No. 1058 "Life Full of Heaven and Earth" 2023/11/30
1)
I was giving a lecture on Mumonkan, and I was learning the koan of the Eighth Rule of Kanzhongzosha.
This question was put to monks in training by Yoshika Tsukian.
The person named Gekian was a disciple of the disciple of Goso Zen Master Hoen.
He is also the master of Zen Master Mumon Keikai, who compiled "Mumon Seki".
2)
"Kenzhong, who is said to be the inventor of the car, built the car 100 wide, but he removed the left and right wheels and the shaft, and what did he reveal?" he asked a monk.
When I asked my monk what he thought would remain if the wheels and axle were removed, he replied that the loading area would remain, but since a car is made up of two wheels and an axle, I removed the left and right wheels. And if we remove the axle that goes through the middle, nothing is left regarding shape.
Since ancient times, it has been believed that we are made up of four elements. There are four: earth, water, fire and wind.
Bones and flesh are the earth element, blood, sweat, and body fluids are the water element, body temperature is the fire element and movement, such as breathing, is the air element.
When the four elements of earth, water, fire and wind are in harmony, the body is healthy; when this harmony is disturbed, disease results.
3)
In our temple, we still refer to not feeling well as the "four major diseases".
Life is when the four elements come together and are in good order; when they fall apart, it is death.
Since ancient times, Buddhism has held that there are two misconceptions about death.
One is the "thanksgiving" idea that after death, there is nothing left, and that's it.
They say that when you die and turn to ashes, that's it.
You could call that materialism. That is lonely.
4)
Thinking like this will never give us peace of mind. Don't make a 'disclaimer'.
However, this time, I will talk about the "common view", which is the idea that even after I die, I will remain forever.
Many religions are based on the idea that the soul leaves the body and lives on forever.
5)
Buddha teaches that this is also a wrong view.
That is why he says things that he does not understand, such as that it is difficult to see that something has existed since ancient times, that it is difficult to see that something does not exist and that he knows that something does not seem to exist or does not exist.
The primary teaching of Buddha is "impermanence and no self".
Impermanence means change. Selflessness is the teaching that there is no fixed self.
Different fates, conditions and relationships come together to make things seem this way at one time and then change again.
6)
Uchiyama Kosho Roshi of the Soto sect writes this about life and death.
"Water was not created by drawing water into a bucket."
All the water in the sky and the earth was poured into a bucket.
Just because you sprinkle water from a bucket on the earth doesn't mean the water is gone.
The water that filled the heavens and the earth was scattered throughout the sky and the earth.
7)
Human beings did not create life by being born.
All the life in heaven and earth has been absorbed into the fixed thought of I.
When a person dies, his life does not end.
All life in the heavens and the earth will be scattered throughout the sky and the earth from the fixed idea of me.
8)
Asahina Sogen Roshi called this life that fills the heavens and the earth "Buddha's mind".
And by arguing openly, he revealed the truth (that people don't notice or want to hide).
We are like bubbles floating in the vast ocean of Buddha's Mind.
Just because you are born, the ocean of Buddha's Mind does not increase, and just because you die, the sea of Buddha's Mind does not decrease.
We are all one drop of Buddha's Mind.
There is no ocean except for a single drop of water, and the fleeting life, like an illusion, is the extraordinary life of the eternal and immortal Buddha's mind.
There is no single ant's whisker in the universe other than the Buddha's mind.
9)
A person has attained Buddhahood before believing in any particular deity or Buddha.
In the pure mind of a Buddha, there is no human error.
Eternally peaceful, eternally pure, always filled with tranquil light.
Since neither sin nor impurity can reach the Buddha's mind, the Buddha's mind is always pure and always at peace.
10)
This is the core of our heart.
There is no life or death in the Buddha's mind. Always survive.
People are born in Buddha's Mind, live in it, and breathe their last breath.
The Buddha's mind before birth, the Buddha's mind while alive, the Buddha's mind even after death, and the Buddha's mind is not separated from it even for a second.
11)
To use Asahina Roshi's analogy to describe impermanence and selflessness, we are like bubbles floating in the ocean, so there are no eternal bubbles; we are impermanent.
Some bubbles are giant, and some are small.
Some bubbles disappear instantly, while others float long before disappearing.
The way it floats and disappears is genuinely impermanent.
There are no bubbles that stay the same shape.
It's just one bubble for a while. This is called selflessness.
12)
It isn't clear that this ever-changing bubble will exist forever.
Thinking that the bubble's shape remains constant and unchanged is a mistake.
Fear, worry and suffering arise from this confusion.
Buddha taught us to look closely at this impermanence and selflessness and attain true peace of mind from nirvana.
13)
Koike Shinso Roshi, in his book "Mumon Seki Sho", suggests the following regarding this koan of Konchuzosha:
"If we compare our body to a car, if we remove everything, what is left?
Human beings don't live 100 or 200 years.
Seven or eighty years at the most.
What would be left if I were to tear myself apart, which has a life span of only seven or eighty years, and take everything away?
14)
It's about sitting down and immersing yourself in the world of nothingness.
A border that has become nothing. Everything is empty.
The best thing to do is to awaken to this state once.
The best way to do it is to do zazen, and instead of talking about such nonsense, you should sit for a while and immerse yourself in the world of nothing, emptiness".
15)
The world of emptiness referred to here is the vast world of the Buddha's mind, where there is no distinction between self and other, neither arising nor ceasing, and it is also the life that fills the heavens and the earth.
No. 1058 "Life Full of Heaven and Earth" 2023/11/30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8OjSCTqjWE
No. 1060 "There is no way to become a Buddha because you are already a Buddha" 2023/12/2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W0aMPbluwY
