Studying the Sutras...

In one of his exchange with the assembly, Master Bankei was asked by his disciple Itsuzan :

"Is it helpful for students to look through the Buddhist Sutras and Zen records ?"

Bankei's answer was :

"There is a time for reading the Zen records. If you read them or the sutras while you are still seeking the meaning contained in them, you'll only blind yourself. When you read them after having transcended that meaning, they become proof of your attainment"

Some people are very knowledgeable about the Bible, the Diamond or the Heart Sutra. They can quote them, it is always impressive. In fact, as I am not as knowledgeable as they are, I would not know if they lied, were simply mistaken, or  "mis-spoke" as I heard a politician say not very long ago...

One day some guy says something that sounds interesting to those who hear it. They repeat it, change it, transcribe it, translate it... There are errors in translations and values, ethics or uses evolve. And little by little things can become pretty poorly understood. This happens all the time. 

I read last week a short essay entitled "The Myth in Zen in the Art of Archery" by Yamada Shoji. 

"Zen in the Art of Archery" was originally written in German by Eugen Herrigel, a German professor who taught philosophy and studied Kyūdō (the art of the Japanese bow) in Japan between 1924 to 1929.

In 1948, back in Germany, Herrigel published his book about his experiences.  Translated into English in 1953 and Japanese in 1955, it became the international reference about the philosophy of Kyudo. In it, Herrigel explains - very convincingly - how Zen is central to the practice of Kyudo. 

The only problem is : Master Awa Kenzo (The Kyudo instuctor) had never practiced Zen, and in his essay, Yamada Shoji explains how in 2 specific and crucial occasions, Herrigel wrongly interpreted the sayings of his instructors due probably to the fact that he was not totally fluent in Japanese. 

So on the base of false assumptions beautifully detailed by Herrigel in his book, generations of Martial Artists have firmly believed that Zen is central to the practice of Martial Arts.

Not that Zen cannot help the martial artist improve; actually, it can. But Zen is not necessary and numerous great Budo masters were or are not Zenists. But if this kind of things can happen between 1924 and 1948, you can imagine what may have been lost, or embellished between the 6th century when Boddhidharma went to China, and our 21st century...

This maybe why Bankei had strictly forbidden anyone to transcribe his teachings. To avoid this kind of mistakes. Of course they did transcribe them...

Scriptures are good, they are however simply the recording of something that happened in the past, in a situation that was not exactly the same as your situation today. It is your responsibility to figure out things for yourself. It can't be helped...

Sit...

I’ll still be here to guide you

As some of you may know, I have a personal connection and appreciation for Korea. I have learned a lot in that country. One day I will expand on that.

Daehaeng Kun Sunim passed a few weeks ago after an amazing life. She was a Korean Seon (Zen) Master. She was self enlightened, as the 6th patriarch Hui Neng was. Or Bankei Yotaku was. She had a very difficult Childhood in Korea when the communist troops invaded the Southern part of the Peninsula. Like Bankei before her, she puts emphasis in her teaching on simple things, trying to soothe suffering for others. She does not use complicated concepts but speaks simple words of love and compassion. Expressed in a plain, simple and direct language that anyone can understand, her Zen is refreshingly clear and simple. You don't have to be learned, live in a monastery or even necessarily consider yourself a Buddhist to effectively practice it.

The following comes from one of her Dharma talks. According to the author, although it may be tempting to think that she's speaking in metaphors, she isn't. She once gave him a fierce look and said, "I always keep my promises!" :-)

Let me talk about one more thing before we end today’s talk: Some of you are worried about what happens after I pass away, that I won’t be here to guide you. Right? However, because you are practicing and learning to rely upon your fundamental mind, I will always be with you, just as if I was alive. No..., not “as if.” I will be there, alive. Even now, I often leave this body behind to go take care of things. So if I need “this” shape to help save people, I go use this shape. When I need “that” the shape to help save people, I use that shape. If the shape of an old monk is needed, that’s shape I take. If a beggar is needed, then I go become a beggar. If a bug is necessary, I become a bug. Could you call any of these shapes me? No. “I” don’t exist. Not even a little bit. Not even now. If you all work hard and deepen your practice, what is there that you couldn’t do?! So there’s nothing for you to worry about!

 You can read the original post on Wake up and Laugh

Bankei on Yari fighting II

Poem by Zen Master Bankei : 

Instructions to the Layman Gesso in Response to his Questions on the Technique of the Lance

The Great Function manifests itself without fixed rules

Meeting each situation on its own terms,

it's never too soon, never too late

Thrusting, retracting, advancing, retreating—

it all takes place beyond the realm of thought

When you're in harmony with Mind,

arms and legs operate on their own

The Great Function described by numerous Zen Masters  is the ability to react naturally to any situation. During combat, it is important to not have to think about what one should do next, in order to let the body act intuitively, without being submitted to the judgment of the intellect which makes everything slower. 

