2023-01-08 The Life and Teachings of Master Bankei 2

10:35PM Jan 30, 2023

Speakers:

Sensei Amala Wrightson

Richard von Sturmer

Keywords:

unborn

dosha

buddha

bank

temple

monks

mind

people

chinese

zen

realms

bunkie

enlightenment

japanese

yoshino

learning

life

died

living

monasteries

Today is Day 2 of 2023 Summer seven day sesshin. It's the eighth of January, and we'll continue to read from and comment on "The Unborn: The Life and Teaching of Zen Master Bankei," and this is translated with an introduction by Norman Wadell. I will take up where we left off

Bankei has traveled to Nagasaki to meet the Chinese Master Dosha Shogun, and he was doing this in an effort to get confirmation of his realisation. During their first meeting, Dasha confirmed Bankei's enlightenment with the words: you have penetrated through to the matter of the self. After having said that, however, he added, but you still have to clarify the matter beyond, which is the essence of our school. To Bankei, who was brimming with self confidence, this was inconceivable. So firm was his belief that he had attained great enlightenment itself, full and perfect. He thus refused at first to accept Dosha's evaluation and told him as much.

According to an account found in Dosha's recorded sayings, Bankei looked at Dosha, laughed loudly, and then stalked briskly out of the room without even making his bowels. Still, he did not leave the temple. Instead, he stayed on for a few days, closely observing Dosha and the manner in which he instructed the monks under him. Bankei soon realized Dosha's true merit. And he made up his mind to continue his practice with Dosha.

In the months that followed, he went off into doshas quarters, where he no doubt had many spirited encounters with his new teacher. Since dosha, did not know Japanese, and bank A could not speak Chinese. Although he could read and write it, they had to communicate by me, it means have hit Sudan, the exchange of written notes in Chinese. And then there's a quote, with brushes in place of mouths and eyes in place of ears. Can you imagine that this could be quite cumbersome to have to communicate, by writing notes, people who've had to do so in the kitchen will understand this. This is much more subtle issues here. It's still use this this method of communication is still used between, for instance, from Japanese meeting, meeting somebody in Chinese, or in China, where the dialect spoken is so different in their pronunciation that people from one region may not necessarily be able to understand somebody from another region. But they share the same script. We had experience with this when we were on pilgrimage in China, we were in a train, and this guy wanted to talk to us. And when he realized that we didn't speak Thai and Chinese, he got out a pen and paper and wrote what he wanted to say on on the paper, and then presented it to us thinking that we would understand because we understood even less than anything he had said. So this is this is the tried and tested method of communicating when was the shared knowledge of the Chinese characters. Bonnke took his place in the assembly and lived in the monks hall with the rest of the students. But he was unwilling to follow some of the customs of the temple, whose regulations were patterned on those in Ming Dynasty Chinese monasteries. He was particularly averse to the practice of chanting sutras in Chinese. When Dasha attempted to prove a reprove him for not participating. bancaire replied that they Japanese had their own monastic traditions and customs, including those having to do with sutra recitation. And he could see no reason to adopt different ones. Now, the only reason I've come here at all he said, is because I want to clarify the great metta How can I afford to waste valuable time learning additional ways of chanting sutras dosha did not bring the matter up again, the tolerance he displayed toward bunkie here and throughout their brief Association, is certainly to his credit and speak as well of his essence, excellence as a teacher. One of the one of the things that a teacher always has to work with is when to hold firm on, on rules and forms and when to yield. And when to release. And no doubt dosha could appreciate Bank A is resistance to learning a whole new set of charts and Chinese so just to say to to conform with with the customers at the temple, because chanting We see it as skillful means it's, it's, it supports us in the in the central thing, which is a meditative inquiry. And wouldn't it this doubling up of learning the Chinese would not serve any great purpose and so dosha yields.

The following year, on the 21st day of the third month, while sitting in the dark of the meditation hall with the other monks Bonnke had another enlightenment experience. He left the hall rushed to doshas chambers, took up a brush and wrote the question, what is the ultimate matter of Zen, whose meta dosha wrote in the prime bank he extended his arms out dosha took up his brush, but before he could write anything by UNK grabbed it out of his hand and threw it to the floor. He then swung his sleeves and lift, swinging one sleeves is a kind of conventional way of expressing disdain or dismissal. The next morning dosha told the priest in charge of the monks hall that bank A has completed the great matter, he directed him to move Bank A to the position of a senior monk, the even today monastery in Chinese monasteries. The sitter's are arranged by rank in the in the Zendo. So this was dosha, reordering the order of rank in the in the Zendo.

