Zen, Budo and Flying.

Back to the Pilot analogy

You can try to learn everything about the theory of flights. You'll never will be able to fly. 

Buddhism and Martial Arts are the same.  If you spend your life trying to understand, you will become a Buddhist or a Martial Arts Scholar. You won't have acquired any useful skills and all you'll have learned won't really help you when you need it. 

On another hand, some believe they practice Zen by spending hours in a row sitting without moving or thinking at all. They are like someone who would sit in the cockpit of the plane, close their eyes, and believe they really are flying. 

Some other people practice and teach crazy things (Yes, you can become a certified light saber fighting instructor !) and believe they could actually fight. 

Buddhism and Budo first and for all are practices. 

Find a teacher, learn how to fly ! 

 

Samadhi in Action

Samadhi can be achieved through various means : Meditation - Dhyana in Sanskrit, Chan in Chines, Zen in Japanese, Son in Korean - is one of them.

Samadhi can also be achieved through action. Asian disciplines such as Budo (all martial Arts); Shodo - the art of Calligraphy; Chado - the Art of Serving Tea... are ways to achieve Samadhi through action.

The term DO (at the end of Budo, Judo, Shodo, ... etc actually means "Way". Budo is the Way of Martial Arts, Shodo the way of the Brush, Kyudo the way of the bow... This means that these disciplines : Martial Arts, Calligraphy, Archery are used as a way to realize Samadhi.

These ways were not developed exclusively by Asian cultures.Individuals and groups in the Christian and Muslim words have practised various ways to reach Samadhi. And it is also very probable that other cultures also developed them. However Asian people and among them the Japanese more particularly, have developed them in a more particular and systematic way than other cultures have.

This video of Mioko Shida is a perfect example of a non traditional Samadhi at work...

Enjoy.

Bodhidharma's "Outline of Practice"

For various reasons, I have a personal affection for Bodhidharma: he left his country to come teach in another one, and he founded Shaolin Kung Fu and designed the Chi Gong Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing exercises.

We know little things about him. He is very much a legendary figure. But aren't legends and myth often based on reality (Which reality ?). 

Let us say that sometimes around 475 AD, an Indian Buddhist Master came from India to China to teach the Dhyana school of Buddhism. 

Bodhidharma left us a few short texts  - they are likely transcriptions of his teachings as it is doubtful that he could write Chinese. Today I would like to share with you the most known of these texts, entitled "Outline of Practice" 

It is the text of a translation by Red Pine. If you are interested in the other texts, I suggest you purchase the book The Zen teachings of Bodhidharma

 

Outline of Practice

‘Many roads lead to the Way, but basically there are only two: reason and practice. 

To enter by reason means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe all living things share the same true nature, which isn’t apparent because it’s shrouded by sensation and delusion. Those who turn from delusion back to reality, who meditate on walls, the absence of self and other, the oneness of mortal and sage, and who remain unmoved even by sutras are completely in accord and unspoken agreement with reason. Without moving, without effort, they enter, we say, by reason’.

To enter by practise refers to four all-inclusive practices: suffering injustice, adapting to conditions, seeking nothing, and practising the Dharma.’

‘First, suffering injustice. When those who search for a path encounter adversity, they should think to themselves ‘In countless ages gone by I’ve turned from the essential to the trivial and wandered through all manner of existences, often angry without cause and guilty of numberless transgressions. Now, though I do no wrong, I’m punished by my past. Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear it’s fruit. I accept it with an open heart and without complaint of injustice’. The sutra says ‘When you meet with adversity don’t be upset, because it makes sense’. With such understanding you’re in harmony with reason. And by suffering injustice you enter the path.’

‘Second, adapting to conditions. As mortals we’re ruled by conditions not by ourselves. All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions. If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it’s the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past. When conditions change, it ends. Why delight in its existence? But while success and failure depend on conditions, the mind neither waxes nor wanes. Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the path.’

‘Third, seeking nothing. People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose reason over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring. ‘Calamity forever alternates with Prosperity’. To dwell in the three realms is to dwell in a burning house. To have a body is to suffer. Does anyone with a body know peace? Those who understand this detach themselves from all that exists and stop imaging or seeking anything. The sutra says ‘To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss’. When you seek nothing, you’re on the path.’

‘Fourth, practising the Dharma. The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure. By this truth, all appearances are empty. Defilement and attachment, subject and object don’t exist. The sutra says ‘ The Dharma includes no being because it’s free from the impurity of being, and the Dharma includes no self because it’s free from the impurity of self’. Those wise enough to believe and understand these truth are bound to practise according to the Dharma. And since that which is real includes nothing that is worth begrudging, they give their body, life, and property in charity, without regret, without the vanity of the giver, gift, or recipient, and without bias or attachment. And to eliminate impurity they teach others, but without being attached to form. Thus, through their own practise they’re able to help others and glorify the Way of Enlightenment. And as with charity, they also practise the other virtues to eliminate delusion, they practise nothing at all. This is what’s meant by practising the Dharma.’

Please read and consider carefully. And if you don't agree try to figure out why some guy travelled thousands of miles from India to China 1500 years ago to teach this.

With the help of other masters, we will later try to get more insight in this important text.

BUDDHISM and ZEN

The two basic principles of Buddhism were formulated around 600 BC by Gautama Buddha. They are the Four Noble Truth and the Noble Eightfold Path. Over the centuries different interpretations and practices developed . This may at times be confusing. This article tries to clarify the place of Zen within the great family of Buddhism,

BUDDHISM

Buddhism acknowledges the basic teachings of the Buddha : The 4 Noble truth:

1. Life is suffering
2. Suffering comes from our attachments
3. It is possible to stop suffering by getting rid of these attachments
4. The way to cessation of suffering known as the Noble Eightfold path.

       The Noble Eightfold path is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development. Its  goal is to free the individual from attachments and delusions and finally lead him to understanding the truth about all things. It includes : right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.

        Basically, if you deny the validity of the 4 Noble Truth and the Noble Eightfold Path, you are not practicing Buddhism. 

 

       The practice of the Noble Eightfold Path varies from one Buddhist school to another. Depending on the school, it may be practiced as a whole, only in part, or it may even have been modified. Each Buddhist lineage claims to implement the path in the manner most conducive to the development of its students.

ZEN

Around 500 AD Bodhidharma came from India to China and this was the beginning of Zen.

       The Zen school places great emphasis on the Practice of Meditation during which all activities of the individual mind come to a stop - This state is called "Samadhi". 

 

       When in a state of Samadhi, one may one day experience a flash of intuitive knowledge about the nature of reality. (the right view of the Noble Eightfold path). This is called "Prajna".

       Prajna is knowledge or wisdom that does not come from the usual modes of perception, intellectual speculation or outside authority (books or other individuals). It is always correct.

This last part is tricky... We all have heard of various prophets who claimed - and believed - they had received a sacred knowledge of some kind. Some of them are inside mental institutions, and some others account for some of the worst atrocities ever committed in the world. 

 

      This is why another important aspect of the Zen school is the "direct transmission from heart to heart" between Master and Disciple. This means that for one part while on his path, the disciple receives guidance from a Master, and for the other part, that if the Disciple ever realizes Prajna, the Master formally acknowledges it. The light has been transmitted to the Disciple who has now become a Master.

There is an uninterrupted chain of Masters from Gautama Buddha to present day Zen Masters.

I hope this clarifies the situation...

By the way, Bodhidharma is also credited with having taught the Shaolin Monks the Martial Art of the Indian Princes. Of course, this is another story, but this is why I really like this guy...

Wishing is not enough

We have no choice about who we already are, but we can wish to change ourselves. Such an aspiration gives the mind a sense of direction. But just wishing is not enough. We need to put that wish into action.

We don't find anything strange about spending years learning to walk, read and write, dance or fight or acquire other professional skills. We spend hours working out, repeating fighting moves until they become quasi-instinctive, jogging at the Park or swimming in a pool. 

To sustain such tasks requires interest and enthusiasm. This interest comes from believing that these efforts will benefit us in the long run.

Training the mind follows the same logic. How could one expect to change it without the least effort, just from wishing alone? That makes no more sense than expecting to learn to play a Mozart sonata by just doodling around a piano once a week.

We spend a lot of energy to improve external conditions of our lives, but it is only our mind that creates our experience of this world and translates it into either well-being or suffering.

When we change the way we perceive things, we  change the quality of our lives. This kind of transformation is achieved through a form of mind training known as Meditation in English and French, as Dhyana in Sanskrit, Chan in Chinese and Zen in Japanese.

But remember : 

Just Wishing is not enough. 

Practice ! 

TRADUTTORE - TRADITORE

Coming through China, Buddhism influenced by Taoism became known as Chan - Chinese for the Sanskrit "Dhyana" - meaning meditation. From China to Japan, it became Zen.We kept the word, it is probably a good idea...

As the Italians put it "Traduttore - Traditore" - Translator, you are a traitor.

The Historic Buddha preached in Pali, the language of common people. However, his teachings were recorded in Sanskrit, the language of the learned Brahman.
From then it was transcribed into Chinese - in some cases into Tibetan, then Chinese - then into Japanese, then into English...
And these languages also evolved between the times of the first transcriptions and now.
Master Dogen wrote his Shobogenzo in Medieval Japanese of the 13th century. If Japanese changed as much as French between the 13th and the 21st centuries, present day Japanese people probably can't read the original. So Master Dogen went to China to study the Dharma in Medieval Chinese, he wrote in Medieval Japanese (and Chinese), he was translated in Modern Japanese, and into ENglish (or French, or Catalan...) And we should expect one only translation ?

Another way to express the difficulties of Translation was given to us at the Zen service in Atlanta last week. It goes like that :
Translations are like mistresses, the most beautiful ones usually are not faithful...

Let's remember this when we study. Some translations are more poetic and appealing than others. They may also be easier to understand. But how accurate are they ?