#baizhang

[cobotis]

Just detach from all sound and form, and do not dwell in detachment, And do not dwell in intellectual understanding, This is practice...

Baizhang

[unleashyourbuddhanature]

Wild Fox Koan (podcast)

Wild Fox Koan (podcast)

Daniel and Alicia talk about Baizhang and the Wild Fox.  I invited my soon-to-be wife Alicia Marley onto the podcast again to talk about the second koan from the Gateless Barrier Collection. This is an odd koan with some magical things going on and the lesson might be a little hard to find.  Our conversation ended up taking us pretty far afield from talking about the koan and we ended up asking…

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[unleashyourbuddhanature]

Bai Zhang's 12 Meditation Steps

Bai Zhang’s 12 Meditation Steps

“Do not give rise to good and bad thoughts. When a thought arises-–-be aware of it-–-awareness dissolves the thought. When this method is applied over a long period of time—all thoughts are forgotten and oneness is attained.” -Bai Zhang Zuo Ch’an Yi, The Seated Meditation Regulation text, may have been one of the first lists of instructions regarding seated meditation. This is thought to be one…

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[ox-head]

You must stop all cognition of being or of nonbeing, stop all desires and pursuits.... Nowadays there are cognitions or opinions about the Buddhas. But what people know about, what they seek after, or what they attach themselves to, all can be called the waste of the illusory knowledge produced by cognitive language. [It] can also be called "coarse language" or "dead language"

百丈懷海 Baizhang Huaihai, 百丈廣錄 Baizhang guanglu (Baizhang’s Extensive Record)

[ox-head]

Whenever Reverend Baizhang delivered a sermon, an old man always followed the congregation in to listen to the teaching. When the assembled people left, the old man  left  too. One day, however, he remained behind. The Master asked him, ‘Who are you who stand in front of me?’ The old man replied, ‘‘I am not a human being. In the past, in the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, I resided on this mountain [as a monk]. On one occasion a student asked me, ‘Is a person who has practiced great cultivation  [i.e., an enlightened person] still subject to causation or not?’ I answered, ‘He is not subject to causation.’ [Because of my answer] I was reborn as a fox for five hundred lifetimes. I now beseech you Reverend to say a transformative word on my  behalf to free me from this fox body.’  Then [the old man] asked, ‘Is a person of attainment still subject to causation or not?’’ The Master answered, ‘‘He cannot evade causation.’ Upon hearing these words the old man was immediately enlightened. Making a bow he said, ‘‘I have now been released from the body of the fox which remains behind the mountain. I have been so bold as to tell this to the Reverend, and I ask that you perform a funeral for me as you would for a deceased monk.’’ . . . That evening [after performing the funeral for the fox] the  Master  convened an  assembly  and  related  the circumstances [behind  the funeral].  Huangbo  then asked,  ‘The  old man, failing to respond  correctly, was reborn as a fox for five hundred lifetimes. Suppose that he gave the right answer every time;  what  would have happened then?’ The  Master said, ‘Come  closer and  I’ll  tell  you.’ Huangbo approached [Baizhang] and gave the Master  a  slap. The Master clapped his hands and laughed, saying, ‘‘I had supposed that the barbarian had a red beard, and now here is a red-bearded barbarian!’

Case 2, “Wild fox” gong’an, 無門關 Wúménguān (The Gateless Gate), early 13th century

[ox-head]

If one could only for a lifetime keep a mind that is like wood or stone, without being moved by the aggregates, the realms of sense, the entrances, the five desires, and the eight winds, then one cuts off the cause of birth and death and is free to go or stay. One is not bound by any phenomenal causes and results and is not hindered by any of the afflictions. At that time, because of oneself being free, one can help others by adapting to them and acting in beneficial ways. With an unattached mind one responds to all things; with unobstructed wisdom one unties all bonds. This is what has been called 'Giving medicine according to illness.'

百丈懷海 Baizhang Huaihai, 百丈廣錄 Baizhang guanglu (Baizhang’s Extensive Record)

[ox-head]

The Buddha is a person who has nothing to seek. If there is seeking, then one is contradicting the principle. The principle is the principle of non-seeking; if one seeks it, one misses it. If one attaches to non-seeking, then that becomes the same as seeking; if one attaches to the unconditioned, then it becomes the conditioned again. That is why the sūtra says, 'Not grasping at dharma, not grasping at no-dharma, not grasping at not no-dharma.' It also says, 'The Dharma attained by the Tathāgata is neither real nor false'.

百丈懷海 Baizhang Huaihai, 百丈廣錄 Baizhang guanglu (Baizhang’s Extensive Record)

[ox-head]

When a person who studies the Way encounters all kinds of painful or pleasant, agreeable or disagreeable situations, his mind does not recede. Not thinking about fame and profit, robes and food, and not being greedy for any merit and blessings, he is not obstructed by anything in the world. With nothing dear, free from love, he can equally accept pain and pleasure. A coarse robe to protect from the cold, simple food to support the body; letting go, like a fool, like someone deaf, like someone mute—it is only then that one gains some understanding. If one uses one's mind to broadly engage in intellectual study, seeking merit and wisdom, then all of that is just birth and death, and it does not serve any purpose as far as reality is concerned. Blown about by the wind of knowledge, one gets drowned in the ocean of birth and death.

百丈懷海 Baizhang Huaihai, 百丈廣錄 Baizhang guanglu (Baizhang’s Extensive Record)