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<\/a>Hakuin Ekaku
(between 1686 & 1769)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
(Maurine Mo Weindhardt is a Dharma<\/a> Holder with the Empty Moon Zen<\/a> Sangha. She delivered this talk at our December Rohatsu retreat. I asked her if I could reprint it here, and she graciously agreed<\/em>.)<\/p>\n For those of you who might need a sincere reminder, hear me. This is a deep and abiding truth: You are worthy. You are sacred. You are loved.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re going to talk about meeting the struggle. This has many\u00a0 meanings \u2014 but whether big or small, minor, or utterly life-changing, the struggle is real. I wonder, what might yours include in this moment?<\/p>\n Zen is a practice of attention. Of awakening to the habits of our minds and actions, and cutting through the delusions of our ego-driven narratives. Basically, cutting through our own bullshit. Not just seeing \u2014 but experiencing, fully, the intimate interconnectedness with all that is. Experiencing the bright, boundless emptiness, where concepts of self and other fall away \u2014 where there truly is nothing but\u00a0this, and then remembering this, realizing this, in the thick of everyday life. Bringing this awakening into every moment.<\/p>\n Easy, right?<\/p>\n What we\u2019re really talking about is just the stuff of our regular, mundane, bread & butter, everyday lives. The joys and pitfalls of being human, where we\u2019re often reacting and trying to make sense of ourselves and the world. Perhaps trying to heal. Trying to exert control. Trying to find certainty, craving the comfort and assurance that brings.<\/p>\n The question I\u2019d like you to hold through this talk is, \u201cWhat is the ground of my practice?\u201d<\/p>\n We\u2019ll begin by exploring this question through the lens of a koan \u2014 a Zen encounter from long ago. A story in which we\u2019re invited to recognize the aspects of ourselves in each character. I\u2019ll read the koan first, and then give some context around what led up to this thundrous encounter:<\/p>\n Case 23 of the Gateless Gate: Neither Good Nor Evil<\/p>\n The 6th Chinese Ancestor Hui-neng was pursued by Ming, the head monk, as far as Ta-yu Peak. Hui-neng, seeing Ming coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, \u201cThis robe represents the Dharma. There should be no fighting over it. You may take it back with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Ming tried to lift it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Shivering and trembling, he said, \u201cI came for the Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please open the Way for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cDon\u2019t think good; don\u2019t think evil. At this very moment, what is the original face of Ming the head monk?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In that instant Ming had great satori. Sweat ran from his entire body. In tears he made his bows, saying, \u201cBesides these secret words and secret meanings, is there anything of further significance?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cWhat I have just conveyed to you is not secret. If you reflect on your own face, whatever is secret will be right there with you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Ming said, \u201cThough I practiced at Huang-mei with the assembly, I could not truly realize my original face. Now, thanks to your pointed instruction, I am like someone who drinks water and knows personally whether it is cold or warm. Lay brother, you are now my teacher.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cIf you can say that, then let us both call Hung-jen our teacher (the 5th Chinese Ancestor). Maintain your realization carefully.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n To fully appreciate this encounter, you need the story behind this story, of why Head Monk Ming was chasing Hui-neng in the first place.<\/p>\n Hui-neng, who became our 6th Chinese Ancestor, was born in the year 638. His father died when he was young. Hui-neng had no education, and as a kid he sold firewood to support himself and his mom. One day he heard a monk reciting the Diamond Sutra, and experienced deep realization. When asked, the monk told him his teacher was Hung-jen, who lived over 1,000 miles away at a temple in North China.<\/p>\n A neighbor kindly agreed to support his mother, and Hui-neng set off to find Hung-jen. After their first encounter, Hung-jen saw the worth in this new student, and assigned Hui-neng to husk rice in the harvesting shed.<\/p>\n Many months passed, and Hung-jen felt the need to name a successor. To determine who his successor would be, he announced a contest, inviting anyone who thought they were worthy of transmission to submit a poem showing their understanding of the Way. The author of the most insightful, penetrating poem would receive transmission and become the next master.<\/p>\n This temple had over 700 monks, and they all felt that the leader of their assembly, Shen-hsiu, had the clearest insight \u2014 so none of them wrote anything. Shen-hsiu, however, was not sure of his own attainment. Instead of turning in a poem, he wrote one anonymously on a wall, figuring that if it was approved, he would step forward and announce that he was the author; if it were disapproved, he could just keep quiet.