise and allow them to fall. Allow there to be movement and change. Undertaking just being in this

way allows ‘meditation’ to naturally flow into other activities, so eventually all activities are of this

quality and the active sitting on the cushion or in a chair does not define our meditation or practice, it

just becomes one of the other activities of who we are. Of course, it is hard to leave things alone but

that is what this practice is about.

So it is very useful to say to yourself, what would my practice look like if I were enlightened.

If suddenly, everything became wonderful for me and I was this enlightened person I’ve always

wanted to be how would I practice? Would I sit on my cushion? How would I deal with other people?

How would I share my daily life? What I'm inviting you to do today is to practice as if you are

enlightened. This practice is one where you have fully appreciated, realised and actualised Dogen’s

central koan of practice - enlightenment. As I am a Buddha do I need to practice and as I am a Buddha

this is my practice.

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A Walk in Llandaff Fields “Get yourself some fresh air. Go out for a walk”.

A good idea but age, aches and pains limit my horizons.

Slowly rising

through my body

the hemlock of arthritis

And so to the Park, approaching from a different direction from when I was a boy but still its grand

entrance. A ring shaped road terminus of its own for trolley bus ‘No 4 Landaff Fields’. It arrived

went round in its circle, stopping for a while before returning to Wood Street. A service long since

defunct but its last stop forever laid out in tarmac.

At the end

a circle

and back the way you came

Parking the car, I begin my walk. A cold wind and grey skies make for a dismal day. A few dog

walkers and pram pushers amble around. No one in the playground. But then a mixture of

remberances; me in gangs and teams engaged in activities of the open spaces the park presented.

silent sporting cries

sweep over

the freezing fields

There I played baseball for Severn Road Junior School, bowling the ball underarm with so many

‘extras’ that our hits into the trees were to no avail.

There and there and there I ran up and down the rugby pitch, back and forward. Under 13’s, under

14’s and through the ages to the 2nd

and 1st XV. Progressing to the Old Boys waiting for the pub to

open. Aches and pains were even familiar then. The black earth clung to all that endeavour and so we

trudged home dirty until new changing rooms for the Duke to play a polo match. A venue that offered

warm dribbly showers and cold slab floors but following its initial aristocratic sparkle its facilities

never left you fully clean or dry.

At the top corner by the long grass there was a swimming pool open to the elements and only the

warmest summer made for a comfortable swim. Closed during the winter we awaited its opening for

the joy of shivering all the way home and knowing that we would not return until the sweat ran down

our brows and the throngs of other children with the same idea would be there too.

Here I sat at the boundary path anxiously gloved and padded waiting for my turn at the crease where

only, I, in the batsman’s solitude would try to strike the ball and keep my innings going. Then through

the avenue of horse chestnuts I rummaged for a big stick to hurl skywards to strike the spiky green

fruit that would split open revealing its shining glory, a conker. A prize to be displayed and then

conflictually swung at the end of string in a battle against my friends; a battle that somehow always

ended in losing. Seeking these free gifts from the gods but before I was ready to throw my missile into

the branches I would carefully looked around to see if the Parks Dept man was coming to chase us

away.

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Naughty boys

long since gone

running away from the parkie

So here and now and there and then the sounds, places and images of my own past time crowd the

walk and make it less than the fresh air. Conkers gone together with the open air swimming pool and

the trolly buses. Only the dog walkers and the pram pushers with their children yet to make their

debut in the playful park.

That bloody Swansea poet; “the memories of childhood have no order, and no end.” 1

1 Dylan Thomas. ‘Reminiscences of Childhood (second version)’ in Quite Early One Morning. Dent. London.

1954

The Boat Monk and the ‘zenny’ teacher There are many Zen stories that are important for us to know. These stories are often dialogues

between Masters and their students with the most well-known them found in the collections of koans

such as ‘The Book of Serenity’ and ‘The Blue Cliff Record’. These collections were assembled by the

compilers who then provided commentaries and to do this they took bits of interactions that were

reported in written biographies and accounts of Chan Masters. Hence, the initial origin of these stories

were in older biographies not the koan collections which are the basis of formalised koan practice.

