Zen Thoughts & Reflections
Essays and Reflections from the Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun (ZBOHY.ORG)
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- Who Drags This Corpse? The Vajra-Sword of Hsu Yun
One hour and then another. Inexorably march, step by step. Whenever I meet you, we each smile. But who is it who drags your corpse around? -- Chan Master Hsu Yun (Empty Cloud)
"Who drags this corpse around?" This is one of Chan's now famous mind-puzzles, or hua tou's, thanks to our great Chan Ancestor Hsu Yun. And it takes us right to the essence of Chan.
For the beginner new to Chan's tactics, attacking a hua tou may seem too abstruse, too hard, and too alien to know how to approach it. As easy as it might be to sit and count our breaths, be mindful of our thoughts, or concentrate on a mantra for a half-hour, investigating the baffling question, "Who am I?", can be so daunting that we quickly and happily toss it aside, discounting it as nonsense. Yet we can't neglect the fact that Empty Cloud considered that pondering this one question is a powerful and direct entrance into Chan's precincts. . . . by Fa Gong Shakya, OHY
Thu, 7 Feb 2008 09:06:10 -0700 - The Fast Way to Chan
Many spiritual seekers get frustrated as they become lost in the myriad approaches to enlightenment presented in Buddhist literature and by various spiritual teachers: take this path … or that path; study this sutra, then that sutra; do these things … don't do those things. There is also much discussion of psychology, philosophy, science -- a billion things to occupy the mind and distract from the simple, direct approach to Self-realization. While all these things are, in and of themselves, well and fine, it's not surprising that few come to realize their own enlightened nature through them. The untended mind naturally latches onto the ephemeral as if it were the perennial -- that's when we end up chasing our tail, getting dizzy, and falling down in a dead heap.
If you are one of those rare people who just wants to get down to business, here's the scoop: . . . by Chuan Zhi Shakya, OHY
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 08:58:05 -0700 - The Monk, The Man, and the Fish
A solitary monk was carrying a large fish to his home to prepare it for his meal. As he walked along the path, a man approached from the other direction. As he reached hailing distance, the man called out "Hey monk! I see you coming! What is that you're carrying?
Not wishing to shout in the quietude of the forest path, the monk thought: I will answer this man’s question when I am close enough so that a shrill shout will not be necessary.
As the two approached one another closely, the monk opened his mouth to speak but he was cut off by another bellow from the man.
Why didn't you answer me, Monk?” The fellow demanded . . . by Fa Dao Shakya, OHY
Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:44:00 -0700 - True Atonement
Anyone who saw the movie Gandhi holds forever in his memory one galvanizing scene:
The time is shortly after India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947. India is torn by civil strife; Muslims and Hindus are killing each other; and Gandhi is fasting to protest the violence and to jolt people into becoming aware of their terrible actions.
Gandhi is near death from starvation when a crazed man, a Hindu, arrives with food that he insists Gandhi must eat. He demands, "Here! Eat! Eat! I'm going to hell - but not with your death on my soul!"
Gandhi replies, "Only God decides who goes to hell."
"I killed a child!" the man confesses. "I smashed his head against a wall!"
Gandhi asks, "Why?" ... by Chuan Zhi Shakya, OHY
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:26:27 -0700 - Selections from the Dhammapada -- Sayings of the Buddha
Speak not harshly to anyone; those thus spoken to will retort. Vindictive speech begets sorrow, and retaliatory blows may bruise you. -- Canto X.5
Even though a man be richly attired, if he should live in peace, calm, controlled, assured, leading a holy life, abstaining from inflicting injury upon all creatures, he is truly a brahmana, a recluse, a bhikkhu. -- Canto X.14
Behold this painted image, a mass of sores, stuck together, sickly, full of idle imaginings, in which nothing lasts. -- Canto XI.2
Let not a man abandon his own good for the sake of another's good, however great. Once a man has clearly apprehended his own good, let him pursue it with diligence. -- Canto XII.10 (166)
and many more . . .
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:16:04 -0700 - Ancient Wisdom: The Blue Lotus
"The countenance of the Buddha is like the clear full moon, Or again, like a thousand suns releasing their splendour. His eyes are pure, as large and as broad as a blue lotus. His teeth are white, even and close, as snowy as white jade. " - from the Suvarnaprabhasa (Suvarnabhasottama) Sutra
Something may strike us odd about these lines of scripture. Anyone who has been to China or India is familiar with lotus flowers: they are white or pink or cream or rose colored . . . but they are not blue.
We’re all prepared to visualize the Buddha’s blue eyes. He was an Aryan, of European descent, a nobleman in a societal caste system that did not ‘officially’ intermarry with native populations. The rigidity of the system can be seen even in further generations. Nearly a thousand years later, Bodhidharma, another Aryan descendant, was called The Blue Eyed Demon by the Chinese. Also, in recent years we’ve witnessed the startling discoveries of three thousand year-old blond and red haired Caucasian mummies in the Takla Makan area of western China. We know beyond question that Aryans were indeed present in the Orient long before the Christian era; but Nymphea caerulea savigny, the blue lotus, was not. . . . . by Chuan Zhi Shakya, OHY
Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:49:08 -0700 - Non-Discrimination and the Chan Mind
Discriminating is a fundamental aspect of being human. Everything we do is a choice based on discrimination between one thing or another, or between one thing and a thousand others. The collection of choices we each make is unique to each of us. Sometimes our choices are based on our likes and dislikes of things, like if we choose to be vegetarians or eat meat, listen to loud rock music or to Mozart … Sometimes our choices are based on fears, like what we consider people might think of us. Or maybe we are concerned if our action might be a sin. Might our choice cause harm? Maybe we are afraid of other people's differences from us - their nationality, religion, or skin colour.
And so discrimination goes on and on nearly every moment of our daily lives and it's a primary source of our suffering. . . . by Chuan Kong Shakya, OHY
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 10:21:29 -0700 - Bodhi Day: The Day of Enlightenment
It was the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, the story goes, that Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Shakyamuni, awoke from a week of meditation to view of the morning star - Venus - and exclaimed, "That's it! That's it! That's me! That's me that's shining so brilliantly!" In that single moment he fully realized the Dharma - that body of unalterable, immutable, unending Truth that he would spend the rest of his life teaching to others.
Zen Buddhists of Japanese traditions celebrate Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) on December 8th (even though "Rohatsu" means, literally, "the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month"); In China this important event is mostly forgotten in popular culture even though the day is not. The 8th day of the 12th lunar month, Laba Jie (làbajié), is celebrated yearly by billions as a reminder of the upcoming New Year. Knowledge of the Buddhist origins of the Laba festival has become lost to contemporary Chinese culture, just as the Christmas Tree has mostly forgotten origins that predate Christianity. . . . by Fa Dao Shakya, OHY
Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:02:00 -0700
