Episodes
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Form Is No Other Than Emptiness, Emptiness No Other Than Form
A nice hot kettle of stew. He ruins it by dropping a couple of rat turds in. It's no good pushing delicacies at a person with a full belly. Striking aside waves to look for water when the waves are water.
Forms don't hinder emptiness; emptiness is the tissue of form.
Emptiness isn't destruction of form; form is the flesh of emptiness.
Inside the Dharma gates where form and emptiness are not-two
A lame turtle with painted eyebrows stands in the evening breeze.
-from Zen Words for the Heart: Hakuin's Commentary on the Heart Sutra
(Normal Waddell, trans)Support the Show.
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In my most recent talk, Talking to a Rock, I referenced a talk from a few years back in which I shared the story of my journey to practice, and said I would post it here. So here it is, dusted off and freshened up a bit, with tales of affinity for the Way via things occurring in early childhood through to adolescence and on to early adulthood, culminating with my participating in the ceremony of taking refuge, which marked the beginning of my journey with The Open Source and Pacific Zen School.
Enjoy!Support the Show.
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Missing episodes?
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Yunyan asked a student what they had been doing.
"I've been talking to a rock."
Yunyan asked, "Who spoke first, you or the rock?"
When the student didn't reply, Yunyan said, "It was nodding to you before you even said a word."Support the Show.
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Nothing will do. What do you do? This is the fundamental koan, the koan that is the common denominator of the thousands of koans.
-also-
Whatever I do it just doesn't do what do I do?
-Shin'ichi HisamatsuSupport the Show.
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After several unsuccessful attempts at receiving advice from Vast Obscure…
Generalissimo Cloud said, "It is a rare and difficult thing to meet with you, O Heaven! Please give me just one word!"
Vast Obscure said, "Ach! The nourishing of the mind! Just stay in the state of non-doing and all things will transform themselves. Drop your body away, vomit out your precise powers of hearing and vision, sink yourself into the forgetting of things, become vastly merged in fluidity and darkness, unleash your mind and release your spirit until you are left like a still and silent desert, like there is no soul in you. All things throng and flourish, but each returns to its root. Each returns to its root, and yet they do not know it! Mixed and blended, in chaos and confusion—as long as they live they are never separated from it! If they knew it, they would then be separated from it! They do not ask its name, they do not spy out its character: thus do all things generate themselves!"
-from Chapter 11: "Being There and Giving Room" in Zhuangzi: The Complete Works (Brook Ziporyn, trans)Support the Show.
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Obstinate and mindless
Block of Stone,
Lying here
On this green moss,
Oblivious of rain and dew,
Immune to frost and snow.
How many times has this garden
Flourished and Decayed!
How often have these flowers and trees
Bloomed and Faded!
Just ask old Mr. Stone -
He remembers it all!
-Zheng BanqiaoSupport the Show.
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Let go of hundreds of years
and relax completely.
-Shitou Xiqian, from Song of the Grass Roof HermitageSupport the Show.
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Danxia Tianran traveled to meet with Great Ancestor Ma. Upon first seeing one another, Ma had a good look at him and said, "I am not your teacher," advising him to go to Shitou's place. Danxia made the long journey and joined Shitou's community as a layperson, working in the stables and temple kitchen for several years.
One day Shitou announced to the assembly, “Tomorrow we're going to clear away the weeds in front of the Buddha's shrine.” The next day everyone arrived equipped with tools to cut down the weeds. However, Danxia showed up with only a bowl, filled it with water, and washed his head; then he knelt in front of Shitou. Laughing, Shitou shaved Danxia's head for him, in preparation for taking refuge in the Way as a monastic. As Shitou began to confer the precepts, Danxia covered his ears and ran out.
Danxia then journeyed back to Great Ancestor Ma's place. Before meeting with Ma to pay his respects, Danxia went to the monk's hall, climbed onto the large statue of Manjushri, and sat astride its neck. Everyone became quite upset, and some hurried off to tell Ma what was going on, who then came to the monk's hall to see for himself. Seeing Danxia upon the statue, Ma smiled and said, "Ah yes, my son, so natural."
Danxia climbed down from the statue, bowed before Ma, and said, "Thank you, teacher, for giving me my Dharma Name" (Tianran, which means "natural")Support the Show.
