![Painting, \"Bridge,\" by Hakuin](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/88\/2018\/01\/tumblr_mj5kugdQFx1qcy4rao1_500-300x155.jpg\")
In my last post, Who Is Thi<\/a>s Hakuin Guy?<\/a>, I gave some background for Hakuin Ekaku\u00a0(\u767d\u96a0 \u6167\u9db4<\/span>, 1686 \u2013 1768) and the record of his teachings, the recently published\u00a0Complete Poison Blossoms from a Thicket of Thorn: The Zen Records of Hakuin Ekaku,\u00a0<\/em>translated by Norman Waddell. Like most radical reformulators of the buddhadharma (e.g., Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma, Huineng, D\u014dgen, etc.), Hakuin saw himself as holding true to the essence of the Zen way, rearticulating that essence, and innovating a method for its attainment.\u00a0In this post, I want to give an overview of what Hakuin taught, especially about kensh\u014d,\u00a0 hopefully holding it up as a mirror for our times.<\/p>\n By the way, kensh\u014d\u00a0<\/span>(\u898b\u6027) means\u00a0\u201cseeing [true] nature or essence.\u201d<\/p>\n Hakuin freely and refreshingly stresses the importance of kensh\u014d. In his long verse, \u201c78. Instructions to the Assembly at the Opening of a Lecture Meeting on the Lotus Sutra,\u201d the primary source for this post, Hakuin begins with these two lines:<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who seeks to master the Buddha\u2019s Way\/Must begin by attaining a kensh\u014d of total clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n James My\u014dun Ford Roshi puts it this way: \u201cAs I see it first and foremost Zen is about awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s fair to say that not all Zen folks agree about that primacy of\u00a0kensh\u014d. For example, in a recent exchange of views, another Zen priest and teacher from one of the large S\u014dt\u014d centers described the attitude of his\u00a0institution as \u201crabidly anti-kensh\u014d.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, synonyms for kensh\u014d include awakening, enlightenment, and satori. And the\u00a0\u201cbuddh\u201d in Buddhism<\/a> means \u201cawake,\u201d so we Buddhists might call ourselves \u201cAwake-ists.\u201d If only it rolled off the tongue\u2026.<\/p>\n In any case, and whatever it\u2019s called, I find it really surprising that a Buddhist group would be rabidly anti it.<\/p>\n As is often the case, support for\u00a0contemporary predilections of S\u014dt\u014d practitioners is found in the words of the thirteenth century founder of the\u00a0S\u014dt\u014d lineage in Japan, D\u014dgen. Sure enough, he had an issue with the word \u201ckensh\u014d.\u201d \u201cSeeing into mind and seeing into essence,\u201d he wrote in his \u201cMountain and Rivers Sutra,\u201d \u201cis the activity of people outside the way.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u00a0D\u014dgen seemed to be saying here is that if you think you have some experience that reveals \u201cmind\u201d or \u201cessence\u201d as a thing, you are off to see the wizard, skipping along the yellow brick road of delusion. Of course, our Zen way is about intimacy and identity action, or as he expressed it k\u014danically, \u201cGreen mountains are always walking.\u201d<\/p>\n Fair enough.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019d like to note that when it comes to words, D\u014dgen was quite a nitpicker. He also didn\u2019t like the word \u201cZen,\u201d but we still use that word widely, so why not \u201ckensh\u014d?\u201d I\u2019m wondering if those that are rabidly anti-kensh\u014d are against the word, as\u00a0D\u014dgen was, or against what it represents \u2013 awakening \u2013 which D\u014dgen wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n For me, experiences of awakening have been central to my Zen process. And so I find Hakuin\u2019s emphasis so clear, and, yes, supportive of my predilections.\u00a0In my view, the word that we use to describe the experience is not so important. How about respectfully hearing\u00a0D\u014dgen\u2019s concern about the possible misuse of the word \u201ckensh\u014d\u201d and then moving on?