 |
Sankon
Zazen Setsu:
Three Kinds of Zen Practitioners
by
Keizan zenji (1268-1325)
translated by Yasuda Joshu Dainen roshi
and Anzan Hoshin roshi
(excerpted from the Treasury of Luminosity)
The person whose zazen is of the most
profound type has no interest in how the Buddhas might appear in this present world. Such
a one doesnt speculate about the truths which cannot even be transmitted by the
Buddhas and Ancestors. She doesnt have any doctrine about "all things being the
expression of the self" because she is beyond "enlightenment" and
"delusion". Since his views never fall into dualistic angles, nothing obstructs
him, even when distinctions appear. She just eats when she is hungry. He just sleeps when
he is tired.
The person whose zazen is of a medium type abandons everything and cuts all ties.
Throughout the day she is never idle and so every moment of life, every breath, is
practice of the Dharma. Or else he might concentrate on a koan, eyes fixed, his view in
one place such as the tip of the nose. Considerations of life and death, going and
staying, are not seen on her face. The mind of discrimination can never see into the
deepest unchanging truth, nor can it understand the Buddhamind. Since there is no
dualistic thoughts, he is enlightened. From the far past up to right now, wisdom is always
brillliant, clear, shining. The whole universe throughout the ten directions is
illuminated suddenly from her brow, all things are seen in detail within her body.
The person whose zazen is just ordinary views all things from all sides and frees herself
from good and bad conditions. The mind naturally expresses the Actual Nature of all the
Buddhas because Buddha stands right where your own feet are. Thus wrong action does not
arise. The hands are held in Reality mudra and do not hold onto any scriptures. The mouth
is tightly closed, as if the lips were sealed, and no word of doctrine is spoken. The eyes
are neither wide open nor shut. Nothing is ever seen from the point of view of
fragmentation and good and evil words are left unheard. The nose doesnt choose one
smell as good, another as bad. The body is not propped up and all delusion is ended. Since
delusion does not disturb the mind, neither sorrow nor glee appear. Just like a wooden
carving of the Buddha, both the substance and the form are true. Worldly thoughts might
arise but they do not disturb because the mind is a bright mirror with no trace of
shadows.
The Precepts arise naturally from zazen whether they are the five, eight, the Great
Bodhisattva Precepts, the monastic Precepts, the three thousand rules of deportment, the
eighty thousand Teachings, or the supreme Dharma of the Buddhas and Awakened Ancestors. No
practice whatsover can be measured against zazen.
Should only one merit be gained from the practice of zazen, it is vaster than the
construction of a hundred, a thousand or a limitless number of monasteries. Practice shikan-taza,
just sitting ceaselessly. Doing so we are liberated from birth and death and realise our
own hidden Buddhanature.
In perfect ease go, stay, sit and lie down. Seeing, hearing, understanding and knowing are
all the natural display of the Actual Nature. From first to last, mind is mind, beyond any
arguments about knowledge and ignorance. Just do zazen with all of who and what you are.
Never stray from it or lose it.
 
© 1999-2000
White Wind Zen Community. All rights reserved.
|
|