From the Recorded Sayings of Zen Teacher Yuanwu

圆悟大师云：“昔在五祖、白云拾得数个金刚圈、一篮栗棘蓬，九夏（夏季）之中与诸人共相切磋。遂举拂子云：大众还见么？且道。这个是金刚圈，是栗棘蓬。不容浅见衲僧会，唯许通方作者知。”

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• Great teacher Yuanwu said:

• "Previously at Wuzu's and Baiyun's places, [I've] picked up a number of vajra rings and a basket of spiky chestnuts. In this summer, [I'll] share them with [you] people for mutual examination/investigation."

• [Yuanwu] then raised his whisk and said:

• "Does the congregation see? Please speak. This is a vajra ring. A spiky chestnut. Allowing not monks with shallow views to understand; only permitting the knowing of adepts with abhijna."

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Spiky chestnuts and vajra rings are devices of phrases/actions/situations often seen employed in koans, like the raising of the whisk.

Those who can't swallow the spiky chestnut whole or jump/pass through the vajra ring, supposedly do not realise the pivot/function/mechanism of zen.

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Here is a picture of a vajra and its rings.

Here is a picture of spiky chestnuts.

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Recorded Sayings of Zen Teacher Yuanwu

杨岐所谓栗棘蓬有刺而难吞，金刚圈者至小而难跳。勿语中有语，为人解粘去缚，不是人情底事。

• [As what] Yangqi says, spiky chestnuts have thorns and thus are difficult to swallow, vajra rings are so small and thus are difficult to jump through. Don't [take] that there are sayings within the sayings, to help humans unstuck their stickiness and remove their fetters. [This] is not a matter of human passion.

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Recorded Sayings of Dahui Zonggao

金刚圈栗棘蓬，决定要吞，决定要透，但尽平生伎俩愤将去，自然有个悟处。

• Vajra rings and spiky chestnuts, upon making the decision to swallow [them whole] and the decision to pass [them through], use up all means of [your] entire life to proceed vigorously, naturally there will be a [point for] enlightenment to take place.

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Just want to let everyone know that Yuanwu’s “Zen Letters,” translated by Thomas and JC Cleary is once again available on Amazon after being out of print for a long time.  If you haven’t read it, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.  Here’s a taste:  

Fundamentally, this great light is there with each and every person right where they stand—empty clear through, spiritually aware, all-pervasive, it is called the scenery of the fundamental ground. 

Sentient beings and buddhas are both inherently equipped with it. It is perfectly fluid and boundless, fusing everything within it. It is within your own heart and is the basis of your physical body and of the five clusters of form, sensation, conception, motivational synthesis, and consciousness. It has never been defiled or stained, and its fundamental nature is still and silent. 

False thoughts suddenly arise and cover it over and block it off and confine it within the six sense faculties and sense objects. Sense faculties and sense objects are paired off, and you get stuck and begin clinging and getting attached. You grasp at all the various objects and scenes, and produce all sorts of false thoughts, and sink down into the toils of birth and death, unable to gain liberation. 

All the buddhas and ancestral teachers awakened to this true source and penetrated clear through to the fundamental basis. They took pity on all the sentient beings sunk in the cycle of birth and death and were inspired by great compassion, so they appeared in the world precisely for this reason. It was also for this reason that Bodhidharma came from the West with the special practice outside of doctrine. 

The most important thing is for people of great faculties and sharp wisdom to turn the light of mind around and shine back and clearly awaken to this mind before a single thought is born. This mind can produce all world-transcending and worldly phenomena. When it is forever stamped with enlightenment, your inner heart is independent and transcendent and brimming over with life. As soon as you rouse your conditioned mind and set errant thoughts moving, then you have obscured this fundamental clarity. 

If you want to pass through easily and directly right now, just let your body and mind become thoroughly empty, so it is vacant and silent yet aware and luminous. Inwardly, forget all your conceptions of self, and outwardly, cut off all sensory defilements. When inside and outside are clear all the way through, there is just one true reality. Then eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and conceptual mind, form, sound, smell, flavor, touch, and conceptualized phenomena—all of these are established based on that one reality. This one reality stands free of and transcends all the myriad entangling phenomena. The myriad phenomena have never had any fixed characteristics-they are all transformations based on this light. 

If you can trust in this oneness, then with one comprehended, all are comprehended, and with one illuminated, all are illuminated. Then in whatever you do, it can all be the indestructible true essence of great liberation from top to bottom. 

You must awaken to this mind first, and afterward cultivate all forms of good. Haven't you seen this story? The renowned poet Bo Juyi asked the Bird's Nest Monk, "What is the Way?" The Bird's Nest Monk said, "Don't do any evils, do all forms of good." Bo Juyi said, "Even a three-year-old could say this." The Bird's Nest Monk said, "Though a three-year-old might be able to say it, an eighty-year-old might not be able to carry it out?" 

