Advice for beginners

I have never agreed with the advice that it is important to choose a good teacher and stick with that person.  I wish Buddhism were that simple but it isn’t.  The spiritual immaturity of the chooser is a major problem when choosing a teacher.  You could even say the karma of the chooser is the real issue which means the chooser’s ability to resonate with the true teaching may not be sufficiently developed. 

Also, it is true to say that the only teacher required of a spiritually mature beginner is someone who says the right words to set the beginner on the right path.  This is in keeping with the Buddhist dictum that a fine horse runs at the shadow of the whip.  Again, this is not easy to do.  Some beginners and even old veterans, no matter how many times a worthy teacher points to Buddha Mind, they just don’t get it.  His right words are not being correctly received by the beginner who remains clueless about the importance of intuiting Buddha Mind.  If the beginner were a horse, raising the whip would be a waste of time.

It also needs to be said that not all teachers a beginner runs to are truly accomplished, enough to understand the importance of realizing Buddha Mind.  If a beginner hears a teacher say that we can experience the Buddha’s enlightenment by taking the zazen posture, how does the beginner know this is true unless he has read and studied the Buddhist canon?  Certainly, there is no evidence in Zen that the Buddha transmitted sitting.  It is evident from the Sung work, The Transmission of the Lamp, that what was transmitted was not sitting but Buddha Mind which goes by many names.  Incidentally, this same Mind is universally present, but few have the ability to connect with it because they are deeply attached to what is not Buddha Mind.

In keeping with the insight of an accomplished teacher, the simple truth of Buddhism is that which animates this temporal body of ours is the absolute, the Buddha Mind, etc.  But along with this simple truth comes another truth:  most beginners are too attached to their temporal body.  They are almost completely blind to the animative side of their being so when it is pointed out to them with a shout, a beating or Mu, they just don’t get it (this explains why koans are so difficult for Westerners). 

 

Comments

[JK (Jure)]

(Also, with that post, to be true to what the contents of what I posted point to - I will leave this Blog and this comment section for good. It's been an interesting ride everyone! Godspeed you all.)

[JK]

"I have never agreed with the advice that it is important to choose a good teacher and stick with that person." - Yet this was advised by many, including the Zen masters you praise on this blog.

"Certainly, there is no evidence in Zen that the Buddha transmitted sitting." - There is more evidence that the Buddha transmitted sitting meditation than the Buddha transmitting koans. -

Why attack shikantaza for not being traditional /canonical, but not use the same argument against koans, shouts, beatings?

We know the Buddha sat zazen when he realized Bodhi, but we don't know he used koans, hua tous, chanting, reading Buddhist sutras. I'm pretty sure Gautama didn't read even a single Buddhist sutra to get enligthened. But he did sit down, and for a long time!

Zen Master Dogen clearly said zazen has nothing to do with physical posture. His instruction was to "think of not-thinking" - which gives rise to beyond-thinking (or non-thinking).

Sitting for Master Dogen was a "realized koan" - unity of practice and realization.

' "all things are the form of truth" (Lotus Sutra) and "all existence is Buddha nature" (Nirvana Sutra) - they refer to that which lies beyond the personal '

In the words of Kodo Sawaki:

"The entire universe radiates the light of the self.
So I fill the entire universe."

When you practice Zen, it has to be here and now, it has to be about yourself. Don’t let Zen become a rumor that has nothing to do with you.

Zazen is the buddha that we form out of our raw flesh.

Zazen means putting into practice that which cannot be thought.

Zazen is the dharma-switch that turns on the whole universe.

Simply doing something [shikan] means doing it now, on the spot. It means not wasting the little time you have in life.