Nothing Exists
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Nothing Exists
Love this koan!
Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.
Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no relaization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"
Gosho
Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.
Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no relaization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."
Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.
"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"
Gosho
Re: Nothing Exists
Immediate grounds for an assault lawsuit....nowadays
Re: Nothing Exists
Platform Sutra, chapter 9 (tr McRae, BDK edition, p 77-78):
Shenhui said, “Nonabiding is the fundamental, and seeing is the master.”
The master said, “What will this novice say next!”
Shenhui then asked, “When Your Reverence sits in meditation, does he see or not?”
The master struck Shenhui with his staff three times and said, “When I hit you, does it hurt or not?”
[Shenhui] answered, “It both hurts and does not hurt.”
The master said, “I also see and do not see.”
Shenhui asked, “What is this seeing and also not seeing?”
The master said, “My seeing is to see constantly my own mind’s errors. I do not see other people’s right and wrong or good and evil. This is to see and also not to see. You said it hurts and does not hurt. How about this? If you do not hurt, then you’re the same as a tree or rock. If you hurt, then you’re the same as an ordinary [unenlightened] person, who would become resentful.When you just said ‘seeing and also not seeing’ [you thought] they were two extremes, and your ‘hurts and does not hurt’ were [your misconception of] birth and death. But you don’t see your self-nature, so you’re just playing around.”
Shenhui bowed in gratitude.
Shenhui said, “Nonabiding is the fundamental, and seeing is the master.”
The master said, “What will this novice say next!”
Shenhui then asked, “When Your Reverence sits in meditation, does he see or not?”
The master struck Shenhui with his staff three times and said, “When I hit you, does it hurt or not?”
[Shenhui] answered, “It both hurts and does not hurt.”
The master said, “I also see and do not see.”
Shenhui asked, “What is this seeing and also not seeing?”
The master said, “My seeing is to see constantly my own mind’s errors. I do not see other people’s right and wrong or good and evil. This is to see and also not to see. You said it hurts and does not hurt. How about this? If you do not hurt, then you’re the same as a tree or rock. If you hurt, then you’re the same as an ordinary [unenlightened] person, who would become resentful.When you just said ‘seeing and also not seeing’ [you thought] they were two extremes, and your ‘hurts and does not hurt’ were [your misconception of] birth and death. But you don’t see your self-nature, so you’re just playing around.”
Shenhui bowed in gratitude.
1 Myriad dharmas are only mind.
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?
2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.
3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.
4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.
1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
Mind is unobtainable.
What is there to seek?
2 If the Buddha-Nature is seen,
there will be no seeing of a nature in any thing.
3 Neither cultivation nor seated meditation —
this is the pure Chan of Tathagata.
4 With sudden enlightenment to Tathagata Chan,
the six paramitas and myriad means
are complete within that essence.
1 Huangbo, T2012Ap381c1 2 Nirvana Sutra, T374p521b3; tr. Yamamoto 3 Mazu, X1321p3b23; tr. J. Jia 4 Yongjia, T2014p395c14; tr. from "The Sword of Wisdom"
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- Posts: 13
- Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 6:51 pm
Re: Nothing Exists
Interesting you mentioned this but there is a guy whos treatment for all sorts of ilness is hiting people with sticks.oushi wrote:Immediate remedy for a serious illness.
Re: Nothing Exists
DharmaWheel Should invest in buying sticks for our moderators. I can see them being used alot.
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Re: Nothing Exists
Definitely. They need to play catch up with the rest of the forum members who use their sticks incessantly...Jesse wrote:DharmaWheel Should invest in buying sticks for our moderators. I can see them being used alot.
Re: Nothing Exists
Poor Elephant.
Thus shall ye think of all this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream;
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.
Re: Nothing Exists
Ha I think it's a horse, it's supposed to be at least.Jesse wrote:Poor Elephant.
Re: Nothing Exists
good lesson, Astus, thank you.Astus wrote:Platform Sutra, chapter 9 (tr McRae, BDK edition, p 77-78):
Shenhui said, “Nonabiding is the fundamental, and seeing is the master.”
The master said, “What will this novice say next!”
Shenhui then asked, “When Your Reverence sits in meditation, does he see or not?”
The master struck Shenhui with his staff three times and said, “When I hit you, does it hurt or not?”
[Shenhui] answered, “It both hurts and does not hurt.”
The master said, “I also see and do not see.”
Shenhui asked, “What is this seeing and also not seeing?”
The master said, “My seeing is to see constantly my own mind’s errors. I do not see other people’s right and wrong or good and evil. This is to see and also not to see. You said it hurts and does not hurt. How about this? If you do not hurt, then you’re the same as a tree or rock. If you hurt, then you’re the same as an ordinary [unenlightened] person, who would become resentful.When you just said ‘seeing and also not seeing’ [you thought] they were two extremes, and your ‘hurts and does not hurt’ were [your misconception of] birth and death. But you don’t see your self-nature, so you’re just playing around.”
Shenhui bowed in gratitude.