Thus we must search out our faults and cultivate practice; this is like the eyes and the feet depending on each other. If you are able to refrain from doing any evil and refine your practice of the many forms of good, even if you only uphold the elementary forms of discipline and virtue, you will be able to avoid sinking down to the levels of animals, hungry ghosts, and hell-beings. This is even more true if you first awaken to the indestructible essence of the wondrous, illuminated true mind and after that cultivate practice to the best of your ability and carry out all the forms of virtuous conduct. 

Let no one be deluded about cause and effect. You must realize that the causal basis of hell and heaven is all formed by your own inherent mind. 

You must keep this mind balanced and equanimous, without deluded ideas of self and others, without arbitrary loves and hates, without grasping or rejecting, without notions of gain and loss. Go on gradually nurturing this for a long time, perhaps twenty or thirty years. Whether you encounter favorable or adverse conditions, do not retreat or regress—then when you come to the juncture between life and death, you will naturally be set free and not be afraid. As the saying goes,

"Truth requires sudden awakening, but the phenomenal level calls for gradual cultivation." 

I often see those who are trying to study Buddhism just use their worldly intelligence to sift among the verbal teachings of the buddhas and ancestral teachers, trying to pick out especially wondrous sayings to use as conversation pieces to display their ability and understanding. This is not the correct view of the matter. You must abandon your worldly mentality and sit quietly with mind silent. Forget entangling causes and investigate with your whole being. When you are thoroughly clear, then whatever you bring forth from your own inexhaustible treasury of priceless jewels is sure to be genuine and real. 

So first you must awaken to the Fundamental and clearly see the true essence where mind equals buddha. Detach from all false entanglements and become free and clean. After that, respectfully practice all forms of good, and arouse great compassion to bring benefits to all sentient beings. In all that you do, be even and balanced and attuned to the inherent equality of all things—be selfless and have no attachments. When wondrous wisdom manifests itself and you penetrate through to the basic essence, all your deeds will be wonder-working. Thus it is said, "Just manage to accept the truth—you won't be deceived." 

Make enlightenment your standard, and don't feel bad if it is slow in coming. Take care!  

These are instructions.  They couldn’t be any clearer. 

Maybe some people remember my post 7 days ago. In it, I wrote that I faced great problems in understanding the practice of zazen. The next day, after this crisis, catharsis set in. I just sat up straight once again, full of indignation and despair, and just stopped the indignation and despair. This seemed to me to be the right practice. Now, a few days later, I want to tell you what thoughts I have accumulated about the zazen.

As I said earlier, almost all the instructions do not give any details on the practice and I probably understood why. But, nevertheless, I want to take a chance, but in no case do I pretend to be correct in my words and my vision of sikantaza, so I ask more experienced people here to correct me if I am wrong.

I will not talk about posture, breathing and gaze, there are no inaccuracies in the instructions on this subject. The whole difficulty arises when it comes to the mind. This is probably due to the fact that no one can be sure how another person's mind works, and, moreover, no one can be sure that someone's "detailed" instructions will be correctly understood. Because of this, there is a strong simplification in the transfer of the method

Nevertheless, it is my vision and understanding that I want to convey. In fact, "to detach from the body and mind" is really something that I cannot disagree with. This is the main interaction with consciousness that I do during practice. As for thoughts, it really is not difficult to let go and let go of that incoherent stream of words and images that just constantly arises. At least after a few months of practice, random thoughts don't bother me. But it happens that an obsessive thought arises in my mind, which arises over and over again, no matter how hard you try to leave it. In fact, as I understood it, a thought is not something that you need to pay attention to and try to let go (In this case). The idea is the main "demon". As far as I understand, the idea has no verbal expression, no image. An idea is a kind of vector, or moat, along which thoughts go. The mind seems to get on the rails of an Idea, after which it is very difficult to get off these rails without realizing it. Having intuitively realized the idea, it becomes much easier to let it go, although I do not immediately succeed. And after I let go of the idea, the mind starts producing random thoughts again, which are much easier to let go of. Letting go of thoughts was described very well by Uchiyama Roshi, although I complained about him a little in my last post. But, on my own, I want to add that in order for the mind to be silent, the mind must start listening.

Now I want to talk about the mind itself. If you make a comparison, then the mind looks to me like a power plant, and thoughts are electricity flowing through wires. The mind can both produce information and receive it, and this is where my main discovery begins. As far as I understand, the mind has two modes of operation (roughly speaking), perception mode and presentation mode. In the presentation mode, the mind produces ideas, thoughts, images, and so on. In the presentation mode, comprehension of wisdom is impossible exactly the same as if you were singing a song while your teacher is lecturing you about Zen. In the mode of perception , the mind listens . Of course, there is a certain gradation (or gradient) of these two modes, because we can both think and listen at the same time, but the quality of these two actions corresponds to the concentration that is given to it. And the main task during sikantaza, it seems to me, is to bring the mind into a state of perception or listening and try to concentrate on this. After zazen, I even came up with a kind of phrase: "in silent listening, the highest wisdom is intuitively comprehended." This seems to me to be an intuitive understanding, because in silence neither ideas nor thoughts arise that could become a concept. Therefore that paramita is transcendental. In other words, the mind falls silent in order to listen to the teachings of the Buddha. There is no "me" who attains enlightenment, there is only a mind striving to understand its nature. Therefore, our main teacher is what we comprehend in pure perception, fully concentrating on "listening".

