Source Text
Even a small amount of zazen can be bondage if it is a device for avoiding the world. It is in engagement that we find our true nature—the true nature of the universe.
Kuei-shan approved, so Hsiang-yen built a small hut near the tomb and spent his days cleaning the grounds, absorbed in his kōan. One day while sweeping up fallen leaves, his bamboo broom caught a stone and it sailed through the air and hit a stalk of bamboo with a little sound. Tock! With that tock! he was awakened. Hurrying to his hut, he bathed and then offered incense and bowed in the direction of Kuei-shan’s temple, crying out aloud, “Your kindness is greater than that of my parents. If you had explained it to me, I would never have known this joy.” Like the Buddha whose preparation under the Bodhi Tree invited the morning star, Hsiang-yen’s deep absorption in Kuei-shan’s kōan set the stage for the little stone to do its work. Practice makes kenshō possible—and then an unexpected intervention breaks the spell of time and space.
Taking my toothbrush in hand I vow with all beings fully to realize the subtle Dharma and at once attain purity. When I brush my teeth I vow with all beings to have the eye teeth to conquer demons,
Preparing to enter the shower I vow with all beings to wash off the last residue of thoughts about being pure. Preparing to enter the shower I vow with all beings to cleanse this body of Buddha and go naked into the world.12
“All things are empty by nature, not born, not destroyed, not stained, not pure, without increase or decrease.”3 Then why do you feed the cat when she cries? Wu-men comments: “All you Zen students, training in the Way, don’t be victimized by sounds; don’t follow up on forms.” Senzaki Sensei used to ask, “When you hear a dog bark, do you think of your own dog?” That is a very interesting question. For if you do, then very soon—immediately, in fact—you are running through the fields in a totally different place and time.
You can relate this to Dōgen Zenji’s couplet in the Genjō Kōan: That the self advances and confirms the ten thousand things is called delusion; That the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self is enlightenment.8
It is all very well to contain the vast wide world. It is all very well to cast off body and mind and find Mu everywhere. But can you step from the top of a hundred-foot pole without falling on your face?
AI Summary
The Gateless Barrier by Robert Aitken presents key insights from the Zen tradition. The 7 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 7 are particularly representative.
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