A Cup of Tea

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!"

"Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

COMMENT: This koan is pretty self-explanatory. I have found that I go into many situations thinking I already know everything about it, so it makes me unteachable. 

Non-Attachment

If Buddhism must be described in one word, that word is non-attachment. The eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha could be reduced to non-attachment. Non-attachment and detachment are quite different. Detachment is to cut off one’s self from the problem, to get away from it, to escape. But life can not be escaped. Non-attachment is to be one with the problem. Living life is like flowing water. But instead of letting life flow, we attach to favorable conditions and become greedy, or we attach to adverse situations and become angry. We form attachments to words, actions, situations, things, and people. The strongest attachment of all is the attachment to one’s self. 

The next five koans will be about non-attachment.

The Girl Comes Out of Meditation

Once upon a time, Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, went to an assemblage of Buddhas. By the time he arrived, all had departed except for Buddha Sakyamuni and one girl. She was seated in a place of highest honor, deep in meditation. Manjusri asked the Buddha how it was possible for the girl to attain a depth of meditation that even he could not attain. The Buddha said. “Bring her out of meditation and ask her yourself. So Manjusri walked around the girl three times (a gesture of reverence], then snapped his fingers. She remained deep in meditation. He then tried rousing her by invoking all his magic powers; he even transported her to a high heaven. All was to no avail, so deep was her concentration. But suddenly, up from below the earth sprang Momyo, an unenlightened one. He snapped his fingers once and the girl came out of her meditation.

COMMENT: The principles of this koan are symbolic. Manjusri personifies wisdom; Momyo its opposite. How is it that a mere girl could attain a state that Manjusri couldn't? Why was the wise Manjusri unable even to rouse her to learn the answer to that question? The purpose of meditation is to overcome duality, to become selfless-ness. Selfless-ness can be likened to a bottle filled to capacity; when the cork is put in, no matter how you shake it, toss it, drop it, there is no noise. But if the bottle is only half full, it makes the sound of water. Of course, if the bottle is empty, there is no sound, but there is no water, either. Merely “sitting quietly” in meditation is like a bottle without any water. True meditation is like the bottle filled to the top. The girl in the koan was selfless-ness. Even Manjusri couldn't rouse her. Then how could Momyo, an ignoramus, rouse the girl? Even the wise man, if he becomes attached to wisdom, becomes the victim of wisdom. Even good deeds, if we become attached to them, become bad. Non-attachment is the Way.

Jizo's Buddhism

One day, Jizo received one of Hofuku's disciples and asked him, “How does your teacher instruct vou? “My teacher instructs me to shut my eyes and see no evil thing; to cover my ears and hear no evil sound: to stop my mind activities and form no wrong ideas.” the monk replied. “I do not ask you to shut your eyes. Jizo said. “but you do not see a thing. Edo not ask you to cover your ears, but you do not hear a sound. I do not ask you to cease your mind-activities, but you do not form any idea at all”

COMMENT: The purpose of teaching in Buddhism is to enable and assist the student to find the real meaning of life—so life will be peaceful, serene, joyful, and abundantly creative. A true teacher always individualizes his lessons according to the student who receives them. The pupil in the koan was a novice, still firmly attached to what he saw, heard, and thought. So his first teacher gave him basic lesson: avoid attaching importance to sight, sound, and thought. Jizo's teaching went even deeper: one must open the Third Eye. Reality has no color, no form. See things as they are and you will not attach. Life lives and moves on.

A Philosopher Asks Buddha

A philosopher asked Buddha: “Without words, without silence, will vou tell me the truth?” The Buddha sat quietly. The philosopher then bowed and thanked the Buddha saying, with your loving kindness I have cleared away my delusions and entered the true path. After the philosopher had gone, Ananda asked Buddha what the philosopher had attained. The Buddha commented, “A good horse runs even at the shadow of the whip.”

COMMENT: Buddha’s silence was dynamic. The philosopher was.quick to understand and thanked him. But Ananda did not understand. Truth is beyond words. Life is only understood by life.

Where to Meet After Death

Dogo paid a visit to his sick fellow monk, Ungan. “Where can I see you again if you die and leave only your corpse?" Dogo asked. “I will meet you where nothing is born and nothing dies.” Ungan replies. Dogo criticized his response, saving, “What you should have said is that there is no place where nothing is born and nothing dies and that we need not see each other at all.

