{"id":11664,"date":"2023-03-19T08:01:53","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T14:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=11664"},"modified":"2023-03-19T08:01:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T14:01:53","slug":"the-awakening-of-yaeko-iwasaki-no-place-not-known","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2023\/03\/the-awakening-of-yaeko-iwasaki-no-place-not-known.html","title":{"rendered":"The Awakening of Yaeko Iwasaki: No Place Not Known"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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

In this post, you\u2019ll find a selection from Going Through the Mystery\u2019s One Hundred Questions<\/a>. Also, a few years back, while I was in the midst of translating and commenting on these old cases, I gave a talk about this and included some excerpts from the awakening story of an incredible awakened woman from the 20th century, Yaeko Iwasaki. You can find the unedited version in The Three Pillars of Zen<\/em>, \u201cPart VI Yaeko Iwasaki\u2019s Enlightenment Letters to Harada-roshi and his Comments.\u201d Highly recommended and inspirational.<\/p>\n

You can find the audio recording of the talk over on my Patreon site<\/a>, along with an ad free version of this very post.<\/p>\n

When I got to editing my comments of Going Through the Mystery<\/em> for the final version, it just didn\u2019t work to quote as much from Three PIllars <\/em>as I had done in the talk, so below you won\u2019t find the Yaeko Iwasaki material. The two versions work, text and talk, together well, seems to me.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to support my Zen teaching practice at Patreon of which translations and writings like this are one facet. You will also find an advertisement free version of this post there.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Question 18: What Conditions \u201cNo Place Not Known\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yuantong asked: \u201cPrajna and ignorance. What conditions \u2018no-place not-known\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wansong replied: \u201cDo not slander another\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linquan\u2019s Verse<\/p>\n

Do not slander another\u2019s good<\/p>\n

A skillful explanation is not equal to the direct way<\/p>\n

Just talking can cut off the subtle mystery<\/p>\n

Then see the mind contriving the unproduced<\/p>\n

Towering, towering, flying, flying self-thus faith<\/p>\n

Sweep through the dead leaves of past positions<\/p>\n

Commentary<\/p>\n

Juxtaposed with prajna and ignorance, Yuantong asks what conditions \u7121\u6240\u4e0d\u77e5, no place not known, aka, omniscience.<\/p>\n

Today, within a close teacher-student relationship, Yuantong might hear, \u201cOh my goodness, you are so in your head!\u201d<\/p>\n

I can still feel the sting of the verbal blows dished out by Katagiri Roshi to the young Dosho. With sadness in his eyes, seemingly wondering if he was wasting his life with students like me, he mutter almost to himself, \u201cThat\u2019s just your thinking. Always\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wansong begins his an ancient scolding by pointing out that asking about omniscience, acting like he does not know, is itself slander of Yuantong\u2019s original inheritance.<\/p>\n

Linquan takes it from there, saying that talking about \u201cno-place not-known\u201d is a betrayal of the mystery.<\/p>\n

But, thankfully, we are not left there.<\/p>\n

Linquan points his index finger straight at the moon: \u201cTowering, towering, flying, flying self-thus faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-thus\u201d is the keyword here with \u201cfaith\u201d slathered on for good measure. Towering, towering, \u5140\u5140, originally referred to a table mountain and now means \u201cdetermined,\u201d \u201cunmoving,\u201d or \u201csteadfast.\u201d Dogen also useds this binomial, for example, in his \u201cHealing Point of Zazen, along with \u5730, meaning \u201cearth\u201d or \u201cground,\u201d so the phrase is translated as \u201csteadfast sitting,\u201d or \u201cfixed sitting.\u201d This phrase is a crucial teaching in Dogen Zen. \u201cYou should,\u201d says Dogen,<\/p>\n

investigate and receive the authentic transmission of steadfast sitting. This is the thorough study of steadfast sitting transmitted in the buddha way.<\/em><\/p>\n

Linquan, though, rather than pair \u201ctowering, towering,\u201d \u5140\u5140, with \u5730, \u201cground,\u201d \u00a0\u00a0pairs towering with \u201cflying, flying,\u201d \u9a30\u9a30, for a much more dynamic expression.<\/p>\n

In modern Chinese, the whole sentence, \u201cTowering, towering, flying, flying self-thus faith,\u201d sounds like this: w\u00f9w\u00f9 t\u00e9ngt\u00e9ng x\u00ecn z\u00ecr\u00fa. But remember, \u201cJust talking can cut off the subtle mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The invitation here is to embody the self-thus<\/em><\/u>, towering and flying, and immediately, intimately \u201cSweep through the dead leaves of past positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

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

D\u014dsh\u014d Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teaches with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach Sensei, with Vine of Obstacles Zen<\/a>, an online training group. D\u014dsh\u014d received dharma<\/a> transmission from Dainin Katagiri R\u014dshi and inka sh\u014dmei from James My\u014dun Ford R\u014dshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He is also the author of Keep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri<\/a><\/i>. D\u014dsh\u014d\u2019s translation and commentary on The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,<\/em><\/a> was published in 2021 (Shambhala). His\u00a0third book, Going Through the Mystery\u2019s One Hundred Questions<\/em><\/a>, is now available. Click here<\/a> to support the teaching practice of D\u014dsh\u014d R\u014dshi.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this post, you\u2019ll find a selection from Going Through the Mystery\u2019s One Hundred Questions. Also, a few years back, while I was in the midst of translating and commenting on these old cases, I gave a talk about this and included some excerpts from the awakening story of an incredible awakened woman from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":11730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[429,234],"class_list":["post-11664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-going-through-the-mysterys-one-hundred-questions","tag-yaeko-iwasaki"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Awakening of Yaeko Iwasaki: No Place Not Known<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this post, you'll find a selection from Going Through the Mystery's One Hundred Questions. 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