little blue book zen peter jalesh

7/31/2019 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

little blue book zen peter jalesh

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