I have been searching something sharp like a sword

The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains

(Keisei sanshiki) Part 3

Another well-known story speaks about the Buddhist path of an old master who had already been practising for more than 30 years of his life. One day he was wandering through the mountains, when he spotted from a hillside a charming valley in which peach trees were blossoming in spring.

He suddenly realized the great truth and wrote the following poem:

“I have been searching something sharp like a sword for 30 years like a traveler.During the time, treeleaves have fallen down many times, and twigs spread too many times.However, just after looking at the so gorgeous peach blossoms actually. Having arrived at the present moment, I have thrown away the whole doubt.”

The sword is a symbol of the clarity of the body-mind. It cuts through confusion and knots in life, so that one can reach reality. The symbolic meaning of the sword is similar to that of the diamond. With its sharpness it can also cut through the thicket of preconceived opinions, validations and lalready made up ideas of the mind.

In ancient China, Koan-stories were common in which a master refused to answer a well-versed and smart question of one of his students, because he thought the question to be theoretical and made up fictitious. Sometimes the master just repeated the question in the exact same way. In this way he wanted to push his student towards direct experience and action and to bring him closer to reality. At the same time the master wanted to liberate him from a rigid way of thinking and the use of meaningless words.

The following theoretical questions of distinctive reasoning, which the masters did not answer with words  but with actions, are examples of this:

"How can we make mountains, rivers, and the Earth part of ourselves?"

Or the question of a wise philosopher:

"How does pure essentiality suddenly give rise to mountains, rivers, and the Earth?"

In the following, Master Dogen concentrates on the main contents and basic points of the Buddhist teachings: perseverance, the strong desire for truth and the awackening of the Bodhi-spirit, all of which are important premisses to remember on the Buddha-way.

Hunger for fame, profit and ego-pride have to be overcome. Otherwise one blocks oneself on the way.

Dogen also criticizes the fact that  many contemporaries at that time had in fact become monks although they did not really strive for the Buddhist truth or practise persistently. In China, the great period of Zen Buddhism was already in decline.

Many monks and abbots were formally Buddhists, but the strength of the Buddha-Dharma had already become extinct and the pursuit of superficial recognition and financial gain mostly prevailed.

Often times, it was a question of power and influence at court.

Under these conditions, the reality and the truth of the Buddha-Dharma lost their significance and faded, leaving only images and shadows.

This is recounted in the famous allegory in which a living dragon pays the house of a lover of dragon pictures and sculptures a visit. But  seeing the living dragon before him, the frightened man flees, as he loves only “beautiful and harmless” pictures, not reality itself.

Dogen describes it as follows:

“Their body, mind, bones and their flesh have never lived the real Dharma. That is why they are not one with the Dharma. They don’t receive and they don’t use the Dharma.”

According to Dogen, such times of decline are full of false teachers and self-proclaimed masters who are not capable of guiding their students truly onto the Buddha-way.

For this reason Dogen recommends examining teachers and masters precisely. He also points to the irretrievable damage caused if the teachings are not  transmitted in an authentic way.

In such cases, it would be better not to practise the Buddha-Dharma at all – as this would not only be a waste of time, but would also do severe damage.

Those who cannot rely on their own real experience depend mostly on others and often need shallow confirmation from others – and then confuse it with the great truth itself. Naturally, to realize this and to see through it is not that simple.

The Master said: at a Single Stroke I lost Recognition

The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains

(Keisei sanshiki) Part 2

Another famous story speaks about a master, who was later well known, who could not make any progress, though working intensely with his master on the Buddhist teachings. Being asked describe the state prior to the birth of his parents, he could not answer. He was expected to answer this question from his own experience and not by citing the Buddhist writings, which he had studied in detail. He was so discouraged that he decided to burn all his theoretical writings, which he had studied so hard, and to dedicate himself solely to simple tasks in the monastery. 

His realization was,

“The image of a rice cake cannot satisfy hunger.”

In this case the image of the rice cake refers to the writings and Dharma-teachings of his own master. The teachings remain theoretical and shallow, if they don’t correlate with experiences and practices in your own life.

Eventually the disciple asked his master for assistance, so that he could continue on his Dharma-Path. But the master saw the extraordinary talent of his student and refused to grant him this wish. The master was probably convinced that his student would gain all the necessary experiences on his Buddha-way himself.

In most cases a verbal instruction wears itself out in words and thoughts and cannot replace real practice. Just like the image of the rice cake, which cannot be eaten and cannot satisfy hunger.