But bank aid inclined this distinction, he preferred his old place near the kitchen and continue doing his chores just as before, stoking the kitchen fires with fuel and serving the other monks their meals. Some members of Josh's assembly seem to have resented bunkers prisons almost from the start. The biographies do not go into much detail here, but we may assume that this independent his independent attitude, which the others took as an expression of disrespect toward their teacher, had something to do with their displeasure in any clays case, when they learned that the master had acknowledged bonkers alignment, the undercurrent of resentment erupted into strong feelings of jealousy. Just as an example his his being allowed not to participate in the chanting would have could have been seen as his getting special treatment this this Johnny Come Lately

people some people may be surprised to hear of this sort of stuff going on. And this isn't the only instance that covered in the in the records. But wherever you have a human institution you have you have people have all kinds of levels of understanding and an investment in in power structures.

When dosha got wind of this, this, foment in the in the community called Bank A and to see him and asked him to leave the temple for a while until things quieted down to avoid some kind of incident or, or break in the community. So, Bunk I lived think of this being a little like story of the 16th ancestor who, who was a layperson from the south, and the fifth ancestor was going to recognize him as his heir, but there was he was why Nan was was hounded out of the monastery by by jealous monks. And then went into, into hiding among among common people for many years before returning to teach.

So bunk had only been a little over a year with OSHA, and after this, he went back to his native promise, province of Haryana. Then he proceeded from there to Yoshino which is a mountain region, sparsely populated remote, where it's been long been a place of, of Hermitage and solo practice. Some people may have come across a book about the mountain monks of Yoshino aesthetics from era to Esoteric Buddhism. So, but monkey joined this this community of put his own solitary headed and that's the others these very steep hills and narrow valleys. And while he was staying in this area, he composed songs for the instruction of the peasants who he was encountering in this area. And this is the first recorded instant instance of him using the word unborn and his teaching

there is, there is a translation of one of these songs in another book on donkeys teaching donkeys in translations from the record of funky by Peter Haskell. And the song is called a song of original mind Han Shan not Gouda. And one text suggests that he he composed the poem as instruction for the local children. Another explanation given is that it was to combat a sphere severe drought which afflicted the area, bank A had the villages login old, young and older light, like, sing the verses as they danced at the local shrine. The result was a plentiful rainfall, and thereafter, the performance of bunkies Rain song became a local tradition. It's quite it's quite a long song, I mean, quite something to memorize all its verses, but just to give people a taste a little bit of a taste of it. Get the flavor from some expert excerpts. And by the way, Master Hakuin was also known for composing teachings in song form for the illiterate peasantry to learn and recite. is a little bit of a start, unborn and imperishable is the original mind is water, fire and wind, a temporary lodging for the light for the night is water, fire and wind are the elements that our physical body is made up of. And so a temporary, temporary lodging for the night as is referring to in permanent body you're attached to this ephemeral burning house, you yourselves light the fire, kindled the flames in which you are consumed. It's a powerful image. The burning house image, of course comes from the Lotus Sutra. For as an image for our existence in this Soho world, but you yourselves light the fire, kindle the flames in which you're consumed. It goes on later ideas of what's good, what's bad, all due to the self of yours. In winter, a bonfire spells delight. But when summertime arrives, What a nuisance it becomes. And the breezes you loved and summer, even before autumns gone already have become a bother. When you've got money, you despise the poor, but have you forgotten how it was back when you were poor yourself

how quickly to forget when things are going well, the impermanence of the body and the fleeting nature of good fortune

throwing your whole life away sacrificed to the thirst for gold. But when you saw your life was through all your money was no use, clinging craving and the like. I don't have them on my mind. That's why nowadays I can say this whole world is truly mine. You're longing for the one you love is for the present time alone. It only exists by reason of the past before she come along. To recall someone means you can't forget not to recall them that you can never had forgot. Thinking back over the past you find it was an evenings dream. Realize that and you'll see everything is just a lie. There's no banker as effort to find a way to communicate the teachings in a fresh manner to all kinds of different people. This was to become an important concern from for Bankai.