<\/p>\n On this wall, Shen-hsui wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cThe body is the Bodhi Tree;<\/em><\/p>\n The mind is like a clear mirror;<\/em><\/p>\n Moment by moment, wipe the mirror carefully;<\/em><\/p>\n Let there be no dust upon it<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Hung-jen praised this poem and had all of the monks commit it to memory. However, he did not say anything about making its author his successor.<\/p>\n Hui-neng, our young, penniless, unschooled lay practitioner, did not learn about the contest until he heard a monk reciting Shen-hsui\u2019s poem. Since he didn\u2019t know how to write, he asked an acolyte to write his response on the wall beneath. It read:<\/p>\n \u201cBodhi really has no tree;<\/em><\/p>\n The mirror too has no stand;<\/em><\/p>\n From the beginning there\u2019s nothing at all;<\/em><\/p>\n Where can any dust alight?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Though everyone was impressed with this second poem, it caused quite a disturbance when the monks discovered it was written by a nobody layman working in the harvest shed.<\/p>\n However, the teacher Heng-jen immediately recognized the worth of this poem, but rubbed it off the wall with his slipper, claiming it was of no value. That night however, he summoned Hui-neng to his room and preached on the Diamond Sutra. Hui-neng grasped the inner sense of the sutra at once, and without hesitation, Heng-jen conveyed the robe and bowl of Bodhidharma to him as symbols of transmission.<\/p>\n The teacher then warned Hui-neng that jealous monks would try to harm him if he stayed at the monastery. To protect him, Heng-jen personally rowed Hui-neng across the river and advised him to polish his realization secretly for some time before emerging as a teacher. This is how Hui-neng received transmission.<\/p>\n The next day, all of the monks found out what had happened, and needless to say, they were pissed. They were\u00a0certain\u00a0that their old teacher had made a mistake. They set out in pursuit of Hui-neng to bring back the precious symbols of transmission.<\/p>\n The head monk, named Ming, was a former general with a powerful body and will; he quickly outpaced and outdistanced the other monks, tracking Hui-neng through the mountains. This is where we pick up the main case of the koan.<\/p>\n Hui-neng, seeing Ming coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, \u201cThis robe represents the Dharma. There should be no fighting over it. You may take it back with you.\u201d<\/p>\n This rocked Ming to his core.<\/p>\n Ming tried to lift it up, but it was as immovable as a mountain. Shivering and trembling, he said, \u201cI came for the Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please open the Way for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cDon\u2019t think good; don\u2019t think evil. At this very moment, what is the original face of Ming the head monk?\u201d<\/p>\n Original face can also be translated as True Self. What is the True Self of Ming the head monk?<\/p>\n In that instant Ming had great satori. Sweat ran from his entire body. In tears he bowed, saying, \u201cBesides these secret words and secret meanings, is there anything of further significance?\u201d<\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cWhat I have just conveyed to you is not secret. If you reflect on your own face, whatever is secret will be right there with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Ming said, \u201cThough I practiced at Huang-mei with the assembly, I could not truly realize my original face. Now, thanks to your pointed instruction, I am like someone who drinks water and knows personally whether it is cold or warm. Lay brother, you are now my teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cIf you can say that, then let us both call Hung-jen our teacher. Maintain your realization carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n In so many ways, each of us is the head monk Ming. Certain. Righteously judgemental. Rigidly convinced of our opinions and views. Angry (or sometimes, more insidiously, disappointed), with those who fail to align with what we consider right or wrong; good or evil; and willing to impose our views violently, if need be.<\/p>\n Sometimes the violence of certainty and knowing is physical in nature; but what I really want to underscore for this group is the verbal and emotional violence we can be so prone to. All the many flavors of, \u201cI think you should act differently, feel differently, or be other than you are, and here\u2019s why I\u2019m right and you\u2019re wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n I wonder \u2013 in how many different ways have you been head monk Ming? Judging and perhaps descending on someone you think is in the wrong, to berate them or straighten them up? Or, how many times have you simply fantasized about doing that?