Although, now I understand that if you shorten all my words, you will get another incomprehensible instruction. something like "strive for the right posture and renounce the body and its feelings, renounce the mind and its ideas and thoughts, listen and intuitively comprehend your transcendent nature in silence." And it's really impossible to explain how to use your brain to realize all this. Even the way I use my brain during practice, I can't explain it. Indeed, I was missing only one phrase when it came to learning the instructions. Those instructions are a finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself. Everything, as it turned out, needs to be understood intuitively, sitting straight and lowering your gaze. First, we sit waiting for an understanding of how we need to move our brains, and after that we improve our practice, striving to comprehend our nature.

although I say "we" in some places, I do not pretend to be faithful to my words and my understanding. So what are your thoughts on this? I would also like to add that experimentation takes place in this case, and perhaps experimentation is even more important than simply trying to delve into inaccurate instructions. Experimenting with controlling your mind and thoughts, I meant it

P.S. I am using a translator and I can already see that minor errors occur in some places.

“Zazen develops respect for the purity and everything, and gives health to your body and your mind.

You can become clear and alive, discovering the value and all things.

All that is still hesitant unclear, indecisive will disappear, and your concentration will become strong.

You can find the value in that which is different from you, all the things which are exterior, so you will no longer have nothing to reject.

Wisdom will flow from you without hindrance, and you will be able to change poison into medicine. Even if you are criticized with harmful words, you will have no need to get angry. Even if you find difficulties on your way, you can surmount them with creativity, spirit, and humor . You will be able to confront everything disagreeable with courage and decision.

You will be able to be fast, lively at the same time your mind will stay calm. You will be able to seize each opportunity for favorable change and harmonize yourself with each situation.

You will be able to be strong and gentle at the same time. You will be able to harmonize with others, while maintaining your strong and unshakable conviction.

You will be able to be honest and authentic without speaking or acting in excess you are not have no need to try to make appearances.”

Taisen Deshimaru Roshi

I’m curious if I can find a free audio version of this sutra. There’s one on YouTube that’s like, a condensed version and it’s pretty good. The AI voice is hard to listen to though- if anyone has links that would be much appreciated. Thank you 🙏

Zen teacher Rujing is said to be the one who awakened/enlightened Dogen and then gave Dogen dharma transmission.

This is Rujing's poem on zazen:

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(my crude translation)

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今朝九月初一。打板普请坐禅。

• This morning, first day of September

• Hitting the board for a mass gathering of sitting meditation

第一切忌瞎睡。直下猛烈为先。

• The number one taboo is blindly falling asleep

• [So] first and foremost proceed directly with fiery vigour

忽然爆破漆桶。豁如云散秋天。

• [Until] suddenly, a bursting explosion of the painted barrel

• A vast clearing/clarity, like the cloudless autumn sky

劈脊棒迸胸拳。昼夜方才不可眠。

• [It’s with] back-splitting staff [strikes] and chest-breaking fist [punches]

• That through day-and-night [one] doesn't sleep

虚空消殒更消殒。透过威音未朕前。

• As empty space, perishing, and further perishing

• Penetrate through before Mighty-Sound emperor/Buddha

咦栗棘金圈恣交襻。凯歌高贺彻风颠。

• Spiky chestnuts and vajra rings freely hand over their ins-and-outs

• Victory songs resound high across the top of the wind

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I have decided to dive right in and participate in a 7 day sesshin. What advice do you have for someone with limited experience in formal practice.

I’ve jumped in because I felt my motivation slipping, and old habits coming back as though my daily zazen had never happened.

I can now see that zazen will in fact not solve my problems 😆. However, I would love to hear about your first sesshin experience so as to minimize the emotional pain I may endure.

This is my attempt to translate from the chinese version of Zazen-Shin:

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然則，近年愚昧杜撰之徒曰：“功夫坐禪，得胸襟無事了，便是平穩地也。”此見解，尚不及小乘之學者，較人天乘亦劣也，爭奈稱學佛法之漢！現在大宋國，恁麽功夫之人多。祖道荒蕪，可悲矣！

• However, lately [there are] ignorant fools who make things up saying: “The practice of zazen, in attaining no concerns in the heart/chest, is therefore the peaceful stable ground.”

• Such a view, can’t even reach up to the studies of the Small Vehicle (Hinayana), and is comparatively worse than that of the Humans-and-Gods Vehicle, how can [these fools] be called men who study the Buddha-dharma!