The story continues by telling us that the monk left for the mountains to seek solitude. He settled at a place where a famous master had been practising for years. The monk had set aside to strive for awakening and enlightenment. Instead he lived harmoniously within nature and with the passing of the seasons. He practised persistently and intensely and many years went by.

He planted a bamboo tree, which he nourished and cared for. One day, as he was sweeping the path to his shed, a piece of brick hit the bamboo.

It is said that he reached enlightenment by hearing this sound.

Grateful and deeply moved, he bowed in the direction of his master, because he had not explained hastily and to early what was waiting for him by eperiencing true enlightenment. He had left it to his own experiences life. Due to this fact alone, he had been able to wake up to the truth.

Finally, he wrote the following verse:

“At a single stroke I lost recognition. No longer need I practice self-discipline.[I am] manifesting behavior in the way of the ancients. Never falling into despondency.”

Later on, his master confirmed his state of enlightenment and said that this disciple had reached perfection.

The Voices of the River Valley and the Form of the Mountains

(Keisei sanshiki), Part 1

In this extraordinary chapter Master Dogen describes the central meaning and reality of the unity of nature and man. One could view inanimate nature only from the perspective of matter and form, as is the case with the dimension of materialism, but this would be one-sided and restricted.

Dogen points out that such an external perspective on form or the elements of matter, such as water, earth, fire and air, only illustrates the truth partially and does not reach the core.

In contrast, with the highest life philosophy in the Buddha Dharma, the awakening, one opens up to a complete new dimension, an unexpected depth of focus on an understanding and an experience of nature’s beauty and power.

Dogen calls the rivers and streams flowing in the valleys tongues of the Buddha; they teach us compellingly the true Dharma. In fact, rivers and streams never stand still. The shape of the mountains resembles Buddha’s body, which is marked by purity and virtue. Nature, seen in this light, extends far beyond its substantial and material aspect. In this sense, nature constitutes a wonderful composition of reality, able to reach and bless man in the core of his heart.

The bond, better, the unity with nature used to be a very important part of a man’s life in China and Japan.

Life was inextricably bound up with all sentient beings, including animals and non sentient beings, like pine trees, bamboo, chrysanthemums, i.e. trees, plants and flowers. Within the Buddha Dharma, all of this is lived, experienced and understood as harmony and as the natural law of the universe.

Dogen refers to a great Chinese poet who listened to the voice of a river in a mountain valley and found awakening. Afterwards, he wrote the following poem:

“The voices of the valley are the (Buddha's) wide and long tongue. The shape of the mountain is nothing else than his pure body."

The poet presented his verses to a great Buddhist master who confirmed his awakening. But what had happened when suddenly a whole new all-embracing dimension of life opened up to him? Indeed, he had written great poetry before, but had not experienced Buddhist practice and teachings comprehensively. According to Master Dogen, the poet had not truly realized and experienced the natural flow of the seasons: flowers in spring, the fresh pine saplings in summer and the wonderful chrysanthemums in fall, not until he was allowed to hear the voices in the river valleys.

Shortly before, he had heard a Zen Master's lecture on non-sentient beings, like trees, flowers and plants, but it had yet not reached his mind and heart. Presumably there remained with him the traces and effects of the Master's words, which then led him that night to experience his own deep realization of the Buddha Dharma.

Before, he had not been fully open and ready to receive and feel so deeply the all-encompassing meaning of the Buddhist teachings. It did not happen until the great awakening came to him that night in an almost mystical experience through the voices of the river valleys.

Man as subject and nature as the object had suddenly merged to form a unity – actually they had never been separated. But until then the poet had not realized it. Master Dogen asks, in his usual manner, whether the poet awakened to the truth or whether the mountains and rivers awakened to it.

Is it even possible to separate the two?

Longing for truth will lead us onto the right path

Mind here and now is Buddha, Part 3

(Soku-shin-ze-butsu)

If one understands the mind only in the sense of idealism, i.e. just as an idea and therefore in a very restricted dimension, the sentence “Mind Here and Now is Buddha” cannot be grasped comprehensively.

Here actually means spatially accurate, at the exact location. And Now means precisely that moment. Mind and Buddha are not independent of space and time. The Buddha-Dharma resembles the unity of theory and practice and thus incorporates the level of action and the practice of Zazen in the Here and Now. It is inextricably connected to morality and contains all the conditions of reality and truth – just as they are.

As a result nothing is added through dogmatic fantasies or theoretical reasoning. And at the same time, nothing is taken away reduced, chosen or selected.

Buddhism uses the analogy of a clear mirror which reflects everything that appears in front of it without adding or omitting anything.

It is no secret that the flight from and avoidance of reality and truth is the cause of most of our mental and psychological suffering, which we face in today’s world - just as we did in previous times.

But Gautama Buddha’s teaching leads us directly out of the cycle of suffering and enables us to grasp reality fully.

We cannot capture the true Buddha mind solely with the realm of thought. We also need to experience and discover it through action, while the longing for truth will lead us onto the right path.

The Buddha mind is far more than thinking alone, it also contains, according to Dogen, the reality of the bamboo, the mountains, the rivers, the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, normally understood just as a materialistic point of view and objects. In Buddhism, the comprehensive mind is life and death themselves, the coming and going, Zazen practice and everyday life.

Zen-Buddhism teaches clearly that we need to learn to differentiate between our perceptions, our ideas and our way of thinking and reality itself. We should not mistake one for the other and confuse them. That is why Dogen says:

“If we have never awakened the will ( to the truth ), have never undertaken the practical training, never ( realized ) the Bodhi-mind and have never Nirvana ( experienced ) - then there is no ( state ) `Mind here and now is Buddha´.”

It is sufficient if the desire for the truth is manifested in just one single moment or in one atom of our body for the true Buddha-mind to be realized.

This is why the Buddha-mind is far more extensive than the “spirit-essence” of the Brahman Srenika and the doctrines of the southern masters.The true spirit is realized when the desire or the will for  truth is aligned with ethical action.

The true Buddha Dharma was lost in the South

Mind here and now is Buddha, Part 2

(Soku-shin-ze-butsu)

What does the sentence “Mind here and now is Buddha” imply?

In the records of Master Daikan Eno the false or at least improper teachings are  discussed – within the course of a dialogue with a traveling Buddhist monk. Master Daikan Eno was highly regarded by Dogen and was given the honorable title Great National Teacher Daisho.

In this context the traveller explains to the National Teacher that Dharma teachers of the South state “Mind here and now is Buddha” only refers to the consciousness, not to the body.

Thus mind and consciousness are being equated and perceived as being separate from the body.

According to the teachings in the South, the core feature of a consciousness of this kind are the representation of the essence of seeing, hearing, perceiving and knowledge and above all knowledge.

It governs all actions - especially the realm of thought - of a human being and is therefore called “true, all-encompassing knowledge”.

This all-encompassing knowledge represents the Great Buddha himself and there is nothing else beside it.

For this reason, according to the Srenikan doctrine, this all-embracing knowledge represents the supreme and the essence of the universe.

By comparison, everything else, such as matter and the body, are marginal and less important. The spirit and knowledge are immortal. After death, the spirit  leaves the physical body, just like someone who abandons his burned, useless house, or like a snake, shedding its old skin and leaving it behind.

Hearing these explanations, the Great National Teacher Daisho found his opinion confirmed that, in the South, a false doctrine of the Buddha Dharma was common. He bemoaned the fact that students of so-called masters were taught in this way and therefore were headed in the completely wrong direction on the way to the Buddha Dharma.

For this reason the true Buddha Dharma was lost in the South.

The true teachings of the Buddha Dharma transcend knowledge, consciousness and sensory perception such as seeing, hearing, feeling etc.

We cannot go beyond the rigid limitations of thinking and reasoning relying just on the rational mind itself or on our sensory organs. We would not have access to the true Buddha Dharma.

That is why the doctrine of the South was its own dubious wishful thinking and the subjective, one-sided belief of the local masters. The great universal truth, taught by Gautama Buddha himself and the predecessors of Dharma, simply could not have been grasped and understood fully by the teachers of the South.

As mentioned, Nishijima Roshi regards the realm of thought and ideas as idealism and the realm of perception and sensory stimuli as materialism. Looking at them individually, both philosophies are not entirely wrong. But they cannot do justice to the wonderful diversity of life here and now, as they are one-sided and one-dimensional.

He, who aligns himself with one of the limited philosophies, won’t be able to escape the ongoing cycle of suffering and superficial pleasures. He will just be holding onto a straw, which is not reliable once you look at it closely. Therefore, Nishijima Roshi strongly advocates a third life philosophy, namely the philosophy of acting in the here and now, in the present moment. The fourth philosophy, in Buddhism regarded as the highest one, already contains the three philosophies previously mentioned. But it goes beyond them and is called awakening, enlightenment or emptiness. On this level, the highest of all, there is absolute unity and harmony in morality and universal laws.