From Yoshino bank, a move to the adjacent meno province where the following year we find him back after a five year absence at his small hermitage. So you're cool you're working, working hard to really deepen his enlightenment still further. The following incident is interesting for the picture it gives us a confident young bunkie at the beginning of his teachings Korea. Sometime toward the end of the year, during the severest winter in memory bank, he somehow knew through a kind of second sight that his master own Paul was gravely ill he set out immediately for the for his temple to see him. At this time a dozen other monks were been living with him at the Hermitage set among them a ranking disciple of the Zen master Duygu by the name of sin. How could you possibly know that your teacher is ill? He said he's an ACO miles away days away from here. I know bunk I said. Ha you swindler Blanca scoffs in but if you're going I'll go with you. I've been wanting to pay a visit to die go anyway. Midway in their journey, bank A suddenly said the wife of an old friend of mine just died in Osaka, fake SIDS in. They've been since their path took them through Osaka anyway, the two men made straight for the house of bunkers friend. The man hastened to the door to greet them. Three days ago I lost my wife, he explained, exclaimed, strange you should come now, during her illness. Her name was often on your lips, on her lips. How extraordinary please come in offer incense for her. at the altar turned into sin bank I said a swindler mi sin stared in amazement. After I've been to see Duygu he said, I'm going to serve you as a disciple for the rest of my life. By the by the time the bank had got to arco though his teacher on Paul had already died. But just before he died, he gave his successor baccarat song you the following instructions. I am certain that bunk A is the one person who is capable of raising off the Dharma banner and sustaining the fortunes of Zen in the future. I want you in my place to push him out into the world. By no means should he be allowed to hide his talents.

He he bunkie does travel back to Nagasaki to seek out dosha again, but the is political temple political unrest, there are Nagasaki when he gets back where another another Chinese Master has come and is muscling his way into prominence in the area. And when bunkie learns of the of the troubles of his former teacher pusher, he does what he can to help help him by trying to find a temple where he could reside and continue his teaching of his Japanese students. But in the end, it all came to nothing. And though dosha remained in Japan for a few more years, he finally went back in 1658.

Either said that before dosha set sail to return to China, Lord Matsuura, who was a patron one of his patrons, asked him Which of his students had really mastered the essentials of Zen dosha is reported to have replied without hesitation, only Bunkai. Now from this point on his bank, his life starts to fall into a more regular pattern. For years after own positive his his successor Bahco in accordance with almost dying wish, makes Bank A and his his official air so he would be the next. Abbot of mule Shinji, the major branch temple of Rinzai. Japanese her insights in the period of pilgrimage was over while he kept to a Regulus life. Striving constantly to perfect his enlightenment. Bank aid became concerned more and more with the spiritual needs of those people who are now coming to Him for guidance and ever increasing numbers. For the remaining 36 years of his life. He taught untiringly in temples and monasteries at a number of sites around the country. Some temples were built for him by wealthy disciples, but he restored many of them on his own. Three among them served as centers for this these efforts to propagate his Zen teachers and real Manji in his native Hamada than your Haji located in the city of Oslo on the island of Shikoku, and the core Ng, which was built somewhat later in Adel. Journeying back and forth between these three temples and the 40 or so other temples that he built or restored, bank a devoted the remainder of his life to propagating his teachings of the unborn and attempting to raise the fortunes of the Zen school, which for the past century or so had been at a low spiritual ebb. In 1672, at the age of 50, he succeeded Baccarat is the 200 and 18th head Abbot of mule Shinji in Kyoto. From his late 50s Onward, Vaughn K began to conduct extended practice meetings to make his Zen teaching more accessible to the great numbers of people coming to him for instruction. During these retreats, he delivered his talks on the unborn, and held personal interviews with the participants answering questions and dealing with the doubts and problems they brought with them. These meetings continued to be held until his death in 1693, usually twice yearly summer and winter for a period of 90 days each. So essentially, can imagine a 90 days machine to 90 days machines here. Some of them were limited to his immediate disciples who themselves nom nom, but Well, in the hundreds, that many retreats were open to all and were attended by large clouds of priests and lay people of all ranks and denominations.

Then we come to the end of his life. The been an especially hot summer and with severe heat, and on one of his cheating trips, Ban case began to search show signs of illness in the city of Hamamatsu and so decided to go straight back to his home temple.

remonte. In the in the morning of his arrival, he mentioned to one of his descent attendants that he would die within two months, but to avoid causing alarm, he forbade him to tell anyone.

On the day of his death, he gave some final instructions. And when he saw signs of sadness in some of his followers, he said, How do you expect to see me? If you look at me in terms of birth and death? Someone asked if he would compose a death verse, traditional in the Zen school, he replied, I've lived for 72 years, I've been teaching people for 45. What I've been telling you and others every day, during that time is all my death first. I'm not going to make another one now, before I die, just because everybody else does it. After speaking these words, he passed away, he was in a seated position, according to one account, lying on his right side, like the Buddha according to another. I think there's this disagreement between the different texts is just a little reminder to us that these stories do tend to get elaborated and embellished. So we can never be entirely sure about what is reflecting what actually happened and what is added later.