<\/p>\n Which is what I\u2019d like to do in this post. Although, clearly, after forty years of\u00a0D\u014dgen study, I\u2019m finding that challenging! Still, I\u2019ll keep working on it during this year of Wild Fox Zen blog Hakuin focus.<\/p>\n His first line opening his lecture on the Lotus Sutra <\/em>Hakuin says, \u201cAnyone who seeks to master the Buddha\u2019s Way,\u201d has a couple significant points. First, this Way is wide open \u2013 \u201cAnyone.\u201d You don\u2019t have to be a Zen marine, really smart, or really\u00a0healthy\u00a0in every way. The important first point is this: \u201cAnyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Second, Hakuin implicitly recognizes that there are a variety of motivations for practice, including health, well-being, favorable rebirth, and personal effectiveness. In other passages in the\u00a0Complete Poison Blossoms,\u00a0<\/em>Hakuin affirms and works with these and many other motivations.\u00a0But here Hakuin is talking to is those who want to master the Buddha Way, the process of awakening.<\/p>\n If you are so motivated to master the Buddha Way, then Hakuin argues that you \u201c\u2026must begin by attaining a kensh\u014d of total clarity.\u201d How could you be a master of awakening if you\u2019ve not experienced an awakening? But it\u2019s not just any awakening that Hakuin recommends but a \u201ckensh\u014d of total clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n Kensh\u014d experiences, abrupt embodiments of nonduality, come with a wide-variety of characteristics, including special effects that can confuse and distract us from the heart of the matter \u2013 the intimate knowledge of self-and-other \u2013 and obscure the clarity that we-and-the-world itself are at once lacking in any abiding substance, and we-and-the-world are one within the great play of interaction, interdependence, and interpenetration.<\/p>\n Finally, also implicit in this passage is Hakuin\u2019s predilection that kensh\u014d is the beginning of the Buddha Way, not the end. To \u201c\u2026 think experiencing kensh\u014d is enough,\u201d he writes, is \u201c\u2026 a\u00a0great fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important to note that\u00a0kensh\u014d is a part of our human inheritance and is really quite common, therefore, it makes sense to position\u00a0kensh\u014d in the beginning of the life of practice. That said, however, not everyone who diligently practices experiences\u00a0kensh\u014d, at least not in the time frame that they prefer. This also is an important topic that I\u2019m going to kick down the road to future posts.<\/p>\n In future posts, I\u2019ll also address Hakuin\u2019s view of how to realize kensh\u014d. For now, I\u2019ll just note that one of the great virtues of working with a k\u014dan teacher, is that after kensh\u014d, there is a brilliant system for culling, clarifying, and cultivating verification.<\/p>\n Hakuin continues,<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it is as clear as a fruit lying in your hand\/Crack the secret ciphers of the Eastern Mountain\u201d<\/p>\n So, \u201ca fruit lying in your hand,\u201d gives us a sense of how clear \u201cclear\u201d is. It\u2019s really obvious. \u201cHow could I have missed that I have a mango in my hand? Amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n Waddell notes that \u201cSecret ciphers or \u2018passwords\u2019 (ang\u014d-rei<\/em>) originally referred to secret passwords used by soldiers in wartime; here it means potent k\u014dans, generally.\u201d<\/p>\n And it\u2019s quite nice that, in English, \u201ccipher\u201d also means \u201czero.\u201d And so we have here a found\u00a0k\u014dan \u2013 \u201cquickly, crack zero!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEastern Mountain\u201d is a specific reference that Hakuin seems to mean more generally, to paraphrase Waddell, as Zen utterances of marvellous efficacy. Hakuin lists eight k\u014dans, secret ciphers, that are fitting for post-kensh\u014d practice, including\u00a0\u201cHuang-lung planting vegetables by the zazen seat.\u201d I\u2019ll return to this\u00a0k\u014dan soon.