A trap is a useful instrument depending on what you wish to trap. The victim, as a rule, is deceptively misled into a device which allows entry but not exit. Part of the trap is the bait which entices the victim into the device. Looking at the trap through Buddhism, as sentient beings we are trapped even before we exit our mother’s birth canal. What is more, we have no memory of how the entrapment was accomplished which is the process of continuous rebirth, i.e., samsara. We draw a blank to think about the origin of our entrapment. We have no memory if it.
The trap in which we find ourselves is almost perfect. There is no apparent escape from it. We are always subject to being tormented in this condition. The trap is the psychophysical body together with the outer world which surrounds it. Said again, there is no exit of which we might perceive through our senses. It seems that whatever we do only reinforces the trap adding to our frustration. It is safe to assume that we are trapped—having taken Mara’s bait many times—in such a way that no matter how far we extend our range of vision and thought the trap is always one step ahead of us!
In Zen, the trap is simplified but it is still the same trap as previously discussed. Now the trap we face is the no-gate barrier 無門関 which stands in the way of our escape. Acting as a checkpoint, it bids us to enter provided we have, let us say, the pass key. But where the hell is the pass key?
The pass key is to be found within us which is covered over by illusion. This is our true nature which is unconditioned which is the basis of the conditioned world we are trapped in through our psychophysical body. See it, you can pass through the checkpoint. Whereas before the illusion seemed impenetrable, now it is transparent. All that we behold now is but a configuration of this mysterious nature. Even our psychophysical body, i.e., the five skandhas, are also a configuration of it.
One more thing. You really have to behold this mysterious nature—the pass key. It is a very difficult task to accomplish. Most will fail because of their karma. Nor will the Zen of sitting disclose the pass key either. Doing seated meditation is like giving a child yellow willow leaves as gold to stop its crying.
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