Okay, so now we'll turn to some parts of his Dharma talks. And this first, the first ones we're going to look at, were given at the temple where he died romaji.

I was still a young man, when I came to discover the principle of the unborn and its relation to thought. I began to tell others about it. What we call thought is something that has already fallen one or two or more reserves, removes from the living reality of the unborn. If you priests would just live in the unborn, there wouldn't be anything for me to tell you about it. And you wouldn't be here listening to me. But because the unborn pneus and marvelous illuminate of power inherent in the buddha mind is readily reflected reserve it readily reflects all things that come along and transforms itself into them, thus turning the buddha mind into thought. I'm going to tell you those in the lay audience all about this now, as I Do I want the priests to listen along to? Me just garbled that final sentence there. Let me just repeat it Richard because of the unborn pneus and marvelous aluminate of power inherent in the buddha mind, it really reflects all things that come along and transforms itself into them, thus turning the buddha mind into thought. He likens how buddha mind to a mirror that reflects everything that comes in it's within its range. Not a single one of you people at this meeting is unenlightened. Not a single one of us here in the sea Sheen is unenlightened. Right now you're all sitting before Me as Buddhists. You're sitting before Me as Buddhists. It's wonderful when I come in, halfway through around when I have to prepare in teisho and see everybody sitting. Still, upright, focused roomful of Buddhas. Each of you received the buddha mind from your mother's when you were born, and not in nothing else. This inherited buddha mind is beyond any doubt unborn. With a marvelously bright illuminative wisdom. There's a footnote about these different terms that he's using here which are helpful. These three terms buddha mind, the unborn and illuminative wisdom, because I get it. This is going to pop up again and again. Throughout passages that we're going to be looking at the buddha mind. Bhushan in Japanese is a synonym for the Buddha nature that is inherent in every person, the mind as it really is, in its original state of true reality or stuck suchness tatata in Sanskrit, which is prior to human intellection and discrimination. In Buddhism in general, unborn Forshaw in Japanese. Or as are usually a court occurs in appear unborn Undying, stands in contrast to birth and death or suit samsara the continuous process of generation and extinction to which a human is bound because of his or her illusion. In this sense, the unborn may be said to be synonymous with nirvana, and untouched by the vicissitudes of birth and death. marvelously bright illuminative wisdom Ray may in in Japanese attempts to express in English the marvelous brightness, purity and clarity of the buddha mind working in the unborn state which bunkie elsewhere calls the discrimination of non discrimination and which is totally beyond all logical calculation this working is likened to abrites resplendent mirror that reflects whatever comes before exactly as it is in in its reality can sometimes get her get a sense of this right mirror as we walk in, in in cane Hain with what we're seeing before has us constantly changing as we walk not only that, but what we've just seen before is constantly raised

it's it's really extraordinary when we we pay attention to this and it's so part of our experience that we can miss it.

Sir

So again, this inherited buddha mind is beyond any doubt and born with a marvelously bright illuminate of wisdom in the unborn, all things are perfectly resolved. I can give you proof that they are while you're facing me listening to me speak like this, if a crow chord or a sparrow church, or some other sound occurred somewhere behind you, you would have no difficulty knowing it was a crow or a sparrow or whatever, even without giving a thought to listening to it, because you were listening by means of the unborn. If anyone confirms, that this unborn illuminative wisdom is in fact the buddha mind and straightaway lives as he is in the buddha mind, he becomes at that moment living to targeter and he remains one for infinite kalpas in the future. To targeter is means Thus Come One and it was the way the Buddha referred to himself. And so the implication is, we can we can by living in this unborn buddha mind we can become living Buddha's.

Once she has confirmed it, she lives from then on in the mind of all the Buddhas, which is the reason the sect I belong to has sometimes been called the buddha mind set, because, of course, his word referring here to Zen. He says this, talking to all his assembly because although he was resizing master, people from all different denominations would come to his his big 90 Day retreats.