COMMENT: Some people eat together, sleep together, but never really meet. Did Dogo and Ungan really meet? There are many living corpses moving around. The true meeting in life is the meeting of life. Unless one has true understanding, one hears without really hearing, sees without really seeing. If Dogo and Ungan were really enlightened, such sophisticated mondos (questions-and-answers) would be unnecessary. Just clasping each other's hand would be more than enough. Genro wrote a poem on this koan: The old plum tree is in full bloom; The southern branch owns the whole spring—So does the northern branch.

No Beard - A Zen Koan

Wakuan complained when he saw a picture of bearded Bodhidharma, “Why hasn't that fellow a beard?” 

COMMENT: Bodhidharma, the Hindu who brought Zen to China from India in the sixth century, is always depicted with a heavy beard. When we say “Bodhidharma” we immediately conceptualize him. If we say “Buddha,” we conceptualize the Buddha. If we say “Christ,” we conceptualize Christ. We make ourselves victims of concepts. By refuting appearance, Wakuan invites us to go beyond the duality of beard and no-beard and see the real Bodhidharma.

Bodhidharma and the Emperor Wu

Emperor Wu of China was a very benevolent Buddhist. He built many temples and monasteries, educated many monks, and performed countless philanthropic deeds in the name of Buddhism. He asked the great teacher Bodhidharma, “What merit is there in my good works? Bodhidharma replied, “None whatsoever.” The Emperor then asked, “What is the Primal meaning of Holy Reality?” Bodhidharma answered, “Emptiness, not holiness.” The Emperor then queried, “Who, then, is this confronting me?” “I do not know,” was Bodhidharma’ reply. Since the Emperor did not understand, Bodhidharma left his kingdom. Later, the Emperor related this conversation to an adviser, Prince Shiko. Shiko reprimanded him, saving that Bodhidharma was a great teacher possessed of the highest truth. The Emperor, filled with regret, dispatched a messenger to entreat Bodhidharma to return. But Shiko warned, “Even if all the people the land went, that one will never return.”

When Bodhidharma, an Indian, went to China about the year 520, Buddhism was

well established. Emperor Wu invited Bodhidharma to his court. Bodhidharma’s answer to his questions came as something of a shock. But the Emperor's attitude was dualistic and totally off the track. The Buddhist way of life is to enlighten one’s self and find one’s own true life. The Emperor's questions (what do I get since I did so much? what is reality? what are you?) were all about something not himself. So Bodhidharma left the Emperor and went to a mountain temple where he meditated, without speaking, for nine years. He became the father of Zen.

The Real Way is not Difficult

Joshu addressed an assembly of monks: “The Real Way" is not difficult, but it dislikes the Relative. If there is but little speech, it is about the Relative or it is about the Absolute. This old monk is not within the Absolute. Do you value that or not?” A monk said to him, if you are not within the Absolute how can you judge its value?” Joshu said, “Neither do I know that.” The monk argued, “Your Reverence, if you do not yet know, how is it that you say you are not within the Absolute?” Kosar said, “Your questioning is effective. Finish your worship and leave.”

COMMENT: Everyone has Buddha-nature —pure, original, and true. Everyone has intrinsic value and beauty. Rose, lily, tree, or stone, each should be as it is. If you are short, be short. If you are tall, be tall. Nothing is wrong. “The Real Way" is not difficult, but it dislikes the Relative.” If one compares, relatively, then good and bad, beautiful and ugly, tall and short, right and wrong arise, creating difficulty. Even a little talk about relative or absolute and, like the monk, one is not within the Absolute. The Real Way is not difficult because it is the only Way. It is the Absolute Way. Pretensions are difficult because one has to make them up. The True Way is not difficult because it is. 

Bells and Robes

Zen Master Unmon said: “The world is vast and wide, Why do you put on your robes at the sound of a bell?”

COMMENT: In a Zen temple the lives of the monks are well regulated. When the bell sounds, each puts on his robe and goes to the meditation hall. But Unmon asks: Why? There is an old saying that whatever comes in through the gates is foreign. The gates are the senses: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. If we decide, move, and act by the senses, we obey foreign commands. In response to our environment we feel pressures, are easily upset, become nervous. This is one of the characteristics of modern life. But if one settles down firmly in one’s inner life, all actions, feelings, and deeds come from deep within. The unenlightened one does things because he must do them; the enlightened one acts because he wants to. Freedom lies in the center of life. Unmon points to the center. Bells and Robes Zen Master Unmon said: “The world is vast and wide, Why do you put on your robes at the sound of a bell?