Sometimes particular stories do not appear in these koan collections but still the stories are well

known and used by many teachers to illustrate points that they wish to make. Master Dogen used his

own compiled collections of dialogues to inform his teachings and he did not provide commentaries

as such but he made reference to these dialogues in his talks. One story that it is important for us is

about Chan Master Chuanzi Dechang who was known as the ferryman or the boat monk. This story

was first presented in the classic history collection about Masters known as ‘The Five Lamps Merged

in the Source’1. It was taken up by Dogen and is particularly mentioned in his ‘Mountains and Water

Sutra’ (Sansui-kyo)2 and also in other places in his talks. It might be that this use of the story has

given it its popularity amongst teachers. Whatever its source, elements of it are referred to by

numerous teachers both ancient and modern, for example, Master Sheng Yen refers to it in his book,

‘Attaining the Way: A Guide to Chan Practice’3. The story of Dechang and his student Jiashan

Shanhui provides us with numerous metaphors about practice; many teachers pick up themes related

to the nature of the relationship between student and teacher and others on the way teaching can be

considered. At a more straightforward level, we can focus on what the story may have to say about

our own practice and how we consider it.

Chuanzi Dechang was a student of Yaoshan and he studied with him for about 30 years. After this

time, he received Dharma transmission but shortly after his transmission, he told his Dharma brothers

that he did not consider himself fit to lead a monastery or a group of monks. He thought that the

nature of his mind and his behaviour was a bit too undisciplined for the formalities and regularities of

monastic life and so in terms of the idiom of the day he ‘broke the rice bowl’ and left holy orders. To

‘break the rice bowl’ was a term used about ancient Chinese monks when they gave up monastic life

not because they were fed up of it or disappointed with where they had got to (referred to as

‘discarding the robes’), but as in Dechang’s case because he clearly felt that his path was outside the

formal rigours of the monastery. So even with considerable attainment recognised by his teacher he

took up rowing people across a river, working as a self-employed ferryman. Undoubtedly, in terms of

the saying, he was ‘going to the marketplace and beating the silent hammer’. However, before he left

his Dharma brothers he told them that if they came across somebody who had the clear ability to

realise and actualise the Dharma but who needed help, then they should send this person to him.

Certainly, Dechang understood that even though he was no longer a monk in a formal way, he, as a

bodhisattva, could still impart the Dharma to those that required it. We can also imagine that as he

rowed his boat across the river, Dechang would talk to his passengers about their daily life and

introduce the Zen perspective and Buddhist ethics into the conversation. This is perhaps how he got

his name the ‘boat monk’.

1 This book was initially published in 1253. There does not appear an accessible modern version.

2 Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo translated by Gudo Nishijima & Chodro Cross (1994). Windbell. Woking

3 Master Sheng Yen (2006) Attaining the Way: A Guide to Chan Practice. Shambala. Boston

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Whilst he was a simple ferryman Dechang wrote a well-known poem ‘Angling for the Great

Function’ which is full of beautiful symbolism about Zen practice. In fishing terms it refers to trying

to catch the golden fish of enlightenment. Perhaps also this poem led to this story’s frequent

references by Zen teachers.

Angling for the Great Function

Thirty years on the river bank,

Angling for the great function,

If you don't catch the golden fish, it's all in vain.

You may as well reel in and go back home.

Letting down the line ten thousand feet,

A breaking wave makes ten thousand ripples.

At night in still water, the cold fish won't bite.

An empty boat filled with moonlight returns.

Sailing the sea for thirty years,

The fish seen in clear water won't take the hook.

Breaking the fishing pole, growing bamboo,

Abandoning all schemes, one finds repose.

There's a great fish that can't be measured.

It embraces the astonishing and wondrous!

In wind and thunder transformed,

How can it be caught?

Others only seek gathering lotus flowers,

Their scent pervading the wind.

But as long as there are two shores and a lone red boat,

There's no escape from pollution, nor any attainment of emptiness.

If you asked, “Is this lone boat all there is in life?”

I'd say, “Descendants will each see the results.”

