Rinzai Roku, Book of Pilgrimages, Chapter VI
Teisho by Eido Shimano Roshi
The Master was dozing in the monks' hall. Obaku (Huangbo) came in. Seeing this, he struck the platform with his staff. The Master raised his head.
Noticing it was Obaku, he resumed dozing. Obaku again struck the platform.
He then proceeded to the upper part of the hall. Seeing the head monk in
zazen, he said, “The youngster in the lower part of the hall is doing zazen. What kind of delusions are you indulging in here?” The head monk said, “This old fellow, what are you doing?” Obaku struck the platform once more and left.
Later Isan (Weishan) asked Kyozan (Yangshan), “What was the intention of Obaku's coming to the monks’ hall?” Kyozan said, “One contest, two victories.”
In the past, I had a different appreciation of this quite interesting
happening in the zendo of Master Obaku’s monastery. Today, I see it
slightly differently, and a few years from now, maybe again it will seem
different. Truly, this Dharma has no end.
Master Obaku, his student Rinzai, and the head monk are all equally Dharma
students and are all equally provided for by the Dharma food, Dharma
residence, Dharma robe and Dharma air. As long as we have unshakable faith,
unshakable dedication and unshakable commitment to the Dharma, which is
normally translated as “truth” or “universal law,” there is, without exception, the reaction of the Dharma according to our action - in other
words, karma.
This story from the Book of Rinzai does not mean to imply that the head monk
was not as good as the young, dozing Rinzai. Each of these three figures -
Rinzai, Obaku , and the head monk - are teaching us how to cultivate our
state of mind, each in their own way.
In this turbulent era, things are drastically changing around us, and it is
far more important than ever before that we have some faith and courage.
In the Diamond Sutra, Buddha says to Subhuti, “This Dharma is like a raft. The Buddha-teaching must be relinquished. How much more so mis-teaching!”
Upon hearing the term “relinquished,” one may mistakenly get the impression that if the Buddha-teaching must be relinquished, what else is left? But this is an erroneous interpretation.
The Tao Te Ching says, “Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier. Throw away morality and justice, and people will do
the right thing. Throw away industry and profit, and there won’t be any
thieves. If these three aren’t enough, just stay at the center of the
circle and let all things take their course.”
The first three statements tell us to “throw away, throw away, throw away.” This advice is so important! Unless we let things go, unless we throw things away, unless we forsake, we will never realize the Absolute. “If these three aren’t enough, JUST stay at the center of the circle.” I believe this “staying at the center” is what we strive to achieve through our dedicated, enthusiastic zazen practice. And we need to relinquish even that, as soon as we realize that we are too attached to it, too dependent on it. Once we notice this attachment and dependence, we are able to
reevaluate and renew our sitting practice.
The Master was dozing in the monks’ hall. Obaku (Huangbo) came in. Seeing this, he struck the platform with his staff. The Master raised his head.
Noticing it was Obaku, he resumed dozing.
This account opens with the young Rinzai sleeping during zazen. When we
look at the appearance of a monk dozing in the zendo, it is certainly not as
good as someone sitting like a big tree with deep roots. In this case, the
head monk was jikijitsu and was sitting very strongly, while Rinzai had
nodded off. As we compare the zazen of these two monks, we cannot help but
make the evaluative distinction that one is good and one is bad. We may say
that there is a phenomenal, relative level of reality, and Rinzai’s dozing
gives us the impression, relatively speaking, that his zazen is not as
strong as the head monk’s. In fact, each one represents fundamental reality
- whether we sit or doze, we cannot be otherwise than Dharma-as-it-is. In
essence, the three men are Dharma itself.
In support of this perspective, I have a story I would like to share. One
Rohatsu sesshin, while sitting zazen, I thought I heard the invocation of
Buddha’s name. I heard a voice repeating “Namu Amida, Namu Amida,” slowly, softly. That was a rather unusual thing. Consequently, however, I started to think about Amida Buddha, who is said to have taken forty-eight vows to save us; to clarify our confusion. And I started to repeat to myself those forty-eight vows. As that Rohatsu sesshin was to conclude with the ordination ceremony of one of my students, the subject of vows adhered to my
mind for the remainder of the week.
As soon as I thought, “what is our vow supposed to be?” it came to me immediately, without a moment’s thought: our vow is what we chant so many times each day: Shujo muhen seigan do - “However innumerable all beings are, we vow to save them all.” Yet something about this was nagging at me: Is this really the vow of Dharma Students? Isn’t this vow a bit arrogant? Isn’t it impossible?
Yet somehow this invocation of Amida Buddha and his vow, Shujo muhen seigan do, became linked. And for the first time, after fifty years of chanting Shujo muhen seigan do, I thought, “My goodness, this first line must be the vow of the Buddha, not of Dharma Students.” And then, somehow it happened, holding my cushion, doing zazen, it came to me: “However heavy my body is, I vow to lift it.” This is exactly what Shujo muhen seigan do literally means! It is a vow to save us, to lift, emancipate, liberate us.
When the first line became clear to me as the vow of the Buddha, the second,
third and fourth lines likewise fell into place: However inexhaustible
delusions are, I vow to extinguish them all. However immeasurable Dharma
teachings are, I vow to master them all. However endless the Buddha’s way
is, I - a student of Dharma - vow to follow it. These second, third and
fourth lines are our vows, and the first line is the Buddha’s vow, which
miraculously came as a sort of gift to my mind during Rohatsu sesshin.
