The enlightenment at which Zen aims comes by itself. Like consciousness, one moment it does not exist – the next it does. Man goes through life as if walking in mud; dragging his feet and his true nature. Zen talks about a gradual and an instant path to enlightenment. Enlightenment was symbolized by the bull in Tao and later adapted to Zen philosophy.
...
The bull is the eternal principle of life – truth in action. The ten bulls represent the steps toward the realization of ones true nature. This sequence is as potent today as when Kakuan developed it from earlier works. Basically, there were eight pictures of unknown origin which were not Buddhist but Taoist. Nobody knows who painted the first bulls, but in the twelfth century, a Chinese Zen master, Kakuan, repainted them. He also added two, taking the total to ten. The Taoist pictures ended with the eighth which is emptiness or nothingness. Kakuan added two new pictures – his contribution to Zen and religious consciousness.
Zen does not divide life into the worldly and the spiritual.
The mind and the world are not two entities, but one
The mind and the world are not two entities, but one
Zen does not distinguish between the worldly and the spiritual, but when one starts an inner journey, one renounces all that is nonessential and a hinderance, in order to seek the essential. This journey is to reach the greatest height – the pinnacle of human possibilities, so one tries to unburden oneself to make the journey easier. The climax is right where you are, but to reach it takes many lifetimes. One renounces not only the world but also the mind, as the mind is the cause of the world.
The mind and the world are one – they are not two different entities. The world of desires and possessions is the external part; the internal is the mind with its desires, lust, jealousy, competition and thoughts. It is the seat of delusion, desire, hope and malice. One renounces the outer and begins to desire rewards in the inner realm. One may wish to progress, but renunciation is not complete till you have cast off the inner greed. One becomes totally empty only when one renounces even the so called spiritual state. That is what meditation is all about! Total emptiness!
But is this the end? The Taoist pictures end with nothingness. Kakuan, says that this is not the end – one comes back to the world, to the marketplace and only then is the circle complete. Of course, one comes back totally new.
One never comes back with the old which is gone forever. One is totally renewed, resurrected and refreshed. One comes back to the world and again one lives in the world, yet beyond it. Again one chops wood, carries water, walks, sits, sleeps – one becomes absolutely ordinary. Deep inside, the emptiness remains uncorrupted. It simply lingers on; one lives in the world but is not of the world. One is untouched, like a lotus in the swamp.
The last two pictures bring the seeker back to the world. One comes back for those who are seeking; there are many who are stumbling on the path and are in deep darkness. One comes back to the world due to compassion, to help other travelers arrive. One has arrived and now one helps others arrive. One has become enlightened and now one helps others achieve the same goal. Each and everyone is searching for the same goal. One becomes a light house, helping ships to anchor safely.
The eight Taoist bulls are incomplete; beautiful, but something is missing. Emptiness is perfect, but further perfection is to be attained. Emptiness is perfect, let me repeat it, but there is a perfection yet to be attained. Emptiness is perfect in a negative way. You have renounced – that is negative; you have not loved yet; the positive is missing. Unhappiness and misery are gone, but you are not yet ecstatic. You have attained a silence which is beautiful, but your silence is not yet a fulfillment; it is not an overflowing blissful dance of your inner being.
Kakuan goes beyond Taoism and Buddhism — both end with emptiness, as if the journey were complete. You have reached Everest: cool, collected, calm. Why go back to the marketplace? If your meditation does not become compassionate, then it is concealing your ego even now; it is still selfish. If your meditation does not make you simple and innocent like a child, then it is not true meditation. If you are scared of the world, then the world is still reality for you; till it is not an illusion, you have not arrived at the truth.
The Ten Bulls are more than poetry or pictures. They are a revelation of spiritual experience. May the reader, like the Chinese patriarch, discover the footprints of his potential self, and carrying the staff of his purpose and the wine of true desire, frequent the market place, and there enlighten others. The last picture, the most important one, shows the unification of maya and brahman – there is no distinction, so there is nothing to renounce and nothing to hold on to. Life becomes a celebration, a festival.
1. The Search for the Bull
In the pasture of this world, I endlessly push aside
the tall grasses in search of the bull.
Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains,
My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I
cannot find the bull.
I only hear the locusts chirping through the forest at
night.
Comment: The bull was never lost. What need is there to search? Due to separation from my true nature, I fail to find him. In the confusion of the senses, I lose even his track. Far from home, I see many crossroads, but which is the right one I know not. Greed and fear, good and bad, entangle me.
2. Discovