) has some important guidance for how to study with a teacher and how to regard our long departed teachers.<\/span><\/p>\nA little background to the story above:
Dongshan was a golden child in the Chinese Ch\u2019an (Zen) circles of his day, pointed out by Nan Chuan, regarded as a living Buddha, when Dongshan was only 16 years old. He eventually received transmission (he seems to have rejected Nan Chuan\u2019s offer for transmission) from Yun-yen, reputed to be a rather cloudy fellow having attended to Baizhang, another living Buddha, for over 20 years and not had a break in the clouds (i.e., realization). Yun-yen did realize after he left Baizhang but even though Baizhang was a great teacher, as I said in my last post, it takes as long as it takes. Reputation on the other hand sometimes lingers like horse smell long after the latter has left the barn.<\/p>\n
Anyway, a couple things here, prompted by some of the discussions here at Yugeji and on the web about how \u201csome people\u201d view authority (love\/hate).<\/p>\n
The grounds for Dongshan\u2019s gratitude for Yun-yen seem to lie in how Yun-yen let him discover the buddhadharma for himself, without exhausting explanation.<\/p>\n
The second is how for Dongshan that gratitude was upheld by half agreeing. Just because Dogen or Katagiri said this or that, to cling to their words and build a moon palace therein, is to utterly betray them. Living Buddhism isn\u2019t about relying on authority.<\/p>\n
If I was the monk, however, when Dongshan said \u201cI agree with half\u2026,\u201d I\u2019d jump in and say, \u201cWhich half?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Cause therein lies the rub, matie.<\/p>\n
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