Koans and other things

 One verse from the Theravada scriptures has been a constant companion, even as I drifted away into Mahayana.

So this holy life does not have gain, honour, and renown for its benefit, or the attainment of virtue for its benefit, or the attainment of concentration for its benefit, or knowledge and vision for its benefit. But it is this unshakeable deliverance of mind that is the goal of this holy life, its heartwood, and its end.

No mention of the end of suffering which features so much in other texts. Just "unshakeable deliverance of mind". Sometimes I think that this concentration on "ending suffering" can send me - and has sent me - down false paths, especially as "suffering" is simply the usual translation of the Pali dukkha which has far wider and deeper connotations.

Way back on another Forum, when I was much newer to Buddhism I read this book by a lapsed Tibetan Buddhist. He spoke of the death of his mother and how her death had left a hole in his heart that could never be filled. "And" he said "I do not even want it to be filled." He spoke of his fond memories of her and then said that he never wished to relieve such personal anguish in "some pseudo evolved transcendence of personal pain."

I asked on the forum:- "In what sense does suffering end?" and - as is the case on Buddhist forums - got a large variety of answers! Me, I have continued to ask the question, never wanting to betray the realities of this world, either by conceptual mumbo jumbo or by positing some existence beyond the grave where some sort of consolation/recompense is promised.

Which I suppose brings me to koans, that seek to get our mind/hearts beyond "pseudo evolved" anything and leave us instead truly alive, living truth, not "believing" it or "thinking" it.

D T Suzuki wrote, in his essay "The Buddhist Conception of Reality":-

The intellect looks outward, taking an objective view........it is unable to look inwardly so as to grasp the thing in its inwardness.........the unifying principle lies inside and not outside. It is not something we arrive at; it is where we start. It is not the outcome of postulation; it is what makes postulation possible (Without unification, division is not possible)


I'd quibble now about "inside" and "outside" but Suzuki is often a good guide. As well as zen he was well into Shin Buddhism (Pure Land) having had a Shin Buddhist mother. But whatever, when we truly "grasp" a thing we are it. Much like the old Christian fundamentalist taunt/joke, "did you hear about the man who missed out on heaven by 12 inches? He believed with his head but not with his heart." Much like it, but not quite.....

Koans seek to shake us out of our conceptual mind. In Pure Land Buddhism some see Amida as "up there" or "out to the West". He/she will come at death to take us to the Pure Land. Others see Amida as a personification of Reality-as-is and the Pure Land is here, now when known and lived with new eyes, a transformed mind/heart. The same point is made by a guy speaking of Tibetan prayers:-

...... whether, as Buddhists, we conceive that we are praying to enlightened beings who are imagined to be out there somewhere, or whether we see our prayers as simply a skillful means to connect with the Buddha Nature that is the ground and ultimate state of our own being, really makes no difference. Either view, being conceptual, is simply provisional, and indicative. Our efforts will bear fruit, no matter which concept fits our minds better.

Everything is provisional, conceptual until "enlightenment". Myself, I don't really think much about enlightenment. I like the advice of Ajahn Chan...

Do not worry about enlightenment. When growing a tree, you plant it, water it, fertilize it, keep the bugs away; and if these things are done properly, the tree will naturally grow. How quickly it grows, however, is something you cannot control.

"Keeping the bugs away"!

Well, not much said about koans. Instead of finishing with a couple, I'll post instead a couple of zen sayings..

With no bird singing

The mountain is yet more still.



Ride your horse along the edge of the sword
Hide yourself in the middle of the flames
Blossoms of the fruit tree will bloom in the fire
The sun rises in the evening.

Well, OK, a koan...  "What is the sound of one hand clapping"

Don't lose sleep......