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<\/a><\/p>\nThis post continues working with the fire boy koan that\u2019s been hot these past several days around Transforming Through Play.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>This koan is long and rich so that it collapses the whole spiritual journey into a moment \u2013 setting out on the road, an unrequited opportunity, years spent wandering that turn out to have been the straightest path, and finally, resolution.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Dogen uses this koan to make three points: 1. Getting stuck in an idea of the buddhadharma (like \u201cmind itself is Buddha\u201d or the contemporary offshoot, \u201czazen is itself enlightenment\u201d) is at best half-baked; 2. The buddhadharma is studied by giving up the view that discriminates between self and other (so we can\u2019t do it alone, as the master and disciple in the following interaction demonstrate); and 3. The vitality of wholeheartedly engaging the Way (as is demonstrated by both the master and disciple).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In what follows, the koan is in italics and my explanatory comments are in normal font.<\/span><\/p>\n Zen Master Xuanze had affinity with Fayan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He was a lucky boy to find a teacher with whom he had affinity. This is mysterious and wondrous. And requires work. \u201cLove isn\u2019t something we have, it\u2019s something we do,\u201d says a country tune I love.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I remember when Jakusho Kwong-roshi, a disciple of Suzuki-roshi, visited Minnesota Zen Center in about 1983, over ten years after his master had died. He looked around the group and then quietly encouraged us to really<\/span> appreciate studying with our teacher while he was alive. \u201cI didn\u2019t do it \u2026 (long pause and a long look at us) \u2026 and maybe you won\u2019t either. Sometimes a teacher has to die to really be appreciated,\u201d he said. His words penetrated my heart and are one cause for my writing\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Keep Me In Your Heart A While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Once Xuanze was appointed as director in the assembly of Fayan.\u00a0\u00a0One day Fayan said, \u201cHow many years have you been here?\u201d Xuanze replied, \u201cI have already been in the teacher\u2019s assembly for three years.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Fayan said, \u201cYou are a student, so why don\u2019t you ever ask me about Dharma?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Despite Xuanze\u2019s not coming forward and revealing his heart, Fayan gives him the highest praise, \u201cYou are a student.\u201d Fayan knew Xuanze better than Xuanze. This is real intimacy \u2013 seeing past the transgression of the moment and instead appreciating the flow of conditions, the ripening of affinity.<\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze said, \u201cI dare not deceive the teacher.\u00a0\u00a0When I was at Qingfeng\u2019s place, I realized peace and joy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere is no such state as enlightened retirement,\u201d say Feldman and Kornfield in\u00a0Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart<\/span>\u00a0that appeared as\u00a0Tricycle\u2019s Daily Dharma<\/span>\u00a0a couple days ago (thanks, G).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Maybe Xuanze had some dry insight, some understanding of buddhadharma that did ease his weary mind \u2026 but he had not yet felt fire.<\/span><\/p>\n Fayan asked, \u201cThrough which words were you able to enter?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Entry through words? Much is said in contemporary Zen that disparages words and ideas so it might be a surprise to find an ancient master assuming that his disciple\u2019s entry into the inconceivable was through words. Words and ideas are not the enemy.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In dokusan I might ask, \u201cWhat is it that is entered into through words?\u201d If someone remarked, \u201cBeyond words,\u201d I\u2019d respond, \u201cYou are an escapist transcendentalist!\u201d And if the student ended the interview and fled, I\u2019d call after them, \u201cWords are not dirty. Words are not a means to an end.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze responded, \u201cI once asked Qingfeng, \u2018What is the self of the student?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0Qingfeng said, \u2018The fire boy comes seeking fire.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cfire boy\u201d was the person in the monastery that went around lighting the lamps, carrying fire, seeking fire. Maybe the fire boy happened to pass by just as the interaction unfolded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze has the moxi to raise the most intimate matter. \u201cWhat is the self?\u201d Are you such a person?<\/span><\/p>\n Fayan said, \u201cGood words, only I am afraid that you did not understand them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n How did Fayan know that Xuanze did not understand? A Zen priest recently said to me, \u201cIf he had understood, he couldn\u2019t have gone three years without raising a question.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze said, \u201cThe fire boy belongs to fire.\u00a0\u00a0Already fire but still seeking fire is just like being self and still seeking self.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There is no mojo in this understanding, only dead words that don\u2019t open the way.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Fayan exclaimed, \u201cNow I really know that you do not understand.\u00a0\u00a0If Buddha Dharma was like that it would not have lasted till today.\u201d Xuanze was overwrought and jumped up.\u00a0Out on the path he thought, \u201cHe is the guiding teacher of five hundred people.\u00a0\u00a0His pointing out my error must have some good reason.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze takes the matter so much to heart that he really gets pissed\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0he is able to turn on a dime and come back home.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n He returned to Fayan\u2019s place and did prostrations in repentance. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Radical responsibility:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll the karma ever created by me since of old<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Fayan said, \u201cYou should ask the question.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Fayan is in teacher stalker mode. He only seems to have been passive for these three years. Actually, he\u2019s been setting up the situation with loving attention. Now the conditions are ripe and the surprise party can begin.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Xuanze asked, \u201cWhat is the self of the student?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cself\u201d he\u2019s asking about is the sense of subjectivity itself. Studying this is to study the Buddha way.<\/span><\/p>\n Fayan said, \u201cThe fire boy comes seeking fire.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Xuanze was greatly enlightened.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Previously Xuanze had some dry insight. Now only great enlightenment gushes. Do you care enough about this one wild and precious life that you must know this deeply\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>yourself? What did he see that was his great enlightenment?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This post continues working with the fire boy koan that\u2019s been hot these past several days around Transforming Through Play.\u00a0\u00a0This koan is long and rich so that it collapses the whole spiritual journey into a moment \u2013 setting out on the road, an unrequited opportunity, years spent wandering that turn out to have been the […]<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n