Essence

Case 32: Jo and the "Essence of Buddhism"

A senior monk Jo asked Rinzai, "What is the essence of Buddhism?"
Rinzai came down from his seat, grabbed him by the lapels, slapped him and
thrust him away.  Jo stood there as if rooted to the spot. 
A monk standing nearby said, "Senior monk Jo! Why don't you make a deep bow?" 
As he made a deep bow, Jo suddenly attained a great enlightenment.

Read more : Hekiganroku ( blue cliff record, Pi-yen -lu) 

Lin Chi on Adding Mud to Dirt, Slavery, Movement and Stillness

Adding Mud to Dirt:

There are Zen students who are in chains when they go to a teacher, and the teacher adds another chain. The students are delighted, unable to discern one thing from another. This is called a guest looking at a guest.

Slavery:

When I say there is nothing outside, students who do not understand me intepret this in terms of inwardness, so they sit silent and still, taking this to be Zen Buddhism. This is a big mistake. If you take a state of unmoving clarity to be Zen, you are recognizing ignorance as a slave master.

Movement and Stillness:

If you try to grasp Zen in movement, it goes into stillness. If you try to grasp Zen in stillness, it goes into movement. It is like a fish hidden in a spring, drumming up waves and dancing independently. Movement and stillness are two states. The Zen master, who does not depend on anything, makes deliberate use of both movement and stillness.

Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lin Chi on Tourist Trap, Supernormal Faculties, Objective Perception and Understanding, Zen Teaching

Tourist Trap:

At Zen centers they say there is a Way to be practiced and a religious truth to be realized. Tell me, what religious truth is realized and what Way is practiced? In your present functioning, what do you lack? What would you fix? Younger newcomers, not understanding this, immediately believe these mesmerists and let them talk about things that tie people up.

Supernormal Faculties:

The six supernormal faculties of the enlightened are the ability to enter the realm of form without being confused by form, to enter the realm of sound without being confused by sound, to enter the realm of scent without being confused by scent, to enter the realm of flavor without being confused by flavor, to enter the realm of feeling without being confused by feeling, to enter the realm of phenomena without being confused by phenomena.

Objective Perception and Understanding:

If you want to perceive and understand objectively, just don't allow yourself to be confused by people. Detach from whatever you find inside or outside yourself - detach from religion, tradition, and society, and only then will you attain liberation. When you are not entangled in things, you pass through freely to autonomy.

Zen Teaching:

I have no doctrine to give people - I just cure ailments and unlock fetters.

Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lin Chi on Labels and Objective Truth, The Free Self, No Concern, Blind Baldies, Uncritical Acceptance

Labels and Objective Truth:

Because you grasp labels and slogans, you are hindered by those labels and slogans, both those used in ordinary life and those considered sacred. Thus they obstruct your perception of objective truth, and you cannot understand clearly.

The Free Self:

If you want to be free, get to know your real self. It has no form, no appearance, no root, no basis, no abode, but is lively and buoyant. It responds with versatile facility, but its function cannot be located. Therefore when you look for it you become further from it, when you seek it you turn away from it all the more.

No Concern:

Just put thoughts to rest and don't seek outwardly anymore. When things come up, then give them your attention; just trust what is functional in you at present, and you have nothing to be concerned about.

Blind Baldies:

There are blind baldies who, after they have eaten their fill, do zazen and practice meditation, arresting thoughts leaking out to prevent them from arising, shunning clamor and seeking quiet. This is a deviated form of Zen.

Uncritical Acceptance:

You take the words of these ordinary Zen teachers for the real Way, supposing that Zen teachers are incomprehensible and as an ordinary person you dare not attempt to assess those old timers. You are blind if you take this view all your life, contrary to the evidence of your own eyes. 

Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lin Chi on The Mind Ground, Understanding People, Autonomy

The Mind Ground:

The mind ground can go into the ordinary, into the holy, into the pure, into the defiled, into the real, into the conventional; but it is not your "real" or "conventional," "ordinary" or "holy." It can put labels on all the real and conventional, the ordinary and the holy, but the real and conventional, the ordinary and the holy, cannot put labels on someone in the mind ground. If you can get it, use it, without putting any more labels on it.

Understanding People:

When followers of Zen come to see me, I have already understood them completely. How can I do this? Simply because my perception is independent - externally I do not grasp the ordinary or the holy, internally I do not dwell on the fundamental. I see all the way through and do not doubt or err anymore.

Autonomy:

Just be autonomous wherever you are, and right there is realization. Situations that come up cannot change you. Even if you have bad habits, you will spontaneously be liberated from them.

Autonomy:

Zen students today are totally unaware of truth. They are like foraging goats that pick up whatever they bump into They do not distinguish between the servant and the master, or between guest and host. People like this enter Zen with distorted minds, and are unable to enter effectively into dynamic situations. They may be called true initiates, but actually they are really mundane people. Those who really leave attachments must master real, true perception to distinguish the enlightened from the obsessed, the genuine from the artificial, the unregenerate from the sage. If you can make these discernments, you can be said to have really left dependency. Professionally Buddhist clergy who cannot tell obsession from enlightenment have just left one social group and entered another social group. They cannot really be said to be independent. Now there is an obsession with Buddhism that is mixed in with the real thing. Those with clear eyes cut through both obsession and Buddhism. If you love the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.


Translated by Thomas Cleary

Lin Chi on True Perception and Understanding, Self Confidence, Buddha Within, No Obsessions

Translated by Thomas Cleary

True Perception and Understanding:

People who study Buddhism should seek real, true perception and understanding for now. If you attain real, true perception and understanding, birth and death won't affect you - you are free to go or stay. You needn't seek wonders, for wonders come of themselves.

Self Confidence:

What I point out to you is only that you shouldn't allow yourselves to be confused by others. Act when you need to, without further hesitation or doubt. People today can't do this - what is their affliction? Their affliction is in their lack of self-confidence. If you do not spontaneously trust yourself sufficiently, you will be in a frantic state, pursuing all sorts of objects and being changed by those objects, unable to be independent.

Buddha Within:

There is no stability in the world; it is like a house on fire. This is not a place where you can stay for a long time. The murderous demon of impermanence is instantaneous, and it does not choose between the upper and lower classes, or between the young and old. If you want to be no different from the Buddhas and Zen masters, just don't seek externally. The pure light in a moment of awareness in your mind is the Buddha's essence within you. The nondiscriminating light in a moment of awareness in your mind is the Buddha's wisom within you. The undifferentiated light in a moment of awareness in your mind is the Buddha's manifestation within you.

No Obsessions:

It is most urgent that you seek real, true perception and understanding, so you can be free in the world and not confused by ordinary spiritualists. It is best to have no obsessions. Just do not be contrived. Simply be normal. You impulsively seek elsewhere, looking to others for your own hands and feet. This is already mistaken.

Absolute Freedom and Emptiness

Lin Chi rejected the religious conventions of Buddhism and the philosophical and scholarly approach to Buddhist teachings.

In his approach, Lin Chi stressed spontaneity, absolute freedom and emptiness:

"Many students come to see me from all over the place. Many of them are not free from their entanglement with objective things. I treat them right on the spot. If their trouble is due to grasping hands, I strike there. If their trouble is a loose mouth, I strike them there. If their trouble is hidden behind their eyes, it is there I strike. So far I have not found anyone who can set himself free. This is because they have all been caught up in the useless ways of the old masters. As for me, I do not have one only method which I give to everyone, but I relieve whatever the trouble is and set men free."

"Friends, I tell you this: there is no Buddha, no spiritual path to follow, no training and no realization. What are you so feverishly running after? Putting a head on top of your own head, you blind idiots? Your head is right where it should be. The trouble lies in your not believing in yourselves enough. Because you don't believe in yourselves you are knocked here and there by all the conditions in which you find yourselves. Being enslaved and turned around by objective situations, you have no freedom whatever, you are not masters of yourselves. Stop turning to the outside and don't be attached to my words either!
Just cease clinging to the past and hankering after the future.
This will be better than ten years' pilgrimage."

