Q: How do I find a true Zen teacher?
A: Most Zen teachers will tell you that a true Zen teacher must have verification from another true teacher and so on. But then how do we know that any of the Zen teachers in this line really understand the Mind that Bodhidharma brought to China which is pure and undefiled? Maybe their transmission has been more like adding water to milk until the milk is so diluted it's not even milk anymore. Today there are few if any Zen teachers who actually understand that the Mind is the Buddha and that this is what Zen is all about—I mean finding this Mind for yourself. For that matter, they don't understand koans either; including the fact that koans spring from pure Mind and point to it. Since these Zen teachers haven't really discovered this Mind for themselves, in a profound way, Buddha Mind is almost meaningless for them. They don't see how it operates in the koan. If you collect all the sayings of the great Zen masters of the past, all their sermons point to the Buddha Mind. They may call it different names like One Mind, pure Mind, or unborn Mind. But it is the same thing as Buddha or awakened Mind. I can say these teachers are transmitted because they recognize the supreme importance of pure Mind whereas today, Zen teachers are not interested in pure Mind.
Q: Okay, let’s say I decide to check out a bunch of Zen temples in the U.S. What should I look for to see if the Zen teacher is qualified to teach Zen?
A: If it were me, I would looking for pure Mind.
Q: But I don’t know what it looks like. That is why I am looking for a qualified teacher. Should I ask the prospective teacher what pure Mind looks like?
A: That would be okay. Listen to what he has to say. Maybe he or she will just bullshit you hoping that you won’t press them too much for a real answer.
Q: What else could I ask a prospective teacher?
A: Ask a teacher that if he or she truly possesses the Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma and Wondrous Mind of Nirvana, what did the Buddha transmit to Mahakashyapa besides just holding up a flower and blinking. That should get their attention.
Q: Do you know the answer?
A: Yes, it’s easy for me after all these years but I am no modern day Zen teacher that is looking for students; nor do I particularly care for beginners who lack the necessary spiritual aptitude. In the past I would send such beginners to Zen centers to get rid of them. Today, I encourage them to get a good job, raise a family, and if, after that, they are still interested in Zen, read all my blogs.
Q: Well how about a little hint, then?
A: Everyone is blocked by the Buddha’s flower and his blinking. Then when Kashyapa smiled, many more became blocked by his smile. Nowadays, Zen teachers are blocked by Zen’s external forms which includes everything from robes to zazen. Giving you a hint, in light of this, depends a lot on how much you reject Zen’s external bullshit and look, instead, to what animates this corpse that you cling to out of habit.
Q: I don’t think they teach that in Zen centers. So, in other words, it is a waste of time to go searching for the perfect master. But then what should I do?
A: Every Dharma center I have been to is generally a buzzing beehive of politics and often scandal. Nothing really comes out of such a mess in the way of awakening to pure Mind. One seriously has to avoid such Dharma dumps. It is better to live alone in a cabin in the forest for a couple of months searching for pure Mind. Such a life clears up your head making the required intuition possible. A person has to face themselves alone with little if any distractions. Then they have to look inside their noggin for the total purity that is Buddha Mind (believe me, it’s there). This search has to be relentless—you throw everything into it as if it were a life and death matter. Then, you might get lucky. Make your friends dead Zen masters and the Buddha. Don’t be afraid to learn Buddhism without a human teacher clad in a Buddhist robe. There are other kinds of teachers.
Q: This sounds discourageing. What do you mean by other kinds of teachers?
A: Don’t believe Buddhas are dead or a kalyanamitra (spiritual benefactor) is always flesh and blood.
Jure:
Eventually, one leaves the Prussian-like discipline and becomes a hermit living in Zhongnan Mountains, seeking pure Mind.
Posted by: thezennist | May 17, 2013 at 10:32 AM
Susan:
When I read your comment I was thinking about some old grizzled Tang dynasty Zen master's response and what it might be (which always shows the function—not the essence or substance itself). :)
Posted by: thezennist | May 17, 2013 at 10:27 AM
If people don't like scandal and politics they can also go to Asia, there are some authentic temples and, while they might not be enlightened, at least they're strict and don't care about Western psychological-emotional bologna. You have to observe strict rules there, and there's no questioning the authority and the hierarchy. While this very rigid, order sounds anti-spiritual, it is in fact the opposite. It's hard to explain, though. Ritual and automatism sets the spirit free. If the spirit has to deal with "what kind of Shampoo do I want to buy?" every day, it's hard to focus. But if everything is ritual and predetermined - you don't have to think about those things. You wake up, you go to the zendo, you go to the field ... while the body is being tortured by the Prussian discipline, the spirit roams free.
Posted by: Jure | May 17, 2013 at 08:48 AM
This is probably the time to say this. Once you advised me: Ask your teacher to show you pure Mind. And since we had just come from a student discussion group in which we were supposed to discuss our ideas about what Bodhi is I stuck up my hand in class and asked "Our group was confused because none of us has seen true mind...could you show us bodhi?" And our shifu replied "No, I can't." And seeing my face fall he said (and I reviewed the mp3 of the lecture later) "I know this disappoints you...but what is always here can not be shown." Later, I told this story to my husband & he commented "This is a good teacher for you." (I think so too.)
Posted by: Susan | May 17, 2013 at 02:05 AM