Glimpsing the Dog

Near the end of the last comment string, Al asked, “How would you recommend cultivating seamless zazen?”

By sitting zazen as not a means to an end.  Maezumi Roshi creatively spun the characters for zazen to read as “Showing Oneness.”

Once upon a time, the emperor asked his teacher, “After you die, what will need?”

The teacher said, “Build me a seamless monument.” 

The emperor said, “Please tell me what the monument would be like.”

The teacher was silent for a long while.

Then he said, “Understand?”

Tenkei (1648-1735), a Soto ancestor (and wild fox) comments:

“The seamless monument – first of all, do you want to see this seamless monument? It is very hard to see…. Many people interpret the stagnant water of the teacher’s silence as the seamless monument, but that’s not where it’s at; there are no dragons in stagnant water. Well then, you might wonder where it is…. Take a good look! Layers upon layers – It is enormous, a little here, a little there, all over the place. Indeed, it casts shadows upon shadows. The whole world never hides it; can’t you see it now? Throughout all time – There’s nowhere to hide it anywhere; open your eyes and look; don’t try to imagine what it must be like.”

(Excerpted from Thomas Cleary’s translation of Blue Cliff Record, Case 18 in Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record)