Not depending on earth or heaven,

When the rain shawl is removed, nothing's left to pass on.4

4 Translated by Andy Fergusson (2000) in Zen’s Chinese Heritage. Wisdom. Boston.

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It is in these image that we find our first lessons; when we begin practice we are undoubtedly fishing

for something. We have a clear idea what this fish looks like, it's big, golden, powerful, not angry, not

depressed, gets on with its parents, is has no problems with its partner, it is a wonderful, well liked

being etc etc. It is indeed a sublime fish. Sometimes when we are fishing, something gets on our hook

and when we reel it in, we find it is a big dragon that frightens us and wants to bite off our head and

we stop fishing for a while. Sometimes we catch a tiddler, look at it quickly and discard it by throwing

it back into the water - of course this may be a mistake as there that might be value in that tiddler. But

basically even though we think we can see a big sublime fish in the water, we don't catch it and the

harder we try the further it dives below the surface. Dechang teaches us that perhaps we should break

the fishing pole and abandon desires and wishes as it might be then that we find repose.

So here is Dechang rowing back and fore across the river, sometimes fishing, sometimes not and after

a period of time one of his Dharma brothers come across someone who may need help, Jiashan. It was

obvious that Jiashan had a great intellectual understanding of the Dharma but he was clearly one of

those Zen practitioners who when asked ‘what is Zen?’ would say something like “the nothing of

everything and the everything of nothing”. Now we have all met somebody like this, who just trots

out platitudes and the things they read in books or heard in Dharma talks. “Oh yes I have a beginner’s

mind” - whatever that means. Intellectualisation is a great problem amongst those who wish to follow

Zen practice particularly those who read a lot or like to listen to teachers. It is so easy to believe that

you understand something from the written page or a talk but Zen practice is much more. Realisation,

actualisation and one's own personal experience and practice of your own life are central to what we

do and you do not find these things in books or in pictures of fish! So another important lesson in this

story is the danger of intellectualisation. But our zenhead friend, Jiashan, had great determination and

great commitment and when Dechang’s Dharma brother pointed out his problems to him Jiashan

asked what he could do about this and how could he extend his true appreciation of the Dharma.

Another lesson. Commitment and an awareness of one's faults and problems are companions that are

constantly with us on our Zen path. The Dharma brother realised that this was a case ‘of different

strokes for different folks’ and that he himself could not help this person but he knew a man could.

And so he sent him to Dechang, telling him not to go along in his teaching robes but just go along as

an ordinary monk traveller.

So off goes Jiashan and meets Dechang and straight away Dechang asked him in which temple he

lives. Jiashan considers this to be the beginning of a Zen dialogue and so he wishes to answer in as

clever a zen way as possible, so he says something like “I do not abide in a temple. Where I abide is

not like…” Of course, Dechang instantly recognises the meaningless, almost rehearsed answer and

says the ancient Chinese equivalent of “don't give me that bullshit”. Jiashan tries to say something

else and Dechang asks him where he acquired his understanding. Off into zennyness again, Jiashan

says, “not in a place which the eyes or ears can perceive”. Dechang has had enough of this trite

phraseology and tells him that these are just intellectual phrases which have resulted in him being like

a donkey “tied to a post for 10,000 years”. Dealing with the Dharma from a purely intellectual

foundation is the same as being tied up, with there being no development of practice from that

position. To counter the intellectual approach of Jiashan, Dechang uses some of the imagery from the

poem that he had written “ you've let down 1000 foot fishing line, you are fishing very deep, but your

hook is still short by 3 inches”. Dechang has clearly recognised Jiashan's ability, but he lacked that

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move away from intellectualisation that would allow him to integrate all his understanding into

actualised reality. Dechang shouted at him “Say something, say something”. Then in usual Zen master

fashion before Jiashan can say anything Dechang hits him into the river with the boat oar. Wet

through, the great intellectual teacher scrambles back into the boat. “Say something, say something”

Dechang shouts at him again. With water dripping all over his face Jiashan opens his mouth to speak

but Dechang hits him with the oar again and again he falls into the river. Slightly unusual for these

types of Zen stories this only happens twice rather than the typical three times as it is after the second

hit that Jiashan attains great enlightenment. Beyond words. Beyond intellectualisation. Beyond

seeking. Just wet in a rocking old boat with slightly crazy ferryman. We are of course familiar with

the ways that these stories impress on us the immediacy of enlightenment, being hit by a stick, kicking

a pebble against the bamboo, breaking a bowl and now being pushed off a boat into a river. But all

these things happen after that student has studied for many years with great persistence and great

endeavour.

