No tiles above your head

 Everything progresses even as it stays the same. One eminent philosopher said that reality is a "constant advance into novelty" and so it is! We stay with our "selves" at our peril. 

Very much an admirer of Alan Watts and his work at the moment (along with Candy Crush Soda Saga, for which I can proudly claim to be at level 4445) He had his problems with drink but hey, we all have our problems. Fix your own.

Reading his "The Way of Zen" at the moment. This from his introduction:-

Western thought has changed so rapidly in this century that we are in a state of considerable confusion. Not only are there serious difficulties of communication between the intellectual and the general public, but the course of our thinking and of our very history has seriously undermined the common-sense assumptions which lie at the roots of our social conventions and institutions. Familiar concepts of space, time, and motion, of nature and natural law, of history and social change, and of human personality itself have dissolved, and we find ourselves adrift without landmarks in a universe which more and more resembles the Buddhist principle of the “Great Void.”

The void! Positive or negative. Some fear the void, some embrace it. 

Alan Watts then goes on to quote an old zen saying:-

Above, not a tile to cover the head; below, not an inch of ground for the foot.

He then says that such language should not actually be so unfamiliar to us, were we truly prepared to accept the meaning of “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.”

Nowhere to lay our heads! Most prefer "beliefs", even to the point of claiming that their own set the parameters of an "only way". Quite tragic. Is there an "only way" set in stone, found in a book, that can actually set us free? Gives us the "peace that passes understanding"? More often than not the peace I see in others is all too understandable! 

As Thomas Merton once said, the only way is in fact "no way at all", a "way" where we in fact become as good as lost. But - as he says again - such a way is not a way out! 

Well, I waffle. 

Related Quote:-

"Belief means not wanting to know what is true"

(Nietzsche)

Samuel Beckett

 

Here I am in McDonald's with burger and coffee prior to my stint on the tills at Oxfam. Enjoying a holiday from "heavy" books and reading a biography of Samuel Beckett, "Damned to Fame". So good. In fact it seems to do all that any "heavy" book tries to do, but by way of no-calculation, which is in fact very Becketish the more I think about it (which I try not to do......) Well, I waffle.

Some light moments in the book, a story told of an order for a pair of trousers from a Paris tailor:-

The reference to the world and the pair of trousers alludes to the story of a tailor, who takes many weeks to make a pair of trousers for a customer. The client objects that it took God only seven days to make the entire world. But, replies the tailor, ‘look at the world and look at my trousers’!

Well, it made me laugh, which doesn't come cheap.

The book is by no means hagiographic, but for me Beckett comes shining through as a fine human being. Compassionate without self-consciousness of being so, and actually reaching deep into others even when lost in his own solitude. "Nothing to be done" - yet he does it! All providing a counterpoint, perhaps more an illumination, of much of Dogen. Having immersed myself in Dogen for a while, the life and thought of Beckett is a feast of "east/west" perceptions and inter-relationships. Much insight into:-

......flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them. Conveying oneself toward all things to carry out practice-enlightenment is delusion. All things coming and carrying out practice-enlightenment through the self is realization. (Words from "Genjokoan", the "actualisation of reality")

Beckett was all against the creation of "order", of "answers", of any "system" that will inevitably stifle our spontaneous on-going life. His prose and plays are in many ways a sheer chaos. Yet:-

There's a way out there, there's a way out somewhere, the rest would come, the other words, sooner or later, and the power to get there, and the way to get there, and pass out, and see the beauties of the skies, and see the stars again. (Samuel Beckett, ninth monologue, "Texts for Nothing", as spoken by a tramp-like waif as he contemplates death)

"There's a way out", but keep quiet about it! Don't even think of it. Thomas Merton's "there is no key, no door" - don't ever think that you have the key!

Beckett could have remained safe as a neutral Irish citizen in Paris during WW2 and the German occupation. But he joined the French Resistance and narrowly avoided capture by the Gestapo. I've now reached the post-war years, when his literary creativity exploded. "Waiting for Godot" is soon to come!

 "Nothing to be done"! Creative nihilism.

The sound of the marketplace

 Poems are not ephemeral things. At best they travel heart to heart. Maybe they can also bring forth true communion, the deepest form of communication. The finger that points at the moon becomes the moon itself.

Reading the various details of Dogen's life in 13th century Japan (a time of great turmoil and social change), of his travels to China, can illuminate his poems, tie them to moments of doubt, to moments of his own illuminations, in time and space.

From Dogen's collection of poetry:-

Attaining the heart
Of the sutra,
The sounds of the
Bustling marketplace
Preach the Dharma

In my own Pure Land path of "no-calculation" the "marketplace" is the dojo (training ground), and everyone you meet is a "master". If not so, we can end up merely meeting ourselves, time and time again.

 

Moving back "west'......

