Q: I have been reading Paul Reps’ book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, it seems, all of my life. One of my favorite parts of his book is the 10 Bulls which is about the search for our true nature. So my question is this: Is the first picture, “The Search for the Bull” about the beginner’s mind?
A: Yes and no. Most beginners never make it to the first picture. The ox, representing our Buddha-nature or pure Mind, is not a subject often discussed in Zen centers. How to properly search for it, I am guessing, is even less discussed. The first picture really takes place in our mental world of thoughts, mental images, internal dialogues, emotions, pain, and so on. You can use the metaphor of a jungle, a forest or a pasture to describe such a mind. Most Zen beginners just take this mind for granted. They don’t really look into it. It is who they believe they are. It functions, at times, as a daydreaming machine. It’s where the mysterious first-person is located. It’s the bearer of the body’s pain and the enjoyer of the body’s pleasures. The task of a good Zen teacher is to get the beginner to look at their mind-jungle! But there is even more to it. It’s not just about examining our thoughts arising and then falling—just being an observer.
Q: That is what I have been taught. Just observe your thoughts. From what you’re saying the mind-jungle is where the search for our true nature begins. Beginner’s Zen starts when when a beginner looks for their true nature in the mind-jungle. You seem to be saying there is really something there to see.
A: Absolutely. You’re looking for pure Mind before it becomes waves, or the same, thoughts. When absolute Mind moves the universe appears along with thoughts and concepts. It is no less pure for moving, either. It just perfectly hides from itself when it is conditioned. So its a tricky and subtle search.
Q: So what did you do when you were searching for it?
A: I was obsessed with looking for it. I used what few Zen books I had to provide me with some clues. They helped, but not much. You still have to make a tremendous effort of looking into your mind-jungle to find that immaculate ox. When I cut firewood, I looked for the ox. When I split firewood, I looked for the ox. When I went down to the well to get a bucket of water, I looked for the ox. When I made rice or went to the pond looking for wild watercress, I was looking for the ox. When I sat in the mine, not far from the ranch house, I looked for the ox. In my case, I really wanted to find that ox. It was a matter of life and death. It was that real for me.
Q: Do you think most Zennists today are that dedicated?
A: I can’t speak for the average Zennist. But of Westerners who write books about Zen, I can’t imagine that they searched very much for the ox. These people have basically imitated their teachers; jumped through all the right hoops. They are clones. This may explain why Western Zennists don’t understand what koans are about. Koans are actually tests to see if you’ve seen the ox. If you have, the koans are almost like one big inside joke. Every koan is playing with the essence of Mind. If Zennists saw the ox they would know the real meaning behind why the Buddha held up a flower and blinked in front of Mahakashyapa. What did Mahakashyapa see that caused him to smile when others only saw a crazy old guy holding up a flower and blinking? The answer can be obvious or hidden if you’ve not seen, firsthand, pure Mind. You can’t bullshit your way through koans although Western Zennist are pretty good with their bullshit—or should I say, ox shit. This is also why they rely heavily on zazen. That’s all they have to teach; it’s all they know.
Q: I take it that you don’t believe zazen is the royal road to enlightenment. This is my impression since the idea of searching for the ox or pure Mind is a different kind of activity than just sitting. In what way does zazen help.
A: Zazen is basically sitting the Five Aggregates down on a zafu; trying to subdue Mara’s psychophysical body. Our body is the evil one’s property—every bit of it. We are stuck in his prison of flesh. The only means of escape we have is to transcend this prison by perceiving the ox. Mara’s world is really our unskilled states of mind which keep us in the dark about pure Mind. Before he awakened, the Buddha tried to subdue the Five Aggregates by means of asceticism. He didn’t succeed. It was only by realizing pure Mind by means of dhyâna that he succeeded. What I am trying to emphasize is zazen has its limitations. When Dogen said that sitting without attaining anything or understanding anything is the Way of Buddhas it was like he was saying, don’t search for the ox. Just sit down—do nothing. By reducing the search for the ox to the uncomplicated exercise of sitting—which is today’s Zen—Zen is essentially dead.
Q: But it’s okay to search for the ox from the posture of sitting, right?
A: Yes, of course. You can sit formally and search for it or sit on the crapper and look for it. Do whatever you need to do, but look for the ox wholeheartedly. When you find him the real journey of Buddhism begins. You’re just a baby Buddha—not yet a mature Buddha.
Dooyen:
Neither "animals, trees and stone are awakened" (i.e., Buddhas) nor even sentient beings.
"Suppose someone declares that he has already attained the most perfect enlightenment. When asked for the reason, he replies “It is because the tathâgata teaches that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. Since whoever is in possession of the Buddha-nature should have already attained the most perfect enlightenment, I declare that I have attained enlightenment now.” It should be understood that such a person is guilty of the pârâjikas [grave offense like murder]. Why? It is because even though the Buddha teaches that all sentient being have the Buddha-nature, they have not yet cultivated various beneficial means, and so still have no vision of the Buddha-nature which they are going to have. Since they still have no vision of the Buddha-nature, they have not attained the most perfect enlightenment” (Maharparinirvana Sutra).
Posted by: The Zennist | November 24, 2012 at 01:34 AM
The quoted passage is talking about skandha as being empty. When you have seen through it, there is no Mara involved anymore (thus it says "might be", as for some there is no Mara).
Not only the body is an illusion, but the brain and its creations are, that is the human mind. The "absolute (or universal) mind" that is considered not to be an illusion is independent from that body and mind, that is why an individual life can end without the absolute mind being changed. There is still nothing of the individual remaining, not even the thought of awakening. That is exactly why we can say that animals, trees and stone are awakened (the Palicanon does not state that, but it is known in different schools of zen, not only in the Dogen tradition) - because this being empty in the skandha, living and dying, thinking or not thinking, does not change the(ir) Buddhanature.
Posted by: dooyen | November 24, 2012 at 12:23 AM
Dooyen:
You can believe it is wrong view but then explain this:
"When there is form, Radha, there might be Mara, or the killer, or the one who is killed. Therefore, Radha, see form as Mara, see it as the killer, see it as the one who is killed. See it as a disease, as a tumor, as a dart, as misery, as really misery. Those who see it thus see rightly. When there if feeling ... When there is perception ... When there are volitional formations ... When there is consciousness, Radha, there might be Mara, or the killer, or the one who is killed" (S.iii.189).
Fundamentally, the ox has nothing to do with psychophysical body (pañca-skandha) which is Mara's. The body is really an illusion. It is nothing in itself, it is empty. The only reality is absolute Mind. That is hardly duality.
Posted by: The Zennist | November 23, 2012 at 11:37 AM
The "dropping of body and mind" in Dogen is contradicted by insisting on a certain posture of the body. Anyway, the Zennist makes clear why it is so important for him to believe in rebirth, when he states: "Our body is the evil one’s property—every bit of it. We are stuck in his prison of flesh. The only means of escape ..."
I believe this is a wrong view because it creates a duality between body and mind. It will also not help you when being sick, where "making friends with your body" might be more relieving.
Whatever you think of Dogen, such categories of discernment should be dissolved by insight, be it with or without the zazen posture. Otherwise your thoughts are delusional, as it is exactly your physical life (the body and the brain) which defines your life. Anything else you do not know, and I do not know a lot of zen masters who have insisted on speculating about the afterlife. The wish for eternal life which is behind rebirth as s.th. that is continuing in time as in future instead of being an eternal present is the basis for most religions. This is where your spirituality becomes religion, a step to be avoided.
If your body would be your cage of flesh and you'd detect that through awakening, you would consequently kill yourself to stay in nirvana (without flesh) because if you don't you will still not avoid pain and sickness. This is where your body defines you. But most persons who considered themselves awakened or were told to be did not commit suicide.
Get it?
Posted by: dooyen | November 23, 2012 at 03:30 AM
"We find this sudden approach to the Threefold Discipline -- sometimes referred to as the "formless discipline" (muso sangaku) -- appearing again and again in the texts of the Zen tradition, often accompanied by sharp criticisms of meditation and strong denials that the tradition's practice of zazen is the traditional discipline of dhyana. So, for example, the Lin-chien lu, an important treatise by the Sung-dynasty Zen master Hui-hung, denies that Bodhidharma's famous nine years of sitting before a wall was the practice of dhyana ..." (Dr. Carl Bielefeldt)
Posted by: Jure | November 20, 2012 at 09:49 AM