In this story Dechang and Jiashan continue their dialogue in terms of a fishing rod and line. In one

way this is about how important it is to help people attain the way and it is also about how you have to

use words and some intellectualisation to help people understand the Dharma. But then, Jiashan pulls

us firmly back onto the experience path as when they are talking, he covers his ears as he wishes to

hear no more words. So another lesson, we need some words but it is also beyond words. With this

action, Dechang approves the way in which Jiashan now understands the Dharma and encourages him

to go and establish his own teaching place away from the city. So Jiashan leaves Dechang but keeps

looking back and Dechang sees this and wondered if he has any doubt for he then shouts to Jiashan

“do you think there is anything else?” What else could there be? We need great doubt but as we have

found out actualisation of the Dharma is beyond this. Is there anything else?

The story ends after Dechang shout out his question, for he then goes to the middle of the river in his

boat, rolls it over and disappears into the water forever. Just a metaphor for how an enlightened

person can come and go as he or she wishes. It also signifies that in the histories it is the last we hear

about Dechang. Jiashan went on to become a very well known Chan master and he was considered to

be the first that made the close link between Zen and drinking tea; “Zen, tea, one taste”. After his

death, he was given the name ‘Great Teacher Transmitting Clarity’.

This story like many others in the Chan/Zen Canon offer us instructions on important points about our

own practice. For us today, if there is one lesson to take away, then it is the next time you have water

on your face, experience the wetness not as wetness, but just as it is.

Reading Dogen For many people reading Dogen is somewhat unfathomable and there is no doubt that for the ordinary

reader it can be a perplexing task. As Buddhist practioners, we should perhaps consider our

motivation as to why we are reading him in the first place. We often read our texts with the hope that

they are going to give us something. This could be just instruction and indeed, in some places Dogen

provides us with instructions that are very specific, particularly about the formalities of sitting and

conducting ourselves doing daily chores. He writes about matters of daily living in a monastery, about

how to conduct the ceremonial, as well as issues concerning the Master-disciple relationship.

However, this straight-forward instruction is often not quite the instruction we are looking for, as what

we often seek is a ‘clue’; something that will give us a hint and a nudge towards enlightenment. We

often seek an idea that will fill a gap in our understanding of what the Dharma is about. All with the

hope that when we have this understanding we will move towards enlightenment and perhaps even

become enlightened. This approach however can cause us problems. So how should we read Dogen?

In his time in China Dogen, collected three hundred stories (koans) drawn from Buddhist Scriptures

and Chinese Chan texts, a collection known as the ‘Mana Shobogenzo’.i His book of ninety five

discourses or fascicles is known as the ‘Kana Shobogenzo’ -‘Treasury of the True Dhama Eye’ii. This

contains the most well known of his talks, where he explores the Dharma meanings and spiritual

significance of themes contained in the stories he collected. It is in these commentaries that many

readers find difficulties, especially if they have a ‘seeking a clue’ mindset.

Dogen’s discourses are talks that rise out of his deep understanding of training and practice in the

Chan tradition and the way the canon of early texts reflect that. They arise from Dogen’s mind of

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meditation and are presented to his monastic and lay disciples who are listening from their mind of

meditation. Dogen’s approach is to point to ‘the walls and fences’ of our intellectually based mind and

he requires us to recognise the duality within it. He wishes us to cease our dependency on the

discriminatory mind and to ‘drop off our body and mind’, so that non-duality can be appreciated. But,

he wishes us to do this is in a way that does not reject the intellect itself or deny its natural and useful

functions. In one way, we can say that Dogen’s aim is to apply ‘the mind of meditation’ to all of one’s

daily activities.

Essentially, what he is attempting to do through the use of ‘inadequate’ words, is to express the

experience of reality as it and how that emerges through the endeavours of meditation. Dogen clearly

asks the question of Zen - “how do we live each moment fully and meaningfully?” - a questioning

that is undertaken by realising and actualising the non-separation of the universe. Despite the way our

minds separate things into different components; subject and object, me and you, I and the universe,

everything is one reality. Dogen recognises that for reality in action, the only time that exists is now

and the only place that exists is here. This, of course, is the Chan understanding of life, the oneness of

reality and the centrality of the present moment. Dogen does not simply explain this view of reality as

what he seeks to do in his writing is to direct the reader into that process of reality in action.

