This is the second day of this, September, October, or we'll call it September 20, 24/7 day. Sashin, and today I'm going to continue with commenting on Guo Gus the essence of chan, A Guide to Life and practice, according to the teachings of Bodhidharma, Bodhidharma, who was the first ancestor of what came to be called the chan or Zen school, by the way, some accounts also link him to the development of Chinese martial arts, and in particular, Shaolin Kung Fu. But there really isn't scholarly evidence to back that up. That's part of the myth. Yesterday, I read the story of Bodhidharma encounter with Emperor Wu, as told by Guo Gu, which is also the subject of the first koan in the hekiganroku bodhidharmas, I don't Know. Or, as Guo Gu puts it, don't know. Okay. Continuing then from where we left off, he tells another story about Bodhidharma, and this one is the basis of a koan in the mumonkan Bodhidharma and mind pacifying, which is case number 41 Guo Gu says Bodhidharma traveled to many different places in China and witnessed firsthand how people actually practiced Buddhism. He came across a mix of Buddhist doctrines, translations, good deeds performed for religious merit, and intellectual debates about right and wrong. In other words, all the constructs people cling to that have nothing to do with ultimate Truth.
So to put this in historical context, when when Bodhidharma was traveling it, it would have been by foot or by boat or both, reportedly, he crossed mountains and seas. There were no airplanes, no trains or busses he could take in the fifth or sixth century. Also, the the printing press had not yet been invented. Literacy was not yet widespread. So society was largely based on oral tradition. So that means that what people believed, their customs, the knowledge that they upheld, was communicated by the spoken word.
And we can only imagine today what life was like back then. You know, by contrast today, this age of digital technology, globalization, mass communication, back then, the spread of ideas, including the teachings of the Buddha was not as complex and vast as it is today. Sure there would have been potential for misinformation, the spread of rumors. Yes, that seems to be par for the course. When it comes to humans, there would have been conflicting ideas too about right and wrong, but just not at the the level that we experience it today, not at the the sheer volume, the noise that we have to contend with.
But the thing that really hasn't changed since the time of Bodhidharma and also the time before him, the thing that hasn't changed across time and space is the human tendency to cling to thoughts, to latch on to likes and dislikes. It's human conditioning,
but it doesn't define who we are fundamentally
Guo Gu says Bodhidharma eventually found a cave behind Mount Song in Lu young and supposedly meditated there for nine years waiting to transmit his teachings to the right person. That person turned out to be dazu huiku And who later became the second patriarch of the chan or Zen lineage. In in the book Zen Chinese heritage, Andy Ferguson has this little description of Hui ko as a very imposing looking man. He reportedly had five bumps on his head, sometimes sometimes called Five peaks and he trained with Bodhidharma for six years, and Guo Gu describes their First meeting. Legend has it that when Hui KU first sought out Bodhidharma for his teachings, he waited outside Bodhidharma cave on his knees in the snow. Days passed, Bodhidharma remained in his cave without receiving Hui Ko. Just imagine kneeling in the snow for days on end, waiting, not giving up, not taking no for an answer. You
What did he think he could obtain from Bodhidharma? What could he get from him? And also, why didn't Bodhidharma respond. Why did he let him just sit out there in the snow? Another part of of Zen lore is that students have to wait at the temple gate that they wouldn't be allowed to enter until they demonstrated their sincerity and deep commitment. And in this case, it was waiting outside a cave. Guo Gu says, Finally, Hui KU showed his resolve by taking out his knife and amputating his arm. He declared, teacher, I am here to receive your teachings. He.
Okay, I have to give this public service announcement. You don't need to cut off your arm or a limb of any kind in order to show your determination, nor to wake up. You also don't need to subject yourself to potential frostbite either.
The monitors have enough to deal with on treating frostbite or cut off limbs. And of course, we can't really say for sure that qua actually did that more than likely this bit of the story is part of the myth. It's, it's a way of dramatizing, so, way of bringing to life his incredible determination. And it is, it's a very vivid and powerful metaphor, and at that Bodhidharma must have recognized his strong resolve. Guo Gu says, At that moment, Bodhidharma acceded to his request and said, What is it that you want? Hueka replied, I seek the Dharma. Bodhidharma said, Dharma, I have nothing to teach you. I have nothing to say, Kweku responded, but my mind is not at ease. My mind is not at ease. Please pacify it for me. Please Pacify my mind for me,
could another person, whether it's Bodhidharma or someone else, truly bring about such relief? I uh,
maybe temporarily with some encouraging words, kind of like the encouragement talks that are occasionally given at formal sittings, and also here in sashin, they can help us to tap into our faith and determination when we're feeling stuck. But the real work is still on us. We can't rely on the words
Kuo Gu then goes on to describe the extent of Hui Kus suffering and also Bodhidharma, skillful response, he says, Before becoming a monk, Hui KU had been an army general who killed many people. He killed many people, no matter how hard he had tried to overcome his guilt by reciting sutras and practicing diligently, nothing helped his mind was never at peace. Dis ease and guilt weighed heavily on him,
short of the weight that would come with having killed people or engaged in other acts of war, there are so many burdens we can carry around. I. Mistakes, regrets, disappointments, missed opportunities, grudges and on and on. Huika was desperate, and he was clearly looking outward, because he was seeking out Bodhidharma to pacify his mind, saying, Please, please, do it for me. I can't do it on my own.