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Dragon murmurings in a dried-up tree aren’t used up
-Xuedou
A student asked Xishuang, “What is ‘dragon murmurings in a dried-up tree’?” Xishuang replied, “I still have joy.”
A Student asked Caoshan, “What is ‘dragon murmurings in a dried-up tree’?” Caoshan replied, “The bloodline is not cut off.”
A student asked, "Who can hear this?" Caoshan said, "In the whole world, there is no one who does not hear it." The student asked, "What book is 'dragon murmurings' taken from?" Caoshan said, "I don't know what book it's from, but all who hear it die."
-from Blue Cliff Record, Case 2 (verse and commentary)Support the Show.
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Today I sat before the cliffs
I sat until the mist drew off
a single crystal stream
a towering ridge of jade
a cloud's dawn shadow not yet moving
the moon's night light still adrift
a body free of dust
a mind without a care
-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)Support the Show.
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The suffering of the Wheel is relentless
back and forth stirring up the dust
the ant patrol on its endless round
the Six Paths are nothing but confusion
changing heads and switching faces
doesn't free you from your self
bring this hell of darkness to an end
don't let your mind grow dim
-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)Support the Show.
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Here's a message for the faithful
what is it that you cherish
to find the Way to see your nature
your nature is naturally so
what Heaven bestows is perfect
looking for proof leads you astray
leaving the trunk to search among twigs
all you get is stupid
--from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)Support the Show.
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A tree grew here before the grove
its age is twice as great
the shifting earth has gnarled its roots
wind and frost have parched its leaves
people scorn its withered outside
no one sees its fine-grained heart
but when its bark is stripped away
what remains is real
-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)Support the Show.
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Before the cliffs I sat alone
the moon shone in the sky
but where a thousand shapes appeared
its lantern cast no light
the unobstructed spirit is clear
the empty cave is a mystery
a finger showed me the moon
the moon is the hub of the mind
-from The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (Hanshan)
Red Pine (trans)Support the Show.
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Someone asked, “What is my heart-mind?”
Changsha replied, “All the worlds in the universe are your heart-mind.”
“If that’s so, then there’s really no particular place for my body to be.”
“That’s exactly the place for your body to be,” said Changsha.
“Where is that?”
“The great ocean, vast and deep.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Dragons and fish play freely, leaping and diving.”
-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy FergusonSupport the Show.
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Someone asked, "What is the great way?"
Changsha said, "It doesn't exclude you."
The person asked, "Who is the teacher of all buddhas?"
Changsha said, "For the incalculable eon, who has ever concealed this?"
-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy FergusonSupport the Show.
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A monk asked, "What is the true monk's eye?"
Changsha said, "So vast and wide that you can't leave it."
Changsha also said, "Those who become buddhas and ancestors can't leave it. The six realms of transmigration can't leave it."
The monk said, "I don't understand what it is that they can't leave."
Changsha said, "In the day, see the sun. In the night, see the stars."
The monk said, "I don't understand."
Changsha said, "The lofty mountains are colored green upon green."
-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy FergusonSupport the Show.
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Changsha entered the hall and addressed the assembly: "I say to you that all worlds pervading the ten directions are the true monk's eye. All worlds pervading the ten directions are the true monk's complete body. Pervading all worlds in the ten directions is your own brilliant light. All worlds in the ten directions are within your own light. And throughout all worlds in the ten directions there is not a being that is not you. This is what I've taught you when I've said that all the buddhas, dharmas, and sentient beings of the three worlds are the great light of wisdom. But even before this light was propagated, what is the place where you existed? Before this light was propagated, before buddhas and before sentient beings, from where did the mountains, rivers, and the great earth come forth?"
-from Zen's Chinese Heritage by Andy FergusonSupport the Show.
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When I look deeply
into the real form of the universe,
everything reveals the mysterious truth of the Tathagata.
This truth never fails:
in every moment and every place
things can't help but shine with this light.
-from Torei Zenji's Bodhisattva's VowSupport the Show.
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Someone asked Yangshan, "Can the dharmakaya expound the dharma?"
"I'm not able to expound it," replied Yangshan, "but there is someone else who can."
"And where is this person who can expound it?" the questioner continued.
Yangshan pushed forward his headrest.
from Entangling Vines, Thomas Yuho Kirchner (trans)Support the Show.
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