Now we can easily accept that words are inadequate because reality is beyond verbal expression,

beyond the categorisation of any vocabulary, but in order to communicate we have to resort to words.

Dogen’s use of words is therefore sometimes poetically majestic, sometimes playful, sometimes with

a play on the words used, sometimes with the use of symbolic stories of the old Chinese masters. It is

this wordplay, this use of the literary, providing an expression of action in reality that sometimes can

make Dogen difficult to read.

Before we look at a few examples there is one thing else, that we need to appreciate in Dogen’s

writing and this is his understanding of non-separation when applied to practice itself. This is now

termed the idea of ‘the circle of the way’. In a circular manner, each moment of our meditation

encompasses all four elements of our activity; aspiration, practice, enlightenment and Nirvana. For

Dogen, the last being a state of serenity where all egotistic thoughts and desires are at rest. Hence,

each moment of meditation naturally contains enlightenment and the aspiration for enlightenment; it

also contains the ordinary practice of sitting and the experience of settled ego-free serenity. Each

moment of meditation actualises the Four Noble Truths. With this understanding of meditation, there

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is no goal of attaining enlightenment, as the aim merely is to practice. Similarly, if a state of non-

duality and serenity is experienced, we do not need to grasp onto it and remain there, as it is already

part of our nature; practice involves the realisation of non-duality, together with the actualisation of

practice in duality.

In order to come to grips with some of the way in which Dogen writes I will base myself on Katagiri’s

ways of thinking when providing a commentary on Dogen’s ‘Zazenshin’iii. He points out that we can

consider that there are three stages of understanding reality. iv

In the first stage everything is seen in the usual every day objective way. We use judgements and

categorisations. All things according to the categories we use are seen as separate and independent,

each with its own quality, each with its own ‘form’. This ‘form’ of each and every thing is directly

derived from the categorising ideas we construct in our heads about all things. To make use of Heart

Sutra ideas in this stage ‘form is form’.

The second stage is referred to within the Heart Sutra as ‘form is precisely emptiness and emptiness

precisely form’. Here we have an observation of impermanence; a realisation of the

interconnectedness of everything. There is an appreciation of the true nature of everything which is

empty of any inherent quality. We have the appreciation and actualisation of non-duality and we

could also say of this that, ‘form is not form’. Or to put it another way, the reality of things is not the

same as the ideas we have in our heads about them.

The third stage is beyond the stage of ‘form is precisely emptiness’ as this is the true unification of

duality and non-duality. To continue with our expressions from the Heart Sutra it is ‘form is precisely

emptiness/form’ and ‘emptiness is precisely form/emptiness’. This third stage is where the

practitioner attempts to bring her actualisation of the nature of reality with its non-dual quality into the

operation of everyday (duality) life. It is the penetration of form into emptiness together with the

penetration of emptiness into form.

In his writing Dogen is inviting us to appreciate these three stages and to recognise the wonderful

unity of living daily life where we know from within our being, ‘form/emptiness’. His use of

wordplay leads us into this realm by undermining and demonstrating the inappropriateness of

concepts and categories and directly pointing to the interconnectedness of the universe. His wordplay

in fact clearly builds on the exchanges we find in the classic Chan stories that make up the canon of

koans in our tradition.

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So lets us look at one example. Here are the closing words of one of his more well-known pieces,

called the Mountains and Waters Sutra.

“An ancient Buddha said, "Mountains are mountains, waters are waters.” These words do not mean

mountains are mountains; they mean mountains are mountains.

In this way investigate mountains thoroughly. When you investigate mountains thoroughly this

becomes the endeavour within the mountain. Such mountains and waters of themselves become wise

persons and sages.”v

So with the second sentence Dogen writes, “These words do not mean mountains are mountains; they

mean mountains are mountains”, a seemingly meaningless repetition. However, from what we have

discussed above, Dogen is saying these words (mountains are mountains) do not mean ‘form is form’

(duality), the words are referring to ‘form is emptiness/form’ i.e. the form/emptiness of mountains.