Guo Gu says, When Bo when Bodhidharma heard kwekuz plea, he ordered, bring me your mind, and I will pacify it. So, okay, you want me to pacify your mind? Bring it to me upon hearing these words, Hui KU turned his awareness inward, he began to ask himself, where is my Mind? Who is it that is not at ease? A astonished. He replied, I cannot find my mind. And then Bodhidharma said, then I have already pacified it. And hearing this, Hui ko became completely enlightened. So the story goes. Guo Gu goes on to explain the shift that took place in his awareness. He says, Hui KU had been holding on to something me and my mind not being at ease. In other words, self pity could he thought he needed to find something outside of himself in order to be cured, perhaps a meditation method or a particular teaching. He had hoped to hear some explanation of ultimate truth from Bodhidharma. He thought that surely Bodhidharma had something precious or special to give him. And of course, Bodhidharma didn't have anything to give Hui Ko and Hui ko had nothing to receive.
Now the ego might respond to that and say, Wait a minute. You know why? You know if my mind is already at peace, why am I bothering to do Sachin? Why am I putting up with day two tiredness and aches and pains?
Because it's part of the process, the process of experiencing it directly, directly for yourself.
It's not enough to read or hear about Hui Kus experience or anyone else's for that matter, we all have to do this work, and we're all capable of it.
It doesn't matter what zazen posture you sit in doesn't matter what you look like, how old you are, doesn't matter how long, how many years you've been practicing,
doesn't matter what your practice is. I. As long as you have one and you commit yourself to it, what matters is the persistent presence of mind that you give to your practice continuous giving,
No matter the conditions that appear, sticking with it.
Zen Master Dogen said, coming, going the water foul Leave No Trace, nor do they need a guide. It's the same with us. We've got everything. We need nothing lacking. How could there be anything lacking? Nothing's outside of our true nature.
No person, no thing, no thought, no feeling, no sensation. Forget about good and bad, right and wrong. Nothing's excluded you.
Guo, Gu continues, Bodhidharma did not give Hui ka anything except the instruction. If you want your mind at peace, then give me your mind. Hui ka could not find his mind. Bodhidharma said, no mind, then you are at peace. And Hui KU was ripe to receive this teaching. He had gone through the rigors of practice and had studied the precepts and scriptures. He must have encountered the teachings of no self, emptiness, causes and conditions, karma and so on. But all of a sudden, the teaching was made alive in him.
You want no self. Give me yourself, and I will get rid of it, the world that we ourselves have constructed with our values and categories is what makes US suffer.
We could finally understood the fact that intrinsically, he was free.
From the very beginning, we're all free. Each and every body is the body of Buddha.
We just need to trust the process, trust our practice.
Any trying to make something happen or get results just removes you. From your practice, it removes you from this.
We can't We can't say what if or when for anything can happen. It's not up to us. Our practice ripens simply by doing it,
and that requires us to to let go of all the ways, all the ways we maneuver and try to stay in control.
It requires us to forget about time and know, tracking time is a classic form of trying to be in control.
It's It's work that happens moment by moment, and that's what makes it really radical,
moment by moment and
nothing but doing, doing the practice, if you add anything else, it's separation,
and you get countless Do overs.
The past is long gone. You
Guo. Gu then offers his own practical advice on letting go. And here he's addressing his students, he says, we can see this in our own practice, during our periods of sitting meditation, in the midst of your wandering thoughts, I sometimes say to you, relax. You've heard that before. Relax. Be natural and clear and appreciate the breath. These are labels and categories that I throw out and you receive them, you may think, Oh, yes, I am relaxed, appreciating that every breath is a new beginning. These instructions may help, but they are really just expedient teachings during a retreat, I may also say to you, let your thoughts liberate themselves. But actually, thoughts naturally do liberate themselves, so there's no need to think about the instruction when wandering thoughts appear, there is nothing to be done about them. They free themselves of their own accord.
We also have a method where we use a so called correct thought to get rid of wandering thoughts. In this case, we label wandering thoughts erroneous, but then we are stuck with the correct thought, because although we had labeled this new thought correct, it is still a thought.
We then need a third thought to get rid of the second thought so.