This Great Function has two components : Serenity, absence of concern regarding the issue of the confrontation; and Mastery of the technical aspects of combat. 

Both qualities are the result of hard and dedicated practice on spiritual, mental and physical planes. 

We manifest in this Universe under the form of a physical Body. The only way we have to progress is to use it to reach the point when the Great Function manifests itself. Passed a certain limit, intellect becomes a hindrance. Only personal practice and actual realization can help us on our way. The only tool we have is our Body. 

Master Bankei was born in 1622, 22 years after the famous battle of Sekigahara. At the beginning of the Tokugawa Shogunate, a great number of masterless Samurai still used their military skills to make a living as bodyguards (See Toshiro Mifune's movie : Yojimbo), law enforcement officers, or gangsters...

SUSPICION

In these periods of electoral fever, one only hears people trying to put blame on others : Republicans, Democrats, Moslems, Jews, Christians, Drug addicts, Bankers, Congressmen, Socialists.... The blame is always on someone else. Here Zen Master BANKEI points to the fact that even when someone has done something despicable, we should be careful of the way this is brought to light, for the consequences may at times be much worse than the wrong it was supposed to cure.  

During the Great Training Period at the Ryomonji temple, there was an incident in which some money was lost in the Fudo Hall. One day, when the Master ascended the lecture seat, a monk came forward and said: "I am such-and-such a person of such-and-such province and a student at the such-and-such temple. This winter I have been practicing in the Fudo Hall. A monk in the place next to mine lost his traveling money, and because I was in the seat beside his, he suspected me of taking it. The rumor has spread through the entire hall, and I beg your Reverence to conduct an inquiry."

The Master asked: "Did you steal anything?" 

The monk replied: "At a unique religious gathering like this, such a shameless act would never even cross my mind!" 

The Master told him: "Then everything is all right." 

The monk said: "Yes, but at this meeting, monks are gathered from all over Japan, and I'm worried that if there is no inquiry, I'll be given a bad name throughout the country. I beseech your Reverence's kind understanding." 

The Master said: "If there's an inquiry, the guilty one will have to come out—is that all right too?" 

The monk then declared: "It's I who have shown the very worst kind of shamefulness, being self-centered and arrogant in a case like this after I'd listened to your wonderful teaching every day!"

And, shedding tears of gratitude, he withdrew. 

(Adapted from Bankei Zen, translations from Records of Bankei)

Bankei on Yari fighting

Zen Master Bankei Yotaku composed the following instructions on the art of combat for his disciple and patron Kato Yasuoki, daimyo of Ozu and an expert in the use of the yari, or Japanese lance.

Here Bankei expresses the importance of Mushin (No-mind) in combat. In the middle of the confrontation,  one should not let any thought arise, actions should not be driven by a reflection or personal emotions. You should not act, but let the action simply happen through you. As soon as your mind comes in the way of action, your opponent - if he is worthy - will be able to foresee you.

In performing a movement, if you act with no-mind, the action will spring forth of itself. When your ki changes, your physical form changes along with it. When you're carried away by force, that is relying on "self." To have ulterior thoughts is not in accordance with the natural. When you act upon deliberation, you are tied to thought. The opponent can then tell [the direction of] your ki. If you [try to] steady yourself by deliberate effort, your ki becomes diffuse, and you may grow careless. When you act deliberately, your intuitive response is blocked; and if your intuitive response is blocked, how can the mirror mind appear?

When, without thinking and without acting deliberately, you manifest the Unborn, you won't have any fixed form. When you are without fixed form, no opponent will exist for you in the whole land. Not holding on to anything, not relying one-sidedly on anything, there is no "you" and no "enemy." Whatever comes, you just respond, with no traces left behind. Heaven and earth are vast, but outside mind there is nothing to seek. Become deluded, however, and instead this mind becomes your opponent. Apart from mind, there is no art of combat.

From the Book  : Bankei Zen: Translations from the Record of Bankei

Bankei Yōtaku (盤珪永琢, 1622-1693), the son of a Ronin Samurai turned Doctor, was a very popular and influential teacher who spoke directly, avoiding sutras, koans and rituals.

He talked to huge crowds of ordinary people and advanced Zen students all the same, about what he had personally discovered through his own experience—"the Unborn" or "the Birthless Buddha-mind".

Expressed in a plain, simple and direct language that anyone can understand, Bankei's Zen is refreshingly clear and relatively simple. You don't have to be learned, live in a monastery or even necessarily consider yourself a Buddhist to effectively practice it.