Dragons and Snakes Intermingle: Genpo, Eido and All of Us

I signed the recent letter to Genpo from the gang of 66 Zen teachers after not signing the previous one. This one seemed to have fewer hidden agendas (go ahead and call me paranoid…) and was clear – step down and do your work, do what you said you’d do. 

I’ve noticed in what I’ve been scanning in the cyberwhirl how polarizing these issues are. Duh!

Some think Eido Shimano is pure evil and Genpo is close behind and the rest of the rotten Zen teacher lot come next. Or Eido and Genpo are misunderstood unexcelled masters who have such deep samadhi that they have the power to enlighten others.

Or maybe it’s those 66 teachers who are dogs, truly defiling the pure dharma for self-centered motives (jealousy and thirst for fame and gain and power, for example). Or are the 66 nobly standing up for the precepts of the honored tradition and really seeing the how it truly is for others (e.g., that those who defend Genpo are swallowing his justifications hook, line, and sinker)? 

We seem to want it one way or the other.

So let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a guy named Wu was wandering on Mt. Wisdom and just when things were getting rough and wild, the bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, produced a temple so that Wu might rest for the night. 

Manjushri asked Wu, “Have you come from near or far?”
“From the South,” replied Wu. 
 “How is Southern Buddhism being maintained?” 
 “In this Corrupt Age of the Dharma, priests are venerating the precepts a little.”
“How many are there?”
“Three hundred here, five hundred there. How is Buddhism being maintained here?”
“Ordinary people and sages live together. Dragons and snakes intermingle.”
“How many are there?”
Manjushri said, “Front three three, back three three.”

It’s a complex conversation for a complex issue.

Not only are the common folks and sages living right next door, they intermingle within and without, with no fixed position. So it’s kinda hard to pin any one of us down, like whether light is a wave or particle. Diamonds and dogs.

No doubt this is the corrupt age too. Like always. No doubt that we practitioners are just venerating the precepts a little – most often when it suits us. That’s being an ordinary person.

Yet because we’re so mixed up, each of us has the opportunity to take a heroic stand and go beyond ourselves, through ourselves.

How many of us are like this? Hakuin responds for us: “If you want to know, refer to the number of last night’s stars and the number of this morning’s raindrops.”