James Joyce writes in "Ulysses":-

"God is a shout in the street"

From one or two commentaries on the works of James Joyce:-

Bloom (Leopold Bloom of Ulysses) is no perfect hero, but perfection is overrated. Give me a honest human being embracing their mundane humanity any day over a person striving after perfection".

Joyce does not present us with the illusion of a perfect life in this book, a life without pain and sorrow, but in all his honesty Joyce shows us that life as it is and not as we think it should be is worth saying Yes to. The sorrows and difficulties faced in Ulysses are included in Joyce’s affirmation of life, because what good would such an affirmation be if it did not include all of life?

Joyce offers a new litmus test for what we call the hero, not gigantic feats of strength, but small and simple feats of kindness.

And finally:-

An epiphany was not a miraculous dispensation from above but, as Joyce defined it, an insight into 'the soul of the commonest object'

(Kevin Birmingham, from "The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle For James Joyce's Ulysses.")

 

Simple feats and acts of kindness. So easy to miss, to become deaf and blind to. 

The Blue Cliff Record

 The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of 100 zen koans. Pretty esoteric stuff for the unwary, like myself. As well as the actual book, I also have a commentary on it, written by a couple of zen masters of yesteryear, this called "Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record".

Each koan is called a case, and I have after quite a few years reached case 70 or so. I have to admit that most of the secrets the Blue Cliff Record holds remain secrets, at least to me. Which can be fairly disappointing, but then again, as Dogen says, "Where we do not understand, there is our understanding." Which takes a bit of understanding, but I think I'm getting there.

So many seem to understand, presuming that they have it sussed. Not just zen koans, but anything else you care to mention. The meaning of life, the one true way, is there a God. You name it, they have the requisite understanding.

But there is a rich potential in not knowing, in not understanding. I think that when we have it all sussed then we basically imprint our little selves and its concepts and its answers onto each and everything we see, read or touch. We can end up living in an echo chamber, hearing and seeing ourselves coming back at us - all of course commended by whatever God we believe in, who nods and says "Well done, your reward is waiting in the next life, my good and faithful servant." Well, maybe it is, but I seriously doubt it.

Anyway, I waffle. Here is a tiny excerpt from one of the Blue Cliff Record's many cases:-

One letter, seven letters, three or five letters, Investigating ten thousand things that are devoid of substance. In the depth of night, the bright moon sets on the dark sea— Seeking a single dragon’s jewel, I find one gem after another.

Good stuff, hey?

I'll leave that one with you.

If you cannot afford the very high prices that such books cost then I would recommend a little tome which brings the Blue Cliff Record into the 21st Century (where it was before I wouldn't like to say) with a very upbeat commentary. It is by an Irish guy, Terrance Keenan, and includes some very good abstract art that illuminates the text.

One "case" in Mr Keenan's book touches upon the ramblings found above. "Emperor Wu asks Bodhidharma".

Emperor Wu asked Bodhidharma, “What is the first principle of the holy teaching?” Bodhidharma said, “Vast emptiness. Nothing holy therein.” Then he asked, “Who is this before me?” And Bodhidharma replied, “No knowing.” The emperor did not grasp his meaning. Thereupon Bodhidharma crossed the river to another kingdom.

Again, make of that what you will. I'm sure that some text driven worthies, knowing nothing of the Living Word would soon be able to turn it into a New Religion and therefore, very soon, the Inquistion would follow, with the "true" followers and the heretics.

Bodhidharma was the first Buddhist missionary to China. He went to see the emperor, who boasted to him of all his good deeds. "What merit have I earned" he asked Bodhidharma. "None at all" was the answer. I'm sure many Christians here would concur, with their "faith/grace, not works" mantras.

Anyway, whatever, the sad thing about this story is that after Bodhidharma had moved on (possibly to stare at a wall for nine years) the Emperor became desperate to call him back, to have a few more words. But alas, no. There was no second chance.

Is there any moral to this story? Well, I've always loved the line from the late great Robbie Robertson song "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down":-

Just take what you need and leave the rest

What do you take from the story? Always remembering the very next line:-

But they should never have taken the very best

How do we ever really know what to take? That it is the best? Just thinking about all that I have written here, it is a good question. And really has no answer.

I think Faith and belief are two totally different things. I think that this is the lesson here, at least for me. Faith lets go, while belief clings. I think we can feel "justified" by believing things. But that is not Grace.

Well, it's New Years Eve and I'm in MacDonald's with a coffee and a chocolate milkshake. Really busy. Just to finish, another few words from Terrance Keenan's little book (very cheap on Kindle)

Joshu spoke to the assembly, saying, “The real Way is not difficult. Just avoid choices and becoming attached. A single word can induce choice or attachment. A single word can bring clarity. I do not have that clarity.”

A monk asked, “If you do not have that clarity, what do you appreciate?” Joshu replied, “I do not know that either.” “If you don’t know, how can you say you don’t have that clarity?” Joshu replied, “Asking the question was good enough. Now go.”