• Now in the Great Song empire, people who practice like this are many. The [zen] ancestral way is barren, how sad!

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Still trying to read through the first part of this text. Interesting to see the emphasis on analysing and investigating the koans with regards to zazen (sitting meditation), questioning every single line of the koans carefully.

Instead of presenting zazen as all is complete, there is nothing else in need of doing, there is nothing to be concerned with, Dogen seems to be admonishing zazen practitioners to put in effort and practice to investigate.

He even pointed out how monks in monasteries are wasting time by taking zazen as an allotted task and sitting there putting on the pretense of "returning to the source".

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For those who are interested, this is Carl Bielefeldt's translation of the same excerpt:

• Recently, however, some stupid illiterates say, "Once you attain [the state in which] the breast is without concerns, the concentrated effort at seated meditation is peace and tranquility."

• This view does not compare with that of the scholastics of the Lesser Vehicle; it is inferior even to the Vehicle of Men and Gods. How could one [who holds such a view] be called a person who studies the buddha dharma?

• At present, there are many such practitioners in the land of the Great Sung. How sad that the way of the ancestors has become overgrown.

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Hi all! Posted this on the Buddhists sub but posting here as well for posterity.

I live at a Zen Center, but have somehow yet to find a group specifically for younger practitioners. So I decided to have a meetup group for this! If you're in LA and around next month, please sign up! Hopefully a fun way to make some friends with the same interests. There will be snacks and activities!

Here's the link

I’ve been thinking about this last line for a long time now ,I really love it but I can’t seem to figure out what it means.

I just saw this posted on social media and thought it would be good to share for you folks. Albeit I haven’t watched it yet but looks interesting and I like to see camaraderie between schools/sects.

🙏

Hello everyone. I've been a practitioner at the Ten Shin Zen Temple in Naples for over 10 years.

Our temple is the only Zen temple in Southern Italy, serving as a cornerstone for numerous practitioners and a cultural hub in a problematic city. Ten Shin was established in 2002 by the monks Massimo Taiku and Daniela Myoei, initially operating in small rooms within other centers. With passion and dedication, we secured our first dedicated space in 2015, and then, as our community expanded, we moved to a larger venue in 2019. However, the pandemic has hindered our expansion plans.

Currently, we are endeavoring to renovate a wing of the temple solely dedicated to the Zen practices. So we are looking for financial support to accomplish this goal.

Here the link to the dedicated webpage. Of course, all kinds of contributions are welcome. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Pretty new to Buddhism and zen. A bane of my life is my lack of discipline which I’ve always struggled with from being a kid. I show the typical signs…

1. Overwhelm - feeling like there’s that much to read and absorb that I don’t know where to start. I have started a collection of books and sutras and just don’t know where to start really. End up doing nothing.

2. Procrastination - possibility my worst hurdle. I put off meditation every single day! I can’t even build up the courage to sit for 10 minutes because there’s always something else I’d prefer to do, which is normally just lounging around mindlessly scrolling

3. Lack of routine - life is life-ing, I can’t seem to get a consistent routine, especially a meditation practice and reading.

4. Low motivation - feel generally meh. I over lay, snooze my alarms, binge eat all the wrong foods, just have zero self control and discipline.

I’m also trying to lose weight, the lack of self discipline and control basically keeps me yo-yo dieting and I’m trapped in this endless cycle of doing well for a couple of days then self sabotage.

Any advice or a zen teaching that would help? Even just hearing how you guys commit to your daily practice and discipline would be good.

(my crude translation):

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預前若打不徹。獵月三十夜到來。管取爾熱亂。有般外道纔見人說做工夫。他便

冷笑。猶有遮箇在。我且問爾。忽然臨命終時。爾將何抵敵生死。爾且思量看。却有 個道理。那得天生彌勒自然釋迦。有一般閑神野鬼。纔見人有些少病。便與他人說。 爾只放下著。及至他有病。又却理會不下。手忙脚亂。爭柰爾肉如利刀碎割做。主宰 不得。萬般事須是閑時辦得下。忙時得用。多少省力。休待臨渴掘井。做手脚不辦。 遮場狼藉。如何迴避前路黑暗。信采胡鑽亂撞。苦哉苦哉。平日只學口頭三昧。說禪 說道。喝佛罵祖。到遮裏都用不著。平日只管瞞人。爭知道今日自瞞了也。阿鼻地獄 中決定放爾不得。而今末法將沈。全仗有力量。兄弟家。負荷續佛慧命莫令斷絕。今 時纔有一個半個行脚。只去觀山觀景。不知光陰能有幾何。一息不回便是來生。未知 甚麼頭面。嗚呼。勸爾兄弟家。趁色力康健時。討取個分曉處。不被人瞞底一段大事 。遮些關棙子。甚是容易。自是爾不肯去下。死志做工夫。只管道難了又難好。教爾 知那得樹上自生底木杓。爾也須自去做箇轉變始得。若是箇丈夫漢。看箇公案。僧問 趙州。狗子還有佛性也無。州云無。但去二六時中看箇無字。晝參夜參行住坐臥。著 衣吃飯處。阿屎放尿處。心心相顧。猛著精彩。守箇無字。日久月深打成一片。忽然 心花頓發。悟佛祖之機。便不被天下老和尚舌頭瞞。便會開大口。達摩西來無風起浪 。世尊拈花一場敗缺。到這裏說甚麼閻羅老子千聖尚不柰爾何。不信道。直有遮般奇 特。為甚如此。事怕有心人 頌曰。塵勞迴脫事非常。緊把繩頭做一場。不是一翻寒徹骨。爭得梅花撲鼻香

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If earlier preparation is not thorough, when the final night of the final month arrives, you will surely be in a hot mess.

[Yet] there’s this type of tirthika (outsider), who upon hearing someone says ‘do practice’, will then coldly sneer: “There is still this?”

Let me ask you, when suddenly facing the end of life, just how would you fight against [samsaric] birth-and-death? Why don’t you think about it, to see if there’s a principle to this. For where is there any inborn Maitreya and natural Sakyamuni?

[And] there’s this type of loafing deity and wild ghost, who when seeing a slightly ill person, would simply say: “[All you need to do] is just let go.”

Then the person becomes really ill and can’t put down [his] concerns, panicky and helpless against the sharp swords that slice and chop his flesh into seemingly minced meat. He won’t be master [of the situation].

Many matters must be settled in [your] free time so that there can be usage in times of urgency. Energy can [then] be saved.

Don’t wait till thirsty before digging a well. [Such last-minute] tampering would not work. The whole situation will be a mess as [you] try desperately to avoid the dark path ahead, crawling and crashing all over [instead].

Suffering ah, suffering!

Day-in and day-out, learning only of mouth-samadhi, rambling on and on about zen and dao, shouting at Buddhas, scolding the Ancestors. In the end, all is useless. If [you’ve] always cheated and lied [your way] through life, [you will] know on this [final] day [you’re] only cheating yourself. The hell of Avici will definitely not let you off.

And now the dharma-ending age is soon sinking in. There can only be energetic strength to rely on. Brother renunciants, bear the continuity of Buddha’s wisdom. Don’t let it be terminated.

Nowadays, there is just one or half a travelling practitioner, going around only to enjoy the mountains and sceneries, not knowing time is limited. A single breath that does not return, and it’s the next life already. No inkling what the [original] head-face is – sad!

[I’m] urging you brother renunciants, make use of the time when the form-energy (body) is still healthy. Attain the position of discernment, where [you] will not be cheated/deceived by others in this stretch of great matter.

These crucial matters are rather easy. It’s only because you are not willing to make that death-will to do practice, only complaining it’s difficult yet more difficult, [that failure happens]. Just so you know, there are no trees which sprout wooden scoops on their own. You have to make the transformation on your own to thus attain it.

If you are a man, watch this koan:

“A monk asked Zhaozhou: ‘Doggy still have Buddha-nature or not?’ Zhaozhou said: ‘No.’”

Just throughout the two six-period, watch this word ‘no’. Investigate/meditate [on it] day and night. [In] walking-standing-sitting-reclining, wearing clothes and eating meals, shitting and peeing, mind mutually looking after mind, vigorously with enthusiasm, guard this word ‘no. As days and months go by, [allow everything] to hit together as one.

[Eventually] in a sudden, the mind-flower blossoms in an instant. [You will then be] enlightened to the pivotal mechanism of Buddhas and Ancestors, and thus won’t be cheated and deceived by the tongues of all the old monks in the world anymore.

And [you] will be able to open [your] big mouth: “Bodhidharma’s coming from the west [is but] making waves when there’s no wind; the World-Honoured-One holding a flower [is but] a scene of flawed failure.”

By then, say what Yama old guy, even a thousand sages can’t contain you.

Don’t believe that it’s actually so special? Why is it so? [This] matter can’t withstand people of determination.

Verse:

The matter of transcending worldly trouble is extraordinary

Have to do it once through gripping the rope's head tight

Not till the freezing chill penetrates through into the bone

Can there be the scent of plum blossom bursting to the nose

I come across this response in r/Buddhism saying that Zen and other schools see the existence of the six realms as literal places you can go to after death. Does this mean there's a literal alternate universe where this happens, or are the other realms all within this universe, just from the perspective of other beings in different conditions (life from an insect's POV vs a human's)?

Then I came across this response on the topic in this sub saying that a non-literal interpretation is valid, as they can be thought of as more like internal mind-states than anything, and I'm confused on what to believe. I don't doubt the existence of other realms per se, but I struggle to understand which interpretation is right, or if they're both right according to how relevant they are to one's practice and methods.

Thanks for any insight, as I'm just trying to understand. I used to think they're more figurative or like internal states as in the latter response, but now I'm not so sure.

I am reminding everyone that our top two rules are "no derogatory remarks" and "be friendly." Most of the time I think this sub does a good job with those. If you see a post that you believe violates one of those rules, please report it or downvote it, or both. Please don't continue the behavior.

I hope this is clear.

Hi!

I'd like to talk about this concept about which I've read and listened to online - I've also gathered that the teaching itself is often misunderstood. As I don't know much about it to be a fair judge of this philosophy I'd like to ask about it on here. What I want to add is that if you live from a sense of awareness where you don't experience any lack or need something outer to fulfill you, is loving a person, missing them when you haven't seem them for a while (because you miss their essence, their unique beauty and their addition your "already fulfilled world), would that kind of inner experiencing of self be against sprituality? Are supposed to be detached in a way where you don't feel any joy, any sadness, any happiness, any pain, where you don't care about anything or anyone at all? Or do you still enjoy things in life and feel all those things but in less obsessive, attached way - like enjoying your passions, deeply loving your significant other and so on?

P.S.: As a person who experienced severe depression once where I couldn't feel any joy or satisfaction about anything, didn't care about anyone or anything, didn't care if I'm or dead.. it was one of the most horrible things I've experienced in my life.

And so I'd like to know what this concept is about.

Excerpt from the Recorded Sayings of Dahui Zonggao

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大凡涉世有余之士，久胶于尘劳中，忽然得人指令向静默处作工夫，乍得胸中无事，便认著以为究竟安乐。殊不知，似石压草，虽暂觉绝消息，奈何根株犹在，宁有证彻寂灭之期。

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Generally those who engage in worldly affairs, long being stuck in the dusty toils of labour, when in their moments of leisure receive instructions to make work of [sitting] in quiet silence, attain suddenly [an instant] of no concern in their chests, [they] then recognize and cling to the assumption that this is the ultimate peaceful bliss.

[But they] don’t know, [this is only] like a rock pressing/covering on the grass. Although there is a temporary feeling of termination, alas the root strands are still around, there is still the date of thorough quiescent extinguishment (nirvana) to be verified.

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Excerpt of Dayi's Inscription of Seated Meditation

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深嗟兀坐常如死，千年万岁只如此。

It is deeply sighed, that steady sitting which is constantly like dead, even after thousand of years and ten-thousand of ages, [would] still just be like this.

若将此等当禅宗，拈花微笑丧家风。

If [sittings] like this are equated to the Zen School, [it will] fail the house custom of [Buddha] holding flower and [Mahakasyapa] gently smiling.

黑山下坐死水浸，大地漫漫如何禁。

[Such failures of] sitting under the black mountain soaked in dead water, how to banish them from across the vast land.

若是铁眼铜睛汉，把手心头能自判。

But if [one is] a steely and bronzy eyed guy, [then practise] to be skilled in using the mind to determine for oneself,

直须著到悟为期，哮吼一声狮子儿。

[Relentlessly] until the date of awakening arrives, [to then give] a loud burst of the lion’s roar.

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Excerpt from Recorded Sayings of Danxia Zichun

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把今时事放尽去。向枯木堂中冷坐去。切须死一徧去。却从死里建立来。一切处谩你不得。一切处转你不得。一切处得自在去。所以道悬崖撒手自肯承当。绝后再苏相欺不得。若能如是。可谓旋岚偃岳而常静。江河竞注而不流。野马飘鼓而不动。日月历天而不周。

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Let the contemporary affairs/matters thoroughly go. To the dead wood hall go sit coldly. [You] must go die utterly one round.

Then from this death come established. Then everywhere you can't be lied to, everywhere you can't be twisted and turned, everywhere [you] attain the freedom to go.

Therefore it is said, when dangling at the cliff's edge, take it upon yourself to release the grip. The revival from termination/cessation is indeceivable.

If [you] can be as such, then it is called - storms toppling the mountain yet constantly quiet; rivers gushing to the sea yet not flowing; dusts aroused by galloping horses yet not moving; sun and moon traversing daily through the sky yet not in cycle.

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Excerpt of Wumen's commentary on Case 1 of Wumenguan

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參禪須透祖師關。妙悟要窮心路絕。

To engage in dhyana/zen, there has to be a penetration through of the ancestral teacher’s pass. [To realise] wondrous enlightenment/awakening, it requires impoverishing the paths of mind to termination.

祖關不透。心路不絕。盡是依草附木精靈。

[Should] the ancestral pass be not penetrated through, the paths of mind be not terminated, all’s just spiritual essence that sticks to grass and trees.

且道。如何是祖師關。只者一箇無字。乃宗門一關也。遂目之曰禪宗無門關。

So, what is the ancestral teacher’s pass? Just this one word – No.

[It is] the one pass of this [Zen Buddhist] school’s gate/method. Hence the title [of this text] is known as: "Zen School’s No-Gate Pass".

透得過者。非但親見趙州。便可與歷代祖師。把手共行。眉毛廝結。同一眼見。同一耳聞。豈不慶快。

Those who can penetrate through, not only do [they] intimately/personally see Zhaozhou, [they] too can with the various generations of ancestral teachers, hand-in-hand walking together, eyebrows knitted together, seeing with the same eye, hearing with the same ear.

Isn’t this celebratorily joyous?

莫有要透關底。麼將三百六十骨節八萬四千毫竅。通身起箇疑團。參箇無字。

Should there be [those who] want to penetrate the pass, have the three hundred and sixty bones and joints, with the eighty-four thousand pores of skin, all the body throughout aroused [and gathered] into a mass of doubt, and investigate/engage the single word "no (無)."

晝夜提撕。莫作虛無會。莫作有無會。如吞了箇熱鐵丸相似。吐又吐不出。蕩盡從前惡知惡覺。

Carry it day and night, without understanding [‘no’] as a vacant no-thingness, without understanding [‘no’] through a [dualistic formulation of] yes/no. It’s like swallowing a red-hot iron ball that can’t be spat out even if [you] try, wiping out all previous foul knowledge and foul feeling.

久久純熟。自然內外打成一片。如啞子得夢。只許自知。

By and by with familiarity, the internal and external will merge into one on its own. Like a mute having a dream, only you know it for yourself.

驀然打發。驚天動地。如奪得關將軍大刀入手。逢佛殺佛。逢祖殺祖。

Then suddenly, a release – astonishing the heavens and shaking the earth – like snatching the great blade of general Guan Yu in hand: meet Buddhas, kill Buddhas; meet ancestors, kill ancestors.

於生死岸頭得大自在。向六道四生中。遊戲三昧。

At the shore of [the sea of] life and death, attaining great freedom/autonomy, heading among the six-ways and four-births in flowing plays samadhi.

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Maybe rephrase: is dokusan like a contract where the teacher has to act to what they think is the student’s benefit?

Also, is that normal? I just got zen-gut punched by this guy yesterday.

As the title suggest, I'm asking if Buddhists experience pain and suffering if their loved ones die, and is mourning allowed in Buddhism or in any kind of spiritual development? I've read about detachment and how the practitioners practice it even in case of someone's death. Do they still feel pain (emotions associated with the loss), or they experience it as some kind of detached robots? I can understand the awareness of knowing that death is inevitable and everyone will leave us sooner or later and it's just a part of life but do Buddhists/enlightened souls/spiritually developed souls practice complete detachment and feel zero sadness towards passing away of someone close to them?

Thanks for your time.

I have been practicing Soto Zen Buddhism for a few years. Recently for some inspiration I read One Blade of Grass by Henry Shukman and Three Simple Lines by Natalie Goldberg (a bio about her experience with haikus) and really enjoyed the wisdom gleaned from their lives as zen practitioners.

Are there any zen Buddhist published biographies you’d recommend? These can be from current practitioners or those from history. It’s also alright if they practice another form of Buddhism if you still think it was interesting and helpful for your practice.

I look forward to your suggestions!

######Excerpt of Platform Sutra

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心念不起，名为坐. 内见自性不动，名为禅

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Mind-thought not arising, is named as "Seated".

Internally seeing nature-itself not moving, is named as "Meditation".

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######Excerpt of Dayi's Inscription of Seated Meditation

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要识坐禅不动尊，凤行草偃悉皆论。而今四海清如镜，头头物物皆吾听。

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To know the importance/highest of sitting meditation’s unmovedness, all that of the wind’s movements which bend grasses must be noted/commented upon.

And then when the four seas are clear/pure like mirror, the head of each and everything can be heard by me.

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• For those interested, can check out samadhi of the ocean seal (海印三昧 hai yin san mei) of the Avatamsaka Sutra. It is a samadhi whereby the wind ceases and the ocean functions like a mirror to reflect the entire array of projected phenomena/dharmas clearly.

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######Huangbo's Essential Dharma of Mind Transmission (5ii-5iiib)

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問向來如許多言說皆是抵敵語。都未曾有實法指示於人。師云。實法無顛倒。汝今問處自生顛倒。覓甚麼實法。云既是問處自生顛倒。和尚答處如何。師云。爾且將物照面看。莫管他人。又云。秖如箇癡狗相似。見物動處便吠。風吹草木也不別。

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• {5ii} Someone asks:

• Up till now your many sayings are all just oppositional phrases. Is there no actual dharma to instruct people?

• {5ii-a} Teacher says:

• The actual dharma has no inversion/confusion, but it is from the place of [your] question that inversion/confusion is itself born. What actual dharma is there to seek?

• {5iii} Someone asks:

• Since it is from the place of [my] question that inversion/confusion is itself born, what about Upadhyaya's answer?

• {5iii-a} Teacher says:

• You should treat it like a thing to reflect the face and see. Don't concern yourself with other people.

• {5iii-b} Teacher also says:

• Just be like a crazed dog. Upon seeing the movement of things, start barking immediately, discriminating not even if it's the wind blowing the grass or the tree.

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######Dogen's Fukanzazengi (original version, not the popular version) as taken from Zongze's Zuochan Yi

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身相既定氣息亦調。念起即覺。覺之即失。久久忘縁自成一片。此坐禪之要術也。

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• When body is stabilised/still, and breath is also regulated, thought arising is to be immediately noticed/sensed, [such that] upon being noticed/sensed, [it] is immediately gone.

• By and by, forgetting/ending conditions, there is accomplishment by-itself of mergence. This is the essential method of seated meditation.

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Hello, I must say right away that I do not have the opportunity to go to a monastery and find a teacher, no matter how much I would like to. I have already contacted this forum before, though from another account, the password from which I forgot, but not the point. How, after all, to practice zazen? I've been doing this for six months now, but from time to time I get desperate because I'm not sure how I'm doing the practice. This time, apparently, I will have to ignore it again and continue to sit without understanding what I am doing. And now I will say in advance, it will be a long text

So, I want to start with the original, with Dogen's teaching, which has no specifics at all. "think about not thinking" - what does it even mean? "don't think"? Seriously? Reading both Dogen and other Zen Teachers, I get the impression that they all do not understand what they are talking about or understand, but do not want to talk specifically. Not only do they all say completely different things, but also everyone does not bother to give a more detailed description of the practice they are talking about.

Someone says, "watch thoughts like clouds," no matter how hard I tried to figure out what that means, I couldn't. I just sat with my back straight and watching my thoughts, they inevitably led me into reflections. Then I would interrupt my thoughts and everything would start all over again. No, I wasn't waiting for something, as required, but in fact it was no different from if I was watching a movie or eating soup, thinking and finishing thinking, then starting all over again. If this is zazen, then what is the point of sitting, walking, or looking at the teacher?

Others say that you need to watch your breathing, but Dogen did not bequeath to watch your breathing. He didn't say to keep an eye on anything in principle. Zazen, as far as I understand it, is shikantaza, and in shikantaza it is not necessary to concentrate on the breath or the object. But the funny thing is that I was looking for instructions for the query "shikantaza", and found exactly the same instructions as for the query "zazen". That is, it is actually not only the same thing in a practical sense, but also in the sense of instructions. Simply put, all this again did not give me any understanding.

The third was Uchiyama Roshi, who was recommended to me here before. I studied his personal writings and read his translations of Dogen's writings, but that didn't help me either. in his work "unclenching the hand of thought", Rosi suggests not to let thoughts pass into a semantic sentence, interrupting the sentence on its first word. But, right after that, the greatest teacher of Antaiji writes that this should happen on its own, without the use of thought-suppressing efforts. What, then, tell me, is the peculiarity of his unsurpassed description of practice, if it all comes down to sitting and watching thoughts again?

Speaking of "doing nothing." This is another "method" of practice, in which everything is even simpler than in the previous ones. Just sit there and do nothing. Wow! It looks like it's very serious... How did Dogen not think of this in his fukanzazengi? Forgive me for my irony, it's just that I really find myself in a serious impasse from which I see no other way out than to turn back and return to a life without Buddhism, Zen and meditation. But I sincerely do not want to do this, and therefore I scratch these walls with my nails, not knowing how to overcome them. Of course, you can start talking about "gates without gates", but that won't help me. It's already been said (just now) and I'm still writing this post.

Please tell me how to practice with all the details. I don't want to collect stones for 10 years and then call this whole mountain of rubble a Buddha. I don't want to sit for 10 years and then be told "you're an ***, you should have done it differently" or "you're a ***, you've been thinking for 10 years and not doing zazen." Send me any detailed instructions, in any language, I will learn this language.

Now I really consider myself an *** who doesn't understand what everyone already understands. "think about not thinking" or "let go of thinking" - everyone understands this the first time and sits down full of confidence in what they are doing, and I'm alone like some kind of crazy demon looking for some details. Maybe for you it all looks like a request to give me "guidance on how to raise your hand." Maybe I can "raise my hand" and even do it, but I don't understand whether the "hand is raised" or I "raise my leg". Maybe I don't "lift" anything at all and think that "the hand is raised". Some teachers say that "non-thinking" is the zazen of the stone, Dogen says that "non-thinking" is the right zazen...

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I'm really happy I found this community. Want to share a quick story about how I got here.

Years ago, I had a passing interest in Zen. While researching it, I found r/zen. It really scared me and I forgot about it for a long time.

Fast forward to today. For a few months, I've been deeply enjoying Plum Village content and Thay's teachings. It surprised me to learn it is a flavor of Zen!

Today, I went back to r/Zen out of curiosity. This time with new eyes, I correctly realized it is actually deeply misguided corruption of buddhism. It's really sad and scary to think of the damage it causes. I believe Buddhism is supposed to be healing.

But I'm really happy this community r/ZenBuddhism is here, and to get to be a part of it. Thank you all!