Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Eight

STAGE 8
PERSON AND OX BOTH FORGOTTEN

Introduction
Ordinary feelings have fallen away, thoughts of holiness are all empty.
We should not linger where there is Buddha; we should pass quickly by
where there is no Buddha.
If we do not stick to either, it will be difficult for a thousand
eyes to perceive us.
For myriad birds to carry flowers is a shame all around.

Verse
Whip, tether, person and ox - all are empty.
The blue sky spreads out far and wide, it cannot be communicated.
On a red-hot oven, how can there be any place for snow?
Having come this far, you understand the intention of the patriarchs.

So Daiho:

We chant the Wisdom Heart Sutra, all bowing with the sound of the bell. We adjust the flowing robes and sit facing the wall. We rise and walk, feeling each footfall, each stiff muscle relax. We sit again. We sip our tea so graciously served. We listen to the Dharma, incomparably profound and minutely subtle. When we do this awake, there is no room for even a single thought, not a single feeling. The oven is, indeed, hot.

Practicing like this there is no practice and no practitioner. There is simple awareness in motion. The tools are just tools and are no longer necessary. But because we are buddhas we continue: through time and space there we are; one, all, none.

Just so, we get up in the morning and great the day. We say hello to the kitty, the dogs, the coffee pot. We sit zazen, we wash our faces, clean our teeth. We go to work, driving, walking, running, sitting, eating, talking. Done fully and completely, there is no room for wobbles.

As the present moment yield of all causes and conditions before, lizards now speak and slime walks. The combustion of creation is settled in form. And in process. And in form. And in process.

In this place, beginning and end have no meaning.

Be well.

Practice

With palms together,

If I am originally water and I gradually become wave, what do I do?
If I am then sky and I suddenly become bird, how do I see sky?

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Seven

STAGE 7
OX FORGOTTEN, PERSON REMAINING

Introduction
In the dharma there is no duality; the Ox is the foundation.
It may be compared to the rabbit and the snare;
it is expressed in the difference between fish and weir.
Like gold coming from ore, like the moon emerging from behind the
clouds.
The Single Way of cold light has been shining
ever since the time of Ion beyond the kalpas.

Verse
You have mounted the ox
and already reached your home in the mountains.
The ox is gone and the person has nothing more to do.
Though the morning sun has already risen three bamboo lengths,
he dreams on.
The whip and the halter, no longer of use, are hung up in the stall.


So Daiho:

Opening my eyes this morning, I thought of you. My dogs, Tripper and Pepper waited patiently, the coffee was made, bows made, the incense was lit. Nothing here is apart from one another. You, I, dogs, coffee, incense, and all of the actions are the same without any distinction. Distinction is an illusion of mind.

These things were always there and will always be here. And more, there really is no here or there, then and now. We call this our original nature. Our original nature is our continuous nature, our perpetual nature. Once understood, once attained, we realize it's true nature.

So, then, of what use language? So, then, what use zafus, robes, dog leashes, coffee?


May All Beings Be Free From Suffering

Seiza

Sitting seiza our hands held in gentle repose, the heart and body settles as we open to the universe. Seiza is a traditional knelling position. Often used by women and used in Tea Ceremony, it possesses great elegance on the one hand, and positions the body in a receptive form, allowing a gentle face to emerge, on the other.

To sit seiza, simply kneel. Pleace your hands in the Cosmic mudra, keep your shoulders straight and open, tuck your chin slightly.

You may use a zafu on its side for support or a specially constructed seiza bench.

I find sitting this way is an excellent tool in assisting me to get in deep touch with the feminine within. It is difficult to feel aggressive feelings in this pose. Much like gassho assists us in opening ourselves to compassion and releases anger, seiza opens us to receptivity and relaxes defenses.

As always, when you sit, sit with dignity.

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Six

STAGE 6
RIDING THE OX HOME

Introduction
The battle is already over, gain and loss are also empty.
He sings a woodcutter's rustic song and whistles a child's tune.
Straddled on the Ox's back, he gazes at the clouds.
Though you call him he will not return;
though you try to catch and hold him, he will not stay.

Verse
You mount the ox and want to make your way slowly home.
A barbarian plays the flute in the red glow of sunset.
Each measure, each tune is filled with ineffable tones.
Among true intimates, what need is there for words?

So Daiho:

Mind comes and goes like the clouds in the sky, as do all things, when we attain oneness with them all, in whatever form, we are on the Ox. We are pure joy. We have attained the realm of emptiness and see ouirselves as having arrived. All things are meaningless. All things are fleeting. Since we cannot kepep anything, there is no need to value anything. Then 'among true intimates, what need is there for words?' The sea talks to itself in deep silence.

Still, we have not attained the deep abiding. We see bliss as something separate from pain. When the sea is the sea that is not all there is: waves are there also.

A magician flips the coin and in the sound of the spin we are two.

We see good as something different from evil. Vietnam. Killing. Wal-Mart. Shopping. Eating. Shitting. Hugging. Loving. Not different, yet different. We do not understand the coin.

A deep bow

In the middle of normal

With palms together,

In the middle of normal, today:
Zazen, breakfast, banking,
grocery shopping, laundry,
house cleaning,
writing and emailing.
The laundry is folded,
hung, and otherwise
put away.
The groceries
are put away.
And our Shabbos dinner
is being prepared.
I have incense lit
in the Zendo
with the door open
so that the fragrance
of sandlewood
moves through the rooms.
Countless smiles:
Life is stillness in motion.

Be well

Ten Ox-Herding Pictures: Stage Five

STAGE 5
TAMING THE OX

Introduction
Once thoughts rise up even slightly, they are followed by other
thoughts.
Through enlightenment, they become true; in delusion, they become
false.
It is not due to our surroundings that they are there;
they are only produced by our mind.
We must pull the Ox firmly by his tether and not allow any doubts to
enter.

Verse
Whipping does not depart from the body at any moment.
Lest he follow his own whim, entering the dust and dirt.
If you devotedly tame him, he will be pure and gentle.
Without bridle and chains, he will follow you of his own accord.
____

So Daiho:

I learn unevenly: trying to learn to walk again, I often stumble. Learning to be a therapist, I sometimes fail to listen. Learning to be a human being once again and not a hunter of human beings, I sometimesa see myself kill.

Images are the worst: coffee spoons, cigarettes, motorcycles, medals, beads, long hair, beard, no beard, shaved head; badges of this and that. Like mud they stick to my boots and cause me to grunt while walking. I just want to fly. Zazen releases the weight of the badges. Then,

Nice guy. Feminist. Buddha. Vietnam Vet.

Illusions not even as real as spooks in the night sky.

Faith in our practice is foundational. Coming to the mountain Zendo, meeting my Master, I sit each day. His life is nothing to write home about. Most Masters live this way. Ordinary living that is all. So I don't write home.

It is important to recognize the chimeric quality of thoughts and feelings. As one old friend used to say, "a bag of shells, Harvey, a bag of shells." When we see our thoughts as important or profound or valuable we are lost. When we see them coming and celebrate them we are lost. Only when they are seen for their true nature, the nature of wind across the desert, are they in their proper context.

So here it is: just sit. Sit in the morning. Sit in the evening. And in between, steer yourself directly.

Be well