<\/p>\n In yesterday\u2019s dharma talk, Tom mentioned that a 10 year old boy decked out in a bright red Trump hat and American flag backpack was on our flight to Seattle. In an instant, I had that first mind of head monk Ming \u2014 how dare the adults in his life brainwash this boy to idolize and essentially advertise for a crude, narcissistic, convicted con man who gets off on lying, sexually abusing women, disrespecting and belittling others, and blah blah blah\u2026 (It builds up steam fast, doesn\u2019t it?) The list was loooong. It was surprising how quickly these vitriolic judgements spewed from my brain, and contorted my face. And at exactly that moment, this 10 year old boy happened to lock eyes with me, and smile. In that moment, I noticed what was happening in my mind, and what it was doing to my face, and I saw my mental formations clearly for what they were.\u00a0(Breathe)<\/p>\n An opening of my heart; a relaxing of my judgments; I smiled back, enjoying a brief moment of connection with this boy, who is not me, and yet we are the same.<\/p>\n Now, for an important turning of this koan. Beyond how we treat other people \u2014 as critical as that is \u2014 we must equally examine how we treat ourselves. Shine light on this with me for a moment. In how many different ways have you been head monk Ming, descending upon yourself? Judging and berating yourself for being wrong, for making a mistake, because \u201cyou should have blah blah blah\u201d?<\/p>\n My god are we good at \u201cshoulding\u201d all over ourselves. In my experience, we are rarely as brutal with anyone else in the world as we are with ourselves. All the things we regret or wish we\u2019d done differently, and refuse to forgive ourselves for \u2014 where is our compassion then? How readily do we suffocate ourselves from the very thing we aspire to practice for all beings?<\/p>\n We would never allow someone to treat a friend or loved one the way we can treat ourselves sometimes \u2014 and yet for some reason, it can feel acceptable to unleash this unforgiving bludgeon upon ourselves. If this rings true for you, as it does for me, it is worthy of deep reflection.<\/p>\n This version of my head monk Ming came up earlier in the week. I won\u2019t get into all the details, but in a nutshell I encountered a seething white-hot angry 17-year-old\u00a0Mo<\/span>\u00a0who had a middle finger for everyone \u2014 especially for now-me. That younger self tracked me down through the mountains of my mind, across time and space, and absolutely tore me apart. She blamed me for\u00a0so many things, including my mom\u2019s death, and she beat me bloody with all of the ways that that part of me was\u00a0certain\u00a0that what I did was either wrong or not enough.<\/p>\n I should have done this and that; if only I\u2019d said such & such, or not done whathaveyou, everything would have been different. Oh, such imaginative mental formations\u2026 It was brutal.<\/p>\n Whether descending on others, or descending on yourselves, I\u2019m sure that all of you have your own versions of an angry and certain head monk Ming.<\/p>\n And this is where I invite us to explore the aspect of ourselves that is Hui-neng in this koan, and return to my original question at the beginning of this talk:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is the ground of your practice?\u201d<\/p>\n Zen permeates every aspect of my life. I don\u2019t always pay as much attention as I wish, or sit zazen as consistently as I want to, but everywhere I turn, there\u2019s my practice. Just like every step I take, there I am. Same ol\u2019 me. This wildly imperfect being. A regular, flawed person, who just happens to have committed to prioritizing awakening and compassion \u2014 to seeing the bright emptiness we all share, regardless of form, as often as I can. And maybe that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n Hui-neng, seeing Ming coming, laid the robe and bowl on a rock and said, \u201cThis robe represents the Dharma. There should be no fighting over it. You may take it back with you.\u201d Ming tried to lift it up, but couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n In this moment, Ming\u2019s enraged, ego-centered self was at once completely smashed. He saw through his certainty, his misguided and harmful actions, and it broke him wide open.<\/p>\n Shivering and trembling, Ming said, \u201cI came for the Dharma, not for the robe. I beg you, lay brother, please open the Way for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Hui-neng said, \u201cDon\u2019t think good; don\u2019t think evil. At this very moment, what is the original face of Ming the head monk?\u201d<\/p>\n At this very moment, what is your original face? What is your true nature? What is the ground of your practice? You\u2019re up a tree, dangling from a branch by your teeth. Say something.<\/p>\n Buddha Nature neither rejects nor embraces. It\u2019s vibrantly alive in just this, whatever \u201cthis\u201d might be. It does not assess worthiness; it does not play favorites. It does not pat you on the head and reward you for being \u201cgood\u201d; nor does it punish you or withhold itself when you act \u201cbad\u201d. It is not transactional; it does not function within the dualistic constraints of good or evil, right or wrong, better or worse, enough or not enough. Buddha Nature pervades the whole universe, existing here and now; everything you see, everything you hear, is in fact \u2018it\u2019. \u2018It\u2019 cannot be confined or reduced into arbitrary categories of worth. Buddha Nature does not make value judgments. We do that.