{"id":23566,"date":"2019-04-28T09:23:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T16:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=23566"},"modified":"2019-04-28T09:38:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T16:38:17","slug":"ordinary-mind-is-the-way-comments-on-one-of-the-great-zen-koans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2019\/04\/ordinary-mind-is-the-way-comments-on-one-of-the-great-zen-koans.html","title":{"rendered":"Ordinary Mind is the Way: Comments on one of the Great Zen Koans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

With all his heart Zhaozhou asked his teacher Nanquan, \u201cWhat is the way?\u201d<\/em>
\n Nanquan replied, \u201cOrdinary mind is the way.\u201d<\/em>
\n Zhaozhou pushed, \u201cShould I direct myself toward it, or not?\u201d<\/em>
\n Nanquan responded, \u201cIf you try to turn toward it, you betray your practice.\u201d<\/em>
\n Frustrated, Zhaozhou asked, \u201cHow can I understand the way if I don\u2019t turn toward it?\u201d<\/em>
\n Nanquan explained, \u201cThe way does not belong to the realms of knowing or not-knowing. Knowing is delusion. Not-knowing is blankness. When you have attained the way, you will find it as vast as outer space. How can this be approached in terms of right and wrong?\u201d<\/em>
\n With these words Zhaozhou awakened.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gateless Gate, Case 19<\/p>\n

I so love this case. On the one hand it guides us to the fundamental matter, correcting us as we veer from the realizations that quickly become boundaries, and with that traps on our way. And on the other hand it is a full expression of the fundamental matter itself. So, yes, I love this case.<\/p>\n

It comes from the early strata of Zen\u2019s formation in the early Middle Ages. Nanquan Puyuan flourished between the middle of the Eighth and the middle of the Ninth centuries. He was a disciple of Mazu Daoyi, and a principle figure in what we call the golden age of Zen. His encounters with his disciples and others have become many of the classic koans, four times in the Gateless Gate<\/em>, six times in the Blue Cliff Record<\/em>, and another three times in the Book of Serenity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

His disciple Zhaozhou Congshen who is here at a critical turning point on his own path could be argued to eventually surpass even his great teacher. At the time of this encounter Zhaozhou was about twenty and had been in the master\u2019s monastery for two years.<\/p>\n

Soon after this encounter he would embark on a pilgrimage to marinade his insight through encounters with many of the eminent masters of the age as well as throwing himself into more years of practice. Perhaps forty years after his awakening Zhaozhou settled in at a ruined temple and began accepting disciples. The stories say he lived another forty years.<\/p>\n

While Zhaozhou\u2019s direct line did not survive, his teaching would continue in the legends of the Zen way and especially within the great koan anthologies. He\u2019s featured five times in the Gateless Gate<\/em> and another twelve times in the Blue Cliff Record<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With that the case itself. Robert Aitken the first Westerner I know to be fully authorized as a teacher of the koan way had his own encounter with these questions. He relates it in his commentary on this case. He tells about while studying in Japan with Hakuun Yasutani, Soen Nakagawa Roshi was scheduled to visit and was willing to take questions about Zen and its practices.<\/p>\n

Aitken was ill the day of the visit. But he had a question that he passed on through his wife, Anne. \u201cShould I use effort or not?\u201d It\u2019s a real question, especially for those of us schooled in the ways of just sitting, and all the concerns about \u201cgaining mind\u201d and such. When she returned Anne told him the master said, \u201cThat is a very difficult question.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so it is. Gaining mind. Sitting like a lump on a log. Both appear to be mistakes. But how do I start? Yes, it is difficult. How do I start?<\/p>\n

There are several commentaries in English on the Gateless Gate collection. So far it is the only koan anthology to have such richness. The latest anthology of commentaries is by Gyo Gu, Dr Jimmy Yu, a dharma<\/a> successor the modern Chan master Sheng Yen. In his commentary on this case Gyo Gu tells the usual ideas we have about practice are not going to do.<\/p>\n

The key he tells us, \u201cis to drop the colored glasses through which you mistakenly perceive the world \u2013 it\u2019s not about picking up a better pair of glasses or polishing them to make them shiny. This practice does not produce the freedom you already have. It merely removes the obscurations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to the direct question, Nanquan replies, \u201cOrdinary mind is the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what is ordinary mind? Robert Aitken reminds us this \u00a0\u201c\u2018ordinary\u2019 is not the commonplace mind of self-centered preoccupation. Selfish conduct, speech, and thought obscure the vast moonlit mind of Nanquan.\u201d Truth. But, as we hear in the Song of the Jeweled Mirror Samadhi <\/em>\u201cYou are not it. But in truth it is you.\u201d\u00a0This ordinary mind is not the commonplace of our self-centered preoccupations. But, at the same time, yes it is.<\/p>\n

Ordinary mind is the ordinary mind without the colored glasses. It is the mind when we are, just for a moment, letting go of having to be right, of knowing. It is the ordinary mind of curiosity, of not knowing. That ordinary mind from before we\u2019ve settled into our various certainties.<\/p>\n

This leads us to two realities, seemingly contradictory. Knowing and not knowing. When I know something I\u2019m stuck in that place. It may even be right. But it remains a trap. There is a larger liberty. The response of not knowing can be openness. But it also can be dullness, a lack of engagement when we\u2019re called into engagement. Each direction walls. Each direction traps waiting to ensnare the unwary.<\/p>\n

The invitation is to see those worlds of knowing and not knowing, of going and of holding still. After all they are where we live. Here, now, we must pick and choose. And, also we live in a world where there are moments of not choosing, of just being, where everything is so close, so connected words like \u201cone\u201d make a lot of sense. Each is a gate into wisdom. And, very much, each is a trap.<\/p>\n

The way to which we are being invited is one of letting go of our certainties, of finding the silence at the center, and then acting. All as a single thing. The linchpin for many of us is found in that silence.<\/p>\n

So finding that silence. Do I move toward it? No. Do I move away from it? No.\u00a0Bring your mind\u2019s eye, bring your heart, bring your whole being into the moment.\u00a0And let go.\u00a0These things, movement, refraining from movement, mind, heart, letting go; just let them flow.<\/p>\n

Past and future. Let them go. Don\u2019t worry, they\u2019re never fully gone. In the moment you are not those things. Although, of course, they are very, very much you. Let the words settle into you. But don\u2019t hold them tightly.<\/p>\n

And then be present. Here your ordinary mind will appear. No capital letters. Nothing special. Just this. But, it is the gateway into freedom for yourself and for all beings. It turns out it\u2019s all about love.<\/p>\n

Presence. Intimacy. Love. As ordinary as ordinary can be<\/p>\n

Here, not only does Zhaozhou awaken, but so do you. And with that the world\u2026<\/p>\n