While you face this way, listening to me now, if a sparrow chirps behind you, you don't mistake it for a crow. You don't mistake the sound of a bell for that of a drum, or hear a man's voice and take it for a woman's, or take an adult's voice for a child. You hear and distinguish those different sounds without making a single mistake, by virtue of the marvelous working of illuminated for Islam. This is the proof that the Buddha in mind is unborn and wonderfully illuminating. None of you could say that you heard the sounds because you had made up your minds to hear them beforehand. If you did, you wouldn't be telling the truth. All of you are looking this way, intent upon hearing me. You're concentrating single mindedly on listening. There's no thought in any of your minds to hear the sounds or noises that might occur behind you. You are able to hear and distinguish sounds when they do occur without consciously intending to hear them. Because you're listening by means of the unborn buddha mind. There are other examples breathing. We we continue to breathe. When we're talking, when we're doing some some complicated problem. We continue to breathe when we're asleep.

Who is doing what is doing?

When people are firmly convinced that the buddha mind is unborn and wonderfully illuminating and living it, the living borders and living to target us from then on. Buddha to is just a name arising after the fact. It's only the skin and shell. When you say Buddha, you're really you're already two or more removes from the place of the unborn. A man or woman of the unborn is one who dwells at the source of all the borders. The unborn is the origin of all and the beginning of all. There is no source apart from the unborn and no beginning that is before the unborn. So being unborn means dwelling at the very source of all the borders.

But of course, there's always the rub. And he goes on to this a little bit later. Despite the fact that you arrived in this world with nothing but an unborn buddha mind, your partiality for yourselves now makes you want to have things move in your own way. You lose your temper, become contentious. And then you think I haven't lost my temper. That fellow who won't listen to me. By being so unreasonable, he has made me lose it. So you fix belligerently on his words, and in up transforming the valuable buddha mind into a fighting spirit by stewing over this important matter, making the thoughts churn over and over in your mind, you may finally get your way. But then you fail in your ignorance to realize that it was meaningless for you to concern yourself over such a matter. As ignorance causes you to become an animal. What you've done is to leave the vital vitally important buddha mind and make yourself inwardly a first class animal. His, his references here to a fighting demon, an animal, his his has come out of the Buddhist cosmology.

There's a footnote on this. Then in in Buddhist cosmology, we there are 10 different worlds or realms. That living beings are classified into the lowest lowest three held dwellers, hungry ghosts, animals and then the next three, fighting spirits or sewer as Sonos called Titans, humans and heavenly beings. And then, here is of the Buddha's teaching private Buddha's Protego, Buddhas, bodhisattvas and Buddhas. 10 different realms. The first six of these are the lesser ways beings in these various states of illusion are subject to transmigration on the wheel of existence. The last four are the Enlightened realms of the saintly beings. The first three of the six leastways, called the three evil ways are regarded as especially unfavorable birth, rebirth destinations, the hell dwellers constantly undergo a variety of torments in the different realms of hell, that craving ghosts suffer from, the Hungry Ghosts suffer from constant unappeasable hunger and thirst. The animals are characterized by ignorance, the fighting spirits or assures live in a perpetual state of strife. And heavenly beings live in constant happiness and no no suffering, but are thus never conducive to any awakening of religious aspiration. With both suffering and pleasure, in some degree, the human realm, alone among the six ways contains the possibility of religious inspiration and attainment of Buddhahood. We can we can see these as external realms or kingdoms or places. But as with Vontae, here, we can also see them as aspects of our own human nature. And we we create hell and heaven through our thoughts and actions. This is what he's describing here talking about our unborn buddha mind and how we, we turn it into these different samsaric types of existence. By getting upset and favoring yourself, you turn your body and our mind into a fighting spirit and fall into a deluded existence of your own making. You can see this this is a theme in his teaching, just having read that song he wrote for the children or the peasants. He talked about lighting their own fires of torment. So whatever anyone else may do or say Whatever happens, leave things as they are. Don't worry yourself over them and don't right side with yourself. Just stay as you are right in the buddha mind and don't change it into something else. If you do that illusions don't occur and you live constantly in the unborn mind. You're a living breathing firmly established Buddha. Don't you see? You have an incalculable treasure right at hand we each have this incalculable treasure right at hand, right? Closer than than the most intimate closeness we can have with anything and we're here we're in see Shane sitting together to uncover this treasure we don't have to acquire it from somewhere we but we do have to work to clear away what gets between the treasure and our lives the this this treasure is never taken away. We never lose it. We just cover it with the the things that we transform it into the sight of these different states conflict and pleasure and hunger craving but it's always there

it's a little bit like gold that you can you can mold into any any shape at all the all the different forms that it can take on but it's always gold

let's stop here and recite the four vows.

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