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to think of good and evil; to divide the world, other people, or myself into classifications of good and bad, right and wrong. I mean, critical thinking is a necessary skill in the world of form, it allows us to make decisions, anticipate risks and dangers, and hopefully to feel our way into more consistently living our values. The catch is holding our judgments loosely; being aware and cautious of the trappings of knowing, or tightly-held certainty.<\/p>\n As written in the Hsin-hsin ming, or the \u2018Precepts of the Faith\u2019: \u201cTo set up what you like against what you dislike \u2014 this is the disease of the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n We all grapple with the stickiness of certainty, setting up what we like against what we dislike. But regardless of the particulars or the circumstances, how we treat each other \u2014 and how we treat ourselves \u2014 matters. When the ground of practice is compassion, for ourselves and all beings \u2014 when the illusion of separation falls away and the egocentric self is at once completely smashed \u2014 this is a great gift of awakening.<\/p>\n The invitation is to recognize this functioning in the thick of activity. Can we realize this in the face of intense emotions? In the face of a wounded heart, or a body that\u2019s in pain? When getting laid off, or when rudely honked at in traffic?<\/p>\n We each must earn our realizations \u2014 our wisdom. There are no shortcuts. This goes beyond conceptual understanding \u2014 awakening cannot be learned, it must be lived. And it requires continuous effort.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a dark fucking world in so many ways. And yet. In my experience, with each decision, each loving or thoughtful action we take, things change for the better in ways we don\u2019t always see \u2014 slowly but surely bending the world towards compassion. Towards kindness. Towards love.<\/p>\n We wear these bodies, these forms, forgetting that we are not them. Like a bead of ocean spray, momentarily a separate droplet, forgetting the source that it\u2019s part of, that it is in fullness, even as it careens back towards the boundlessness from which it came.<\/p>\n The whole is never separate from the particular; the particular is never distinct from the whole. Awakening to this truth changes everything (& nothing at all) in an instant. And this truth is not to be found outside of ourselves, outside of this moment, outside of the infinite just this.<\/p>\n The Buddha taught that we\u2019re already awakened \u2014 there\u2019s nothing to seek, nothing to gain or lose, nothing to obtain. It\u2019s just a small matter of not picking and choosing \u2014 of not taking too seriously what we like or dislike. This doesn\u2019t mean to have no wants or fears or desires \u2014 that\u2019s impossible. These are natural functions of our human mind. It means practicing to see them clearly for what they are \u2014 stories, mental formations, empty mind bubbles \u2014 so they don\u2019t sway our actions towards the small or the selfish. So we can see that shared light in all beings \u2014 even when they piss us off, or worse.<\/p>\n This treasure already shines brightly in each one of us tiny droplets. Nothing is missing. Do you understand? Good, that\u2019s a start, but understanding isn\u2019t it. This isn\u2019t an intellectual exercise. Realize this for yourself. Explore this for yourself. Like Ming, be someone who drinks water and knows personally whether it is cold or warm. Realize that to which words can merely point.<\/p>\n To use different language, we are each God waking up to and recognizing God within and all around. I \u2013 thou \u2013 all \u2013 art sacred. Nothing is left out. Consider the implications of this.<\/p>\n Zen is a practice of attention. Of awakening to our habits, and cutting through our own bullshit. Of fully experiencing this intimate, sacred interconnectedness \u2014 the bright, boundless emptiness, where concepts of self and other fall away \u2014 and bringing this awakening into the thick of everyday life.<\/p>\n Easy, right?<\/p>\n The struggle is absolutely real. And it can be absolutely brutal. And just as real, is the joy, the effort, the love, the community, the practice of compassion, the mutual support. You\u2019re already home. The Way is already before you. Even as a distinct droplet, you are the entire ocean. And so are \u201cthey\u201d, whoever you consider \u201cthey\u201d to be.<\/p>\n Our invitation is to be intimate with just this, meeting whatever this might be, with the strength of Hui-neng, standing the ground of his practice, hand in hand with the strength of head monk Ming, willing to break open completely.<\/p>\n What I have just conveyed to you is not secret. If you reflect on your own face, whatever is secret will be right there with you. What you seek is within, and it is yours alone to give. Where can any dust alight?\u201d<\/p>\n Please \u2014 maintain your realization carefully.<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n