We can be confident that Master Rinzai and the head monk and of course their
teacher Obaku knew these vows very well. Rinzai happened to be dozing in
the zendo, not intentionally - just naturally, which we often experience
ourselves. But he had deep intentions as a Buddhist monk. He had a vow,
and a strong faith in the Dharma, and he relinquished himself to these, and
renewed these continually. This relinquishment and renewal ensures that his
vow was a real vow, not a frozen vow or a dried vow. Every day
relinquished, and everyday renewed, his was a vital vow.
This is really what appeals to us in our practice. Though our zazen
postures look the same everyday, this only appears to be the case. Our
state of mind and our emotional condition - these change continuously; not
for a single day are they ever identical. The same principle applies
regarding our vows: relinquish, renew, relinquish, renew. Unless this
activity is going on, our vows become stale, moldy, spoiled.
Even so, our bodies sometimes want to doze during zazen - we may not
necessarily want to, but often we can’t help nodding off from time to time.
This is exactly what had happened to Rinzai. Master Obaku approached him,
and seeing young Rinzai asleep, loudly struck the platform in front of his
seat with his stick. Rinzai lifted his head and, seeing that it was Obaku ,
promptly and perhaps a bit defiantly, fell back asleep. Or perhaps Rinzai
couldn’t help but fall asleep again, purely out of physiological necessity.
Obaku again struck the platform. He then proceeded to the upper part of the hall.
Obaku again struck. He did not say anything, did not strike Rinzai’s
shoulder. There is an expression, Yui butsu, yo butsu: “Only Buddha knows Buddha, Truth knows Truth.” So this particular interaction between Master Obaku and the young Rinzai is an example of “yui butsu, yo butsu” - only Buddha, who renews his vows and relinquishes himself to his vows every day, can recognize a student of Dharma who renews his own vows everyday, and by doing so, makes them stronger, deeper and clearer. Thus, “Only Buddha knows Buddha.”
Seeing the head monk in zazen, he said, “The youngster in the lower part of the hall is doing zazen. What kind of delusions are you indulging in here?”
Master Obaku then continued to walk slowly throughout the zendo, observing
attentively, seeing many different Dharma students’ sitting postures, and
perhaps sensing some kind of vibration, he went to the upper part of the
hall and watched the head monk as he sat in zazen. On that particular day,
the head monk happened to be in good form. Physically, emotionally,
psychologically, spiritually, his sitting was very strong, which we also
experience from time to time. The head monk’s tailbone was stuck into the
good earth, with each breath coming naturally and without effort. He too
was renewing his vow, relinquishing himself to his vow, breath after breath.
His exhalation was his relinquishment, his inhalation, his rededication.
When we exhale, our breath pushes itself out of our bodies. In this way,
our breath does not stay trapped with us to grow stale, but we relinquish
ourselves to it, we let ourselves go . . . then, when we exhale fully, just
as naturally, we need to inhale once more. Not only are we inhaling oxygen,
but we are inhaling a newly dedicated vow. Never repeating the same thing,
each time, our vows are fresh.
Another Zen saying: Hibi ni Arata nari - “Every day is new.” Every moment is new! Every breath is new! In order to have “new,” we need to relinquish,to forsake the old.
Back to the head monk: he was having a strong sit, and happened to be in
so-called “good” form. Upon seeing this, Master Obaku said to him, “That youngster, that shinto (“novice”) in the lower part of the hall is doing zazen. What kind of delusions are you indulging in here?”
Rationally speaking, this doesn’t make any sense - it should be the other way around! But Master Obaku was testing his most senior monk.
The head monk said, “This old fellow, what are you doing?” Obaku struck the platform once more and left.
I think the most simple Japanese translation is “Urusai!” or “Shut up!”
I envy Master Obaku! One of his students had incredible bravado - to doze,
to look up, recognize his Master, and go right back to sleep again. That’s
really great! Another of his students said “Shut up! Get out of here!” These monks can do so, and they can say so, because this relinquishment and renewal is taking place with every single breath, and this is what we must do. Without a true understanding and embodiment of this principle, our zazen deteriorates into mere meditation.
Of course I’m not encouraging you to doze, and I certainly don’t like to be told to shut up! But I want you to cultivate energetic, vigorous, totally alive vows - not dead vows or frozen vows.
Later Isan (Weishan) asked Kyozan (Yangshan), “What was the intention of Obaku's coming to the monks’ hall?” Kyozan said, “One contest, two victories.”
This is a really good answer. I would say “One contest, three victories.” Obaku won, Rinzai won, the head monk also won - one contest! Everybody became a winner, and all three victories happened almost instantaneously, within minutes.
So, brothers and sisters in the West, think about how rare this opportunity
is, how precious and wonderful this practice is, how lucky we are. As the
Diamond Sutra says, “This Dharma is like a raft. Buddha-teaching must be
relinquished; how much more so misteaching?” Every day, every moment, with
every exhalation, relinquishment, renunciation, and forsaking all have to
take place. And with each inhalation, we inhale a new, stronger, clearer
dedication, and are thus renewed.
With this understanding, let us continue into the future together; not
necessarily hand-in-hand, but hara-to-hara, gut-to-gut. As long as this
point is clearly understood, we discover that all our worries - a place to
live, retirement plan, social security, health insurance, life insurance,
etc. - are trivial, not essential.
Because of our upside-down views, we look at trivial matters and believe
they are essential, and we look at essential matters and think they are
trivial. This is completely upside-down. So we must try to make that
upside-down view right-side-up. Only then, as the Heart Sutra says, will we
discover Nirvana. And Nirvana is nowhere else but in this inhalation; in
this exhalation.
Then, we can fully understand, with much gratitude, the Buddha’s Great Vow: Shujo muhen seigan do. And thus we vow in return: Bono mujin seigan dan, homon muryo seigan gaku, butsudo mujo seigan jo.