<\/p>\n Then after you\u2019ve passed through these post-kensho k\u014dan, Hakuin encourages us to take up a couple sutras as secret ciphers, specifically the\u00a0Lotus<\/em> and Vimalakirti<\/em> sutras. This is really creative! \u201cI have always lamented Zen\u2019s ignorance of the sutras,\u201d writes Hakuin, \u201cMonks plodding ahead aimlessly like blind donkeys.\u201d<\/p>\n Hakuin continues, \u201cUnless you grasp their meaning, even with kensh\u014d\/You will fall unawares into the abyss of emptiness.\u201d And on the other hand, \u201cAnd if you read the scriptures without having kensh\u014d\/You\u2019re only a parrot imitating someone else\u2019s speech.\u201d<\/p>\n Again, realizing emptiness, another way of languaging\u00a0kensh\u014d, is just the first step. If we get stuck there, \u201csquatting inside attainment,\u201d we will be sick through and through.\u00a0\u201cBodhisattvas of superior capacity,\u201d Hakuin writes, \u201cdwell in the dusty realm of differentiation, constantly carrying out their practice amid an infinite variety of distinctions.\u201d<\/p>\n And now we come to the heart of Hakuin\u2019s contribution to our Zen way.<\/p>\n \u201cI want you [people] to keep the ancients\u2019 practice in mind,\u201d says Hakuin in his Lotus Sutra<\/em> introduction, \u201cWhile spurring the vow-wheel on to save living beings.\u201d<\/p>\n Hakuin came this realization at age forty-two while reading the Lotus Sutra\u2019s<\/em> chapter on \u201cSkillful Means.\u201d As Waddell notes it in\u00a0Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, \u201c<\/em>In that chapter, the Buddha reveals to his disciple Shariputra the true nature of the Mahayana Bodhisattva, whose own enlightenment is but the first step in [their] career of assisting others to attain theirs.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cracking the\u00a0secret ciphers of the ancients, and then repaying our great debt of gratitude by aiding others are equal, mutually reinforcing aspects of post-kensh\u014d training. One of Hakuin\u2019s outstanding contributions to our practice is the visceral way he connects the heart of the way, the altruistic vow to save all beings, beginning with our first steps on the path, resolving to realize kensh\u014d, realizing kensh\u014d, and then working through difficult-to-pass k\u014dans in order to share awakening with others. Thus the Bodhisattva Vows, beginning with \u201cBeings are numberless; I vow to free them,\u201d are made incredibly concrete.<\/p>\n D\u014dsh\u014d Port began practicing Zen in 1977 and now co-teaches with his wife, Tetsugan Zummach Sensei, with the Vine of Obstacles: Online Support for Zen Training<\/a>, an internet-based Zen community. D\u014dsh\u014d received dharma transmission from Dainin Katagiri R\u014dshi and inka sh\u014dmei from James My\u014dun Ford R\u014dshi in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. D\u014dsh\u014d\u2019s translation and commentary on The Record of Empty Hall: One Hundred Classic Koans,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is now available (Shambhala). He is also the author\u00a0of\u00a0Keep Me In Your Heart a While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri<\/a><\/i>. Click here<\/a> to support the teaching practice of Tetsugan Sensei and\u00a0 D\u014dsh\u014d R\u014dshi.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my last post, Who Is This Hakuin Guy?, I gave some background for Hakuin Ekaku\u00a0(\u767d\u96a0 \u6167\u9db4, 1686 \u2013 1768) and the record of his teachings, the recently published\u00a0Complete Poison Blossoms from a Thicket of Thorn: The Zen Records of Hakuin Ekaku,\u00a0translated by Norman Waddell. Like most radical reformulators of the buddhadharma (e.g., Nagarjuna, Bodhidharma, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68,130,129,73,6],"class_list":["post-3983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-awakening","tag-bodhisattva-vow","tag-hakuin","tag-kensho","tag-koan"],"yoast_head":"\nThe importance of\u00a0kensh\u014d<\/h4>\n
Back to Hakuin<\/h4>\n
Post\u00a0kensh\u014d practice<\/h4>\n
Vowing to share kensh\u014d with others<\/h4>\n
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