This is the dilemma of expedient teachings. We use this to get rid of that, and we use that to get rid of this. Bodhidharma slashed away all these thoughts mind liberates itself instant by instant. When we sit, we are completely free in the act of sitting. All is perfect. You.
So piling on thoughts upon thoughts upon thoughts, trying to cancel them or replace them with other thoughts, judging ourselves for having thoughts in the first place, judging ourselves for having thoughts about thoughts, goes on and on. It's it's like judging ourselves for sneezing.
Thoughts just happen.
Just let them be, let them come and go. It's not a problem.
Guo, Gus, teacher, Master Shang Yen said this. The Buddha way is non opposition. Don't oppose your thoughts.
Don't oppose anything.
Guo. Gu then says, when you find yourself,
when you find yourself in the midst of anxiety or disease, please bring it to me. When you find yourself in the midst of anxiety or disease, please bring it to me, but do not think Guo. Gu you want my anxiety. Here are my electric and phone bills and my schoolwork, please take them. Of course, I do not mean that you can take care of those things by yourself, but bring me something that you are holding in your mind, some trouble or angst. I often say, if you have a problem and you can solve it, it is no longer a problem. If you cannot solve it, it is still not a problem, because then It is no longer your problem. So be free. You.
There's this tendency to to think that the world is against me. Things aren't going right for me. I can't get a break. Also, to catastrophize, expecting the worst. But
what Guo Gu is saying is that we are free. We're free when we're one with whatever is, when we're one with things as they are. There are no problems, there are no mistakes, there's nothing. That we need to fix or figure out.
Then he says it is like the movie, The Matrix all of us are plugged into a constructed collective world. In our society, we have a built in consensus of what should or should not be, a consensus of what is good or bad. It is just consensus, an assumption based on collective judgment. Sometimes one judgment comes in contact with another, and this creates conflict then someone like Morpheus may come along and offer to unplug us from this world. Once we are unplugged, we become like Neo who can move freely in and out of this consensus based world, because he realizes that it is merely a construction.
In case you haven't seen The Matrix or don't remember it. The point is, in the film that what we think is real isn't real. It's an illusion. And that's that's what it is to experience our life through the filter of thoughts.
We're not experiencing life directly,
and just like Keanu Reeves, who played Neo we can We can choose to unplug. We can unstuck ourselves. We
and the way to do it is moment by moment. It's in the process of doing it over and over again that the plug loosens up and
this is the process of practice that we have to trust in sashin sitting as intensively as we are. It's a process that happens naturally with each passing day, with each passing hour, the mind settles. Won't necessarily feel like that all the time, but zazen does have an accumulating effect. There's no sense in trying to quantify or qualify it or track it check on your progress again. We just have to do it and
do it and trust that whatever condition there is right now it's going to pass.
Don't dwell in thoughts about your conditions and
Guo. Gu then says, my advice to you is to be free. To be pacified. This is not freedom in the sense that you can do whatever you want. The Freedom I'm talking about comes from recognizing how things truly exist, how opinions are actually formed. How troubles come to be. If we examine suffering in depth, we discover that its roots, namely vexations or aversions. Vexations and attachments are ungrounded. They are the result of our constructs and fixations. We can continue to live by substituting this with that, and by trying to get rid of that with this. But in John, the most efficient and direct way to end suffering is to realize the constructedness of the self and the world in other words, the social construction of it, the way to end Suffering is to stop substituting and to begin Recognizing the
begin looking directly, just looking and
not for answers, not for results, just pure presence and
and then skipping ahead a couple paragraphs Guo Gu says in Bodhidharma is Principal teaching. Recognition is purification put differently. Attention is purification. Instead of eliminating wandering thoughts or vexations, either by thinking something positive or by looking at them from a different perspective, we can simply recognize the empty nature of thoughts.
Of course, the way to truly recognize the empty nature of thoughts is to not pay attention to them, to not give them Any substance,
to pay attention Only, only to this and
only To move
to the breath.
He goes on, all things are interconnected. They have no fixed identity. All Things change. They are empty of independent, separate, permanent existence. Bad people exist because of good people. Good people exist because of bad people. The rich exist because of the poor and the poor exist because of the rich. Merit is contingent on no merit. Self exists because of no self. The good things that come in life will disappear when causes and conditions fade away, negatives or negativities may change into something positive when causes and conditions are ripe, things appear when causes and conditions fade away, things disappear. You just
like the flock of geese.
One moment we hear it, the next it's gone, or the train passing by. Everything comes and goes, arises and disappears.
Guo Gu says this is emptiness. We recognize wandering thoughts and vexations for what they are. We recognize conditions for what they are. We don't fuel them by following them or becoming agitated by them.
Things are things because of mind, as mind is mind Because of things. And both that source, our emptiness, and
whatever You're experiencing right now,
it's just this.
The French philosopher Simone VA said Attention, attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity. It's also the rarest and purest form of freedom and
