Zen Ways Sanga Discussion

Dear Sangha,

As we enter the New Year and the opportunity to deepen our practice and study during the Winter Ango in which our emphasis will be on Genjokoan, please consider the following deeply:

“The Buddha Way does not fall into form, and does not fall into emptiness. There is a point at which you jump off both form and emptiness, and do not abide there. You must see through this. That is practice.

~Nishiari Bokusan on Genjokoan.

What does this mean? The Heart Sutra reminds us over and over about form and emptiness. Everything is form and emptiness, relative and absolute, delusion and realization! So, what can it mean: “The Buddha Way does not fall into form and does not fall into emptiness?

Tell me! Where is this point where you jump off? Bokusan, Roshi tells us that this is practice. Jumping off! Jumping off is a central point in many koan and Zen stories. Here is one:

A man pursued by a tiger found himself at the edge of a cliff. He leapt in order to escape the tiger, but suddenly, while in mid-air, he saw that a lion with jaws wide-open was waiting hungrily at the bottom of the cliff. He grabbed hold of a vine growing out of the rocks at the edge of the precipice. Clinging to the vine, he found himself safely out of reach of the tiger. However, he suddenly became aware that two rats, one white, the other black, were gnawing away at the vine. He then noticed wild strawberries growing out of the cliff side slightly out of reach. He would have to let go of his hold on the vine to grasp the strawberries. Boy did they look juicy! Meanwhile the vine was just about completely gnawed through. What did he do? The story ends here with the simple phrase, “Ahh, taste the strawberries!”

This traditional Zen teaching story reflects both the terror and the delight of a fully lived life and the gap between or what prevents an individual from tasting life fully as one finds it. We live our lives whether engaged or not; whether we wholeheartedly reach for and taste the strawberries or not. As John Lennon noted in his last song, “Beautiful Boy,” written just prior to his tragic death: “Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans.” The ongoing cycle of passing days and nights, the white and black rats, eat away one’s time no matter what. Lennon’s lyric serves as a poignant reminder that we are always, all of the time, living the reality that is our life happening in the present moment whether we are conscious or unconscious; whether we are thinking about form and emptiness or not; whether we allow ourselves to believe it or not. Lennon points to our way of being in the world, which is the reality of our existence. From the Zen perspective self is life and life is self. On this point the Zen teacher Kosho Uchiyama notes in a parallel to John Lennon’s lyric: “Self is what is there before you cook it up with thought” (2004, p. 30).

So, when is the jumping off point? Now! Where is the jumping off point? Here!

Go for it!

May the year ahead be peaceful, joyful and fruitful, For All Being

Seiso, Sensei

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