[above left; ink portrait of  Lin-chi (Rinzai) with hoe, by Genro Suio (1717-1789) of Japan; collection of New Orleans Museum of Art ]

Read more on Master Lin Chi's life and approach to practice here...

Lin Chi's (Rinzai's) Enlightenment

The account of Lin Chi's (Rinzai's) Enlightenment

from the 'Rinzairoku' - the Record of Rinzai:

When the master [Lin Chi] was a new monk in Huang Po's (Obaku's) community, his behavior was simple and direct. The head monk recommended him, saying: "Though he is a new monk, yet he differs from all the others." He asked him: "How long have you been here?" The master replied: "For three years." The head monk asked: "Have you been for an interview yet?" The master said: "Never. I do not know what to ask." The head monk said: "Why don't you go and ask the reverend head of the monastery what is the essence of Buddhism?"

The master accordingly did so. But even before he had finished speaking, Huang Po hit him. The master withdrew. When the head monk asked him how the interview had gone, he said: "Even before I had finished speaking, the Osho [venerable monk, i.e. Huang Po] hit me. I do not understand." The head monk said: "Simply go and ask again." The master did so. Huang Po hit him again. Like this it happened for still a third time, the questioning and the hitting. The master went to the head monk and said: "You had the kindness to send me to question the Osho. Three times I asked, and three times I was beaten. I am afraid I am obstructed by my previous circumstances [i.e. karmic hindrances], and could not understand his deep intention. So for the time being, I am resigning and am leaving." The head monk said: "Before you go, you should take leave of the Osho." The master bowed his acceptance and left.

The head monk went at once to Huang Po and said: "That young monk who earlier came and questioned you is really suited for the Dharma. When he comes to take leave of you, find a way for him to continue. Planting a seed for the future, he will grow into a big tree that will give shade to all men."

The master came to take leave. Huang Po said to him: "You must not go anywhere else but to Daigu who lives near the shoals of Koan [a place]. He will explain it to you."

The master went to Daigu, who asked where he came from. The master replied that he came from Huang Po. Daigu asked: "And what did Huang Po have to say?" The master replied: "I asked him three times what was the essence of Buddhism, and three times he beat me. I do not know whether I was at fault or not." Daigu said : "When Huang Po, like a kindly old grandmother, has taken all this trouble over you, you still come here asking me whether you were at fault or not."

At these words, the master had the great awakening, and exclaimed: "After all, there is nothing much to Huang Po's Buddha-Dharma!" Daigu grabbed him and said: "You little devil still wetting your bed! You come here saying you do not know whether you were at fault or not, and now you say that after all there is nothing much to Huang Po's Buddha-Dharma. What have you seen? Speak quickly, speak quickly!" The master, while Daigu was still grabbing him, gave him three punches into the ribs. Daigu released him and said: "Your master is Huang Po. That has nothing to do with me.

The master left Daigu and returned to Huang Po who, seeing him come, remarked: "When will there be an end to the comings and goings of this fellow?" The master said: "It is only because of your grandmotherly kindness." Then, after the usual courtesies, he stood to attend on Huang Po. The latter asked where he had come from. The master replied: "The other day you were kind enough to send me to Daigu for an interview." Huang Po asked: "What did Daigu have to say?" The master then related what had happened. Huang Po said: "How do I have this fellow coming here? Just wait, I'll beat you up." The master said: "What do you mean about waiting? Get it right now!" and accordingly punched Huang Po who said: "This madman, coming here to stroke the tiger's whiskers!" The master gave a Katsu [a shout]. Huang Po called: "Attendant, bring this madman into the monks' quarters."

Later, Issan mentioned this story to Gyosan and asked him: "At that time, was it with Daigu or with Huang Po that Lin Chi found his strength?" Gyosan said: "He not only knew how to ride the tiger, he also knew how to grab its tail."