He goes on “in this way investigate mountains thoroughly” so in the form/emptiness of mountains,

Dogen is inviting us to investigate the nature of the universe. He goes on, “When you investigate

mountains thoroughly this becomes the endeavour within the mountains”. In the more cumbersome

way I have adopted here we can say - When you investigate the nature of non-separation and

impermanence in your daily life, that investigation itself becomes the centre of the universe and

indeed the way in which the reality of the universe is actualise. To add to this Dogen goes on to say

that due to the interconnection of the universe, “such mountains and waters themselves become wise

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persons and sages”. Hence, with true intimate interconnection, practioners actualise the universe and

so mountains, practioners, sages etc. all express the unity of being.

Let us take another well known example, this time from the Genjokoan (Actualising the Fundamental

Point).

To study the way of enlightenment is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget

the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind

as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of realization remains, and this no-

trace continues endlessly.vi

So if we now put it in the mixture of understandings that Dogen uses, together with his often

repetition of the same word we arrive at:- To study the self (form) is to forget the self (form is

emptiness). To forget the self (form is emptiness) is to be actualized by myriad things (form is

form/emptiness). When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and

minds of others drop away (form is form/emptiness - unity). No trace of realization remains, and this

no-trace continues endlessly. With the last sentence what is implied is that within the unity of the

universe, no trace (emptiness) and the continuation of no trace (form), interpenetrate each other (form

is form/emptiness, emptiness is emptiness/form). With this example, we have a brief outline of the

whole process of practice.

But it is not all difficulties with word play when reading Dogen, for sometimes his poetic language

just points directly to the action we should take in our practice and the attitude we need to adopt. Here

is a final example of his writing taken from the collection of his short talks to his monks.

Entering the water without avoiding deep-sea dragons is the courage of a fisherman. Travelling the

earth without avoiding tigers is the courage of a hunter. Facing the drawn sword before you, and

seeing death as just like life, is the courage of a general. What is the courage of patch-robed monks?

Dōgen said: Spread out your bedding and sleep; set out your bowls and eat rice; exhale through your

nostrils; radiate light from your eyes. Do you know there is something that goes beyond? With

vitality, eat lots of rice and then use the toilet. Transcend your personal prediction of future

buddhahood from Gautama.vii

So here, he is comparing the courage that practioners require with the mythical courage of fishermen,

hunters, and samurai in combat. Through his encouraging of his monks, he points to how the rituals

and routines of our daily life require our ongoing active attention to every aspect of our experience.

Here we see also his idea of the oneness of practice-awakening as for Dōgen enlightenment is not

some goal for the future but is there in day to day activity. The last line, “transcend your personal

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prediction of future buddhahood from Gautama”, refers to Shakyamuni Buddha's predictions in the

Lotus Sutra, of enlightenment for all those who find joy in hearing the sutra. Dogen is telling us not to

sit back and listen to the Buddha but drop future aspirations and take our courage in both hands and

live our lives moment to moment by totally engaging with what is in front of and within ourselves.

Now I think that is a pretty good ‘clue’!

i Kazuaki Tanahashi & John Daido Loori (trans) 2005 The True Dharma Eye. Zen Master Dogen’s Three

Hundred Koans: Shambala . Boston ii Kazuaki Tanahashi (ed) (2012) Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo.

Shambala . Boston iii

Dainin Katagiri (2007) Each Moment is the Universe. Shambala. Boston. p140 iv I am using here just one method of considering Dogan's writing. A similar approach uses Dongshan’s Five

Ranks. See John Daido Loori “Dogen and Koans”

http://www.mro.org/mr/archive/24-2/articles/dogenandkoansdaido.html (accessed 07/12/2015) v Dogen. Mountains and Waters sutra p 164 in Kazuaki Tanahashi (ed) (2012)

vi Dogen. Actualising the Fundamental Point p29 in Kazuaki Tanahashi (ed) (2012)

vii Dogen. Dharma Hall Discourse 239 pp. 238-239 in Taigen Dan Leighton and Shohaku Okumura (trans)

(2010), Dōgen's Extensive Record. Wisdom. Boston.