(Follow this link to see the December 2022 Priory Newsletter where this was recently published.)

Winter is on the way!

The other day, I was listening to a recent interview with the Dalai Lama and he was asked whether he had any regrets at this point, late in his life. He said that he did not and that for many decades, he had not made any serious mistakes. He said that he relied upon what he called Buddhist logic and investigation and, interestingly, he said he had deities that he could ask for help. While I am not fond of the word deity to describe it, it cheered me up that he had a sense for and went for help to the unseen assistance in his life.

In the Zen tradition, there is an ongoing discussion, or deliberate avoidance of a discussion, about what is variously called Buddha Nature, the Awakened Mind, the Unborn Buddha Mind or “our Original Face before we were born.” While there are many names for it, this Buddha Mind within us is a source of assistance for us in our lives if we will ask for and listen to its offerings.

But it is slippery. Or, rather, we make the approach to it slippery. One way or another, we Zen people talk about it quite a lot (whole books are written and compiled about it) but the writing and talk will only go so far: we have to go to It, as it were, in order for It to help us. And we have to go to It with open hands; we have to go to it in humility and modesty. Sometimes Zen teachers avoid talking about this because our minds have such a strong tendency to hold onto our memory of ideas and opinions and discussions (especially about this). By holding on – to ideas, opinions, theories and descriptions – we cover up the very thing that we are looking for.

In general, if we act on greed, hatred or delusion, we will cover up and obscure our ability to hear our own True Self. It is excellent to work toward converting those habits of greed, hate and delusion. It is also true, however, that we can obscure the True Mind within by getting all caught up in our ideas about and efforts to become perfect. The effort toward becoming perfect and the discrimination around that is one aspect of delusion.  So, we point toward sitting meditation and the mind of letting go. The practice of sitting meditation (letting go) together with the precepts is what will help us clarify or own True Mind.

To find this True Mind within, we must be very determined. Because It is too big for our thinking mind to encompass, because we can’t find a “thing” to hold onto when we approach It, the small self, which is comforted by thinking that some things are concrete and stable, becomes frightened. Because there are a few things that we like, and we like to think are stable and long lasting, the prospect of letting them go in order to enter the place of the True Mind, does not seem appealing to us. It is only our determination to turn toward the Unseen, our determination to let go of even the things that we like and find helpful, that will help us come to fully understand the great value and unbelievable profundity of our True Mind.

In his work The Denkoroku, Keizan refers often to this True Mind and at one point, he refers obliquely to It as the “important matter for which we train.” Keizan quotes from a story of an old Chinese Zen master who says “[hellish states of suffering are] not what is real suffering; to turn to THAT which is beneath this kesa and not see IT clearly, that is the greatest suffering.” To look within and not be able detect the signal, the voice, as it were, of our own True Self because of all the noise of the clouds of the small self is sad, isn’t it?

There is an image from Dogen’s Rules For Meditation where he says “If you become thus utterly free you will be as the water wherein the dragon dwells or as the mountain whereon the tiger roams.” To become utterly free is to know our True self. In this case, Dogen refers to the True Self as the Dragon and the Tiger but notice that we don’t become the Dragon or the Tiger we become as the mountain or the water. In other words, to come to awaken to the True Self is a state of perfect humility. We let go of the small self and in doing this, we get out of the way so that our True self can do what it needs to do. When we look at this from the perspective of the small self, this can seem pretty frightening, but it is where liberation lies. Later in this work, Dogen reassures that living from the True Self is not something strange or exotic by saying “to live in this way is the same as to live an ordinary daily life.”

I imagine that the Dalai Lama has a pretty clear sense of his own Buddha Nature and still, he regularly gives expression to this sense of humility: he applies his practice – Buddhist logic and investigation – and he asks the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (the deities) for help. For us, who may or may not know our own True Self, we can do what he does by being guided by practice and turning within to ask for the help of our True Self. And we can listen carefully within to hear what may be offered. The humility is essential at all stages of practice, since we can easily be fooled by the clouds of self that live within ourselves. We are guided toward making few “serious mistakes” by taking responsibility for our choices and keeping to and being guided by the precepts.

Here is section of a Sutra called the Scripture of the Buddha’s Last Teaching which was said to be delivered by the Buddha on his death-bed. This section emphasizes realization (of our Buddha Nature which is also ferrying ourselves to the Other Shore), the defiling passions (the clouds of self which are caused by acting on greed, hatred and delusion), the precepts, and modesty or humility. While this passage, and the whole sutra, is addressed to the monks, I think it can easily be addressed to all of us!

O you monks, during the daytime practice the good Teachings with a diligent heart for there is no time to lose; the early evening and early morning should not be wasted. If you recite the Scriptures in the middle of the night, expend your breath by yourself; do not doze off and let your eyes close lest you allow your whole life to pass in vain without realization. Be mindful that the fires of impermanence incinerate all worlds so be quick in seeking to ferry yourself to the Other Shore and do not doze off, letting your eyes indeed close. The de­filing passions rob, continuously waylay and slay peo­ple; they are far worse than a household filled with re­­sentful people. How can you afford to doze off? You must arouse yourself and waken from your slumber; a defiling passion is a poisonous serpent asleep in your heart; it is like having a black viper in your room whilst you sleep. You must quickly snare this serpent by ­keeping to the Precepts, drive it off and remove it from your room; once the somnolent serpent has ­departed, you can sleep peacefully and in safety. If it does not depart and you close your eyes to it, you are the same as a person who lacks true modesty, that is you will lack awareness of your susceptibilities and ­remorse for your shortcomings, for, of all things ­splen­drous, modesty is foremost; it is as a cast-iron re­straint which can ­restrain others without recourse to any other thing. O monks, you should always act with a modest heart without neglecting it even for a short while; if you ­separate yourself from your feelings of modesty then you lose merit and virtue. When there are people who are modest then there will be good Teaching; if people lack modesty, there is no differ­ence ­between them and birds or beasts.

DENKOROKU: The Record of theTransmission of the Light by Zen Master Keizan Jokin, Translator Reverend Hubert Nearman, OBC Shasta Abbey Press, Mount Shasta, California 2003 ISBN: 0-930066-22-7

The following sections are available for individual download:

Denkoroku    pp.i-iii

Denkoroku    pp.iv-xx

Denkoroku   pp.1-98

Denkoroku   pp.99-225

Denkoroku   pp.226-308

Rules For Meditation was written by Zen Master Eihei Dogen and translated by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett. It can be found in:

The Liturgy of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives for the laity. 1987, Shasta Abbey Press

The Scripture of the Buddha’s Last Teachings is found in:

BUDDHIST WRITINGS ON MEDITATION AND DAILY PRACTICE: The Serene Reflection Meditation Tradition. Translator Reverend Hubert Nearman, OBC Shasta Abbey, Mount Shasta, California 1994 ISBN: 0-930066-15-4. It currently may be found through used bookstores or online. Download the ebook here.