{"id":4026,"date":"2018-01-15T12:42:52","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T18:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=4026"},"modified":"2023-12-04T10:14:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T16:14:37","slug":"wump-there-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2018\/01\/wump-there-it-is.html","title":{"rendered":"Wump – There It Is"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Edit<\/p>\n

Kuang-hui asked Nan-yuan, \u201cWhat about before the wooden fish wumps?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the sky, not seeing it,\u201d replied Nan-yuan.
\n\u201cWhat about after the wooden fish wumps?\u201d asked Kuang-hui.
\n\u201cLooking at the ground, not seeing it,\u201d said Nan-yuan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Great dharma<\/a> presentation! \u201cBefore\u201d and \u201cafter\u201d and even \u201cnow\u201d are non locatable. They exist only in words and ideas. What about it? Looking up and down, the wooden fish just goes \u201cwump!\u201d<\/p>\n

This k\u014dan is indirectly referenced by Hakuin in Complete Poison Blossoms in a Thicket of Thorn,<\/em> \u201c47. Instructions to the Assembly Thanking Mr. Noda for Donating a Wooden Fish.\u201d The event prompting the teaching was this Noda-san donating a wooden fish drum, a mokugy\u014d, to Sh\u014dinji. Hakuin seizes the day to instruct the monks and thank Noda-san.<\/p>\n

In this post, a few points and a couple links.<\/p>\n

One striking point, wump #1, is how Hakuin embraced the folksie mythology of his time and peppers it with k\u014dan points. Hakuin begins by telling a fish story about an evil priest who didn\u2019t listen to his teacher (caution!), so was reborn as a fish with a tree growing out of his back (ouch!), but then repents and is transformed (phew!). The former evil priest then donates the wood from the tree that had grown out of his back to the temple. The teacher has it made into the first mokugyo, very literally a fish drum.<\/p>\n

Hakuin, in his inimitable style, describes it as as fish with \u201c\u2026two heads with a wonderful gem held between their two mouths; its entire body was like an enormous throat, enabling it to pour forth an endless stream of noxious fumes that spread over vast areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those noxious fumes, wump #2, accompany our stinky practice and are the barriers to the dharma through which we enter the great way.<\/p>\n

Hakuin continues with wump #3, \u201cThe wooden fish \u2026 its deep voice resonating like heavy thunder \u2026 All the ancestors felt its steel fangs and razor teeth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This wumping continued through the ages from ancient India through China and Japan.\u00a0Huineng wrote his poem on the wall while the wooden fish wumped;\u00a0<\/span>Shitou sat quietly above the rock while the wooden fish wumped; Juzhi held up one finger\u00a0while the wooden fish wumped;\u00a0<\/span>Dongshan inquired about the true likeness of his teacher while the wooden fish wumped;\u00a0<\/span>Rujing hit a sleeping monk with a slipper and D\u014dgen dropped off bodymind while the wooden fish wumped;\u00a0<\/span>Gesshu S\u014dku was engrossed in mu and the outhouse door blew open\u00a0while the wooden fish wumped;\u00a0<\/span>Hakuin heard the sound of the distant temple bell; and\u00a0<\/span>Katagiri Roshi remember how stupid he was\u00a0while the wooden fish wumped.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, many thousands of others, whose names are left unsung, from all five lines of Zen, from all walks of lives, lived their lives of waking up and living accordingly while the wooden fish wumped. And now that wumping is happening right here.<\/p>\n

Certainly, the wooden fish, Hakuin continues, \u201c\u2026kept tune with Zen master Kuang-hui,\u201d the practitioner in the wumping k\u014dan I started this post with, \u201crobbing monks of their knowing and seeing. It blocked off the gates of enlightenment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So what about before and after?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place of vital importance that is completely untouched by either [before or after]?\u201d said Hakuin, \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s gotta be wump #4 \u2013 wump, wump, wump, wump.<\/p>\n

Hakuin, though, wasn\u2019t done. He wanted to mess with us and have just a bit fun. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust now,\u201d he said, \u201cI wrestled this mokugyo to the floor and whispered into its ear, \u2018I have a dharani \u2014 four five-character lines \u2014 that I want to dedicate to valiant Zen students throughout the universe. All who hear it will resolve steadfastly to attain the Way and be blessed with the fortune of life beyond [before and after].\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism<\/em>, says this about \u201cdharani:\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Sanskrit, \u2018mnemonic device,\u2019 \u2018code.\u2019 The term is derived etymologically from the Sanskrit root \u221a dh\u1e5b (\u2018to hold\u2019 or \u2018to maintain\u2019), thus suggesting something that supports, holds, or retains; hence, a verbal formula believed to \u2018retain\u2019 or \u2018encapsulate\u2019 the meaning of lengthier texts and prolix doctrines, thus functioning as a mnemonic device.\u201d And that there are four types: \u201c(1) teachings (DHARMA), (2) meaning (ARTHA), (3) spells (MANTRA), and (4) acquiescence (K\u1e62\u0100NTI).\u201d<\/p>\n

What was Hakuin\u2019s dharani?<\/p>\n

Poku, poku, poku, poku, poku.
\nPoku, poku, poku, poku, poku.
\nPoku, poku, poku, poku, poku.
\nPoku, poku, poku, poku, poku.<\/p>\n

The translator and annotator, Waddell, notes, \u201cLarger-sized mokugyo make a deep resonant sound \u2014 \u2018wump, wump\u201d \u2014 when struck. Hakuin\u2019s use of the onomatopoeic word \u201cpoku\u201d suggests he was beating a smaller variety. The Chinese character for poku can refer to a loud din as well as to the attainment of selflessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

In any case, poku or wump, it\u2019s really, \u201cWump.\u201d<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t forget the early nineties deep dharma teaching of Tag Team (thanks, Steve, for this). There it is:<\/p>\n