Mind here and now is Buddha

(Soku-shin-ze-butsu, Part 1)

In this chapter, Dogen distinguishes the Buddhist teachings from ancient Indian philosophy, which was advocated at the time of Gautama Buddha by the Brahman, Srenika.

Several disputes between Gautama Buddha and Srenika took place, which define the essential core values of the new Buddhist teachings and distinguish them from the teachings of Brahmanism.

Brahman, Srenika believed that an eternal and unalterable soul existed and transmigrated from one body to another, independent of the particular physical body, through various incarnations.

He thought this to be the great principle, easy to recognize and understand. Moreover, he believed that the teachings of the immortal soul would liberate one immediately and effortlessly, without imposing the burden of practicing.

According to Srenika, this spirit-substance distinguishes between suffering and pleasure, warmth and coldness, pain and irritation.

It (the spirit substance of the Srenikan view ) is supposed to be completely independent of the physical body and fully self-dependent. Above all, it cannot be limited or restricted by any physical thing or accompanying condition.

Such an eternal spirit permeates the souls of normal and saintly humans. Srenika states that once you have attained this spiritual intelligence, illusions of body and mind will fade away and disappear. He believed that one would be immediately and effortlessly freed and would not have to suffer any longer. Also, it would be a chance to discern one’s innate spiritual consciousness clearly. According to Srenika, this spiritual intelligence is eternal and permeates through worlds and eons.

In contrast, manifestations of this world and universe are transient, they arise and perish, they have no persistence.

With regard to Srenika, you could call this spiritual intelligence the spiritual consciousness or the true self. Following his teachings, those who acquired this great wisdom could leave the miserable cycles of reincarnation and were able to return to eternity.

The agonizing cycle of life and death has finally come to an end once the spirit enters eternity. Then the spirit-substance is absorbed by the everlasting ocean of the essence.

These are the main propositions of the Srenikan view.

How does Master Dogen react to this, and how does he outline the teachings of the Buddha Dharma?

Wouldn’t it be nice if Srenika and his teachings were correct? A simple realization of the “spirit”, understood in this way, would liberate us and we could escape suffering and other dreadful experiences in life.

By the eighth century AD Buddhism in China had reached its peak, which was due to the time of Master Daikan Eno, who was Boddhidharma’s sixth successor in China.

In northern China, cultural life had reached remarkably high standards and thus differed from the under-developed South, which, at that time, included parts of Cambodia and Vietnam.

Dogen reports that Buddhism wasn’t practiced as accurately in the South as in the North of China, given the fact that the teachings of the so-called masters in the South came very close to Srenika’s teachings. Their teachings equated the spirit or the spiritual-essence with Buddha.

Dogen vigorously rejects these teachings and explains this on the basis of the famous statement,

“Mind here and now is Buddha”.

According to him, it is not about beliefs, wishful thinking and abstract ideas – but about the real truth, whether we like it or not. Fleeing reality into daydreams is one of the main causes of human suffering. A conclusion Sigmund Freud already came to decades ago.

The one Pearl goes directly through ten thousand Years

One Bright Pearl, (Ikka-no-myoju, Part 5)

Master Dôgen appreciates the example of the bright pearl and says,

“It is an expression of the truth. It will be famously recognized. The one pearl goes directly through ten thousand years. The eternal past has not ended but the eternal present has arrived. The body exists now and the mind exists now. Even so (the whole universe) is a bright pearl”

In this wonderful reality we should free ourselves from the emotions of liking and disliking or badly wanting to possess something or refusing something. Considerations like these are not true reality, and the truth of the bright pearl transcends such thinking, emotions and distinctions.

In Buddhism there are several very famous stories about pearls. For example,  a rich man gave his very poor friend a pearl, but he put it in his clothes and it was hidden. The poor friend became aware of the pearl many years later and was saved by it. Thus it is the great rhythm of our life to give a pearl and to receive a pearl. The black dragon of Chinese mythology has a pearl under his chin and in the Lotus Sûtra it is said that the king gives a precious pearl to a human being who has worked very hard for him.

At the end of this chapter Dôgen stresses the fact that we should not complain about the future and the universe in general. So even when it is hot in the sixth month of the lunar calendar in China, we should enjoy it and be happy in this wonderful universe. Because it is like a bright pearl and it is beyond thinking and intellectual philosophy:

“Artificial and non artificial states of surmising and doubting, attaching and rejecting are just the small view. There is nothing more then trying to make (the bright pearl) match the narrow intellect. How we could not love the bright pearl? Its colors and light, as they are, are endless.”