Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Ten

STAGE 10
ENTERING THE MARKETPLACE WITH ARMS HANGING LOOSE

Introduction
He closes the thatched gate to his hermitage
so that even the thousand sages do not know of him.
He buries the light of his own knowing
and goes against the tracks left by former sages.
Carrying a gourd, he enters the marketplace; holding his staff, he
returns home,
Bestowing Buddhahood on barkeeps and fishmongers.

Verse
Shoeless and bare-chested he enters the marketplace;
He is daubed with earth and ashes, and a smile fills his face.
Making no use of the secrets of gods and wizards,
He causes withered trees to bloom.

So Daiho:

When we are buddhas there is no need for the signs and symbols, the shoes and the robes, of the Buddha. There is no need for sticks and whisks, special words, or bells and incense. Transformative process is like this.

Our presence is enough. The way we open a door. The way we smile. The way we invite. The way we say no. Each speaks as silence is to thunder.

When we are buddhas there is no Zen apart from us. Our way is Zen, regardless of how Zen came and went in the past. So we set out on our own way, free of the trappings of our Teacher, free of the trappings of the Buddha himself.

In so doing, what was once a stiff, old teaching or a vericose-veined Temple, is now living and vibrant. This is dialectic. This is life.

We still wear our robes. We still shave our heads. We still light our incense and make bows. There is a deep and profound difference between habits and manifestations. Just as there is a difference between a candle without a flame and a candle burning bright.

In this so-called "Stage" we are understopod as beings in full expression of Buddha-nature. Our each action is a seamless expression of Buddha-dharma. Our bodies are the body of the Buddha. The notion of these stages happening as sequential events is very misleading. While it is true, in my opinion, that in order for seeds to sprout, the ground of our being must first be tilled by both life and death and a true practice, there is no moment within which the Buddha is not present within each of us. So in each moment an eye may open and light shine forth. Our continuous practice is to assist us, so to speak, in keeping our eye open regardless of the time of day.

With love and a deep bow,