Saigyo’s comment:-

In the old city
at the head of Grafton Street
a busker plays his fiddle.
First Brahms, then Bach
and a little Paganini for fun.
Fingers run up and down strings.
Is it the vibrating air,
his skill, or the old melodies
that bring tears to my eyes?
Tell me, I need to know.

Do we need to know, or do we simply need to listen?

Meister Eckhart:-

Love has no why

The end of suffering?

 Often the Buddha is recorded as saying that he taught "this and this alone, suffering and the end of suffering." He was silent on virtually all the metaphysical questions - the so called "silence of the Buddha". We all want answers, but you don't really get them in the Dharma. We have to find our own answers - even sometimes our very own questions. As I see it, most will simply answer the questions set by their own conditioning and indoctrination, and "believe" some answers - and make their peace. Is this the peace that passes understanding that the Bible speaks of?

Way back I asked on Buddhist Forums:- "In what sense does suffering end"? I posted a small excerpt from a lapsed Buddhist (I think of the Tibetan variety) and he had spoken of the death of his mother, of how her death had left him with grief and a huge hole in his life. He said that he didn't want that hole filled with some "pseudo evolved transcendence of personal pain". He didn't even want the hole filled at all. At the time my own mum was sliding down into dementia and his words caught my heart.

Well, from what I remember there were lots of answers. 100 Buddhists, 100 answers. Which has some sort of message - but I'm not sure what.....

Well, that was long ago and I have walked the path for quite some time. More a stumble than a strut - I'm fairly vulnerable. But as I see it, or have come to see it, most "answers" simply postpone the whole question to some other life, betraying this world for some perceived "other" beyond the grave, where rewards and compensations are handed out to the "elect" while the suffering is actually said to continue perpetually for many - if not for most.

How does suffering end?

There is a zen koan:-

A clearly enlightened person falls into the well. How is this so?

Thomas Merton once wrote:-

We stumble and fall constantly, even when we are most enlightened.


As for Dogen:-

One big mistake! There really is wisdom there.

In the end we always come back to where we started, yet always know it for the first time. If it is not the first time then we are caught in the past, in suffering.

So what is the point?

We must find our own point. A zen guy Pai-chang wrote:-

The graduations of the language of the teachings—haughty, relaxed, rising, descending—are not the same. What are called desire and aversion when one is not yet enlightened or liberated are called enlightened wisdom after enlightenment. That is why it is said, “One is not different from who one used to be; only one’s course of action is different from before.”

Only one's course of action is different from before.

I think compassion for others can grow. In this the difference between samsara and nirvana can evaporate. It is the answer of the Buddha when he was asked why he continued to practice and meditate even though enlightened. He answered:-

Out of compassion for the world

"Love has no why" Meister Eckhart. No answers. No why.

"Uji" - Being/Time

 

The Christmas festivities over I find myself back in MacDonald's with a large white coffee. A little taste of paradise believe it or not.

I spoke of turning to Dogen and his writings elsewhere and that remains the plan, but as said we can set the sails but must always wait for heaven's will. Dogen's actual writings are very dense, sometimes impenetrable, at least to me. And judging by the way different commentators see different things, well......what can you say?

What Dogen himself said was "where you do not understand, there is your understanding." And given that he also said that "we are what we understand", you might begin to see the problem! 

Well, before I leap deeply into his Shōbōgenzō, "The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye" , I am reading a novel by Ruth Odeki called "A Tale For the Time Being". The title is a slight play on words of one of Dogen's essays/sermons, called "Uji" which means Being/Time. Time is being and being is time. Which when you throw in the idea that time is only the "visible" part of eternity, then you have much to ponder - if you like that sort of thing.

Some don't. They are what they understand. They are satisfied with that, and perhaps like to call it "all truth", but no matter.

The book by Ruth Odeki is very good. You realise as you read that the deep subtleties of Dogen's view of time is being presented, yet in story form, simply.

Part of the story - it has many sides - is of a young Japanese student who gets called up by the army in WW2. And is trained to become a kamikaze pilot. The first thing he is taught though is how to use his rifle to kill himself. He laughs when he gets his call up papers, simply at the thought of himself as a warrior. He is the peaceful sort.

Finally his mother receives his remains in a box sent by the Government, this after his kamikaze death dive. The box is of course empty (except for a few banal words from the Government)

The emptiness of the box is pregnant with meaning, certainly if you are a Dharma follower. The emptiness holds all that the young man was in and through time. In a very deep way, he still lives. His love, his hopes, his dreams.

His mother, after receiving the box becomes a Buddhist nun. As an 103 year old she guides another young person, a girl, in ways that again explicate some of Dogen's teachings.

The portions of the book written by this young girl are often the highlight. Very funny at times. Very candid. There is no soft sell.

Well, my coffee is getting cold.