Bodhidharma consistently reminded us that a body comprised of the four elements is subject to birth and death. However, the Tathagata’s real body never changes. Why? It is before thinking. Everything that has form is ephemera, illusion and passing phenomena.
By holding onto appearances we create a consciousness that is always searching outside for meaning and substance. Whether it be God, Buddha, Jesus, actually anything at all, you are engaging in a type of activity that invites the spell of demons. Manifesting and adhering to conceptual ideas is ultimately doomed by the ever changing characteristics of conditions. And as such, are fatal to any lasting piece of mind. As humans, we are all subject to situations and conditions. Success and failure depend on changing conditions. Our true self never waxes or wanes, never increases or decreases. Remain unmoved by the winds of change. Don’t allow your mind to be corrupted or influenced by changing tides. Just silently follow the path of seeking nothing. Since all phenomena are empty, why tarry? The sutras say “To seek is to suffer.”
When your mind doesn’t stir inside, when you keep a still body, still breath, still mind, then the outside world does not arise. Zen Master Seung Sahn often taught that “understanding cannot help you.” When understanding and not understanding (don’t know) both become still, the result is samadhi. Without samadhi, which is one pointed focus on the present moment, we are just going through the motions. Our unconscious scattered thinking, full of wandering thoughts then rules the roost.
Be careful, we are not talking about suppression here. Simply allowing thoughts to come and go effortlessly, without attachment or manipulation leads quite naturally to this singular presence of samadhi.
A famous twelfth century Chinese Zen Poem begins with the lines, “Coming empty handed, going empty handed, that is human. When you are born, where did you come from, and when you die, where will you go. Life is like a floating cloud which appears, death is like a floating cloud which disappears.” Rather than focusing on your will as a testament to your legacy, instead, live a life that is essentially an open book and completely transparent. That is where your true legacy resides.
To finish this week’s blog on a humorous note, my good friend Mu Sang Sunim, our most senior monk in the Kwan Um School of Zen once asked me: “What is the definition of a monk bragging?” I said “I give up, what?” to which he answered “I know nothing, I have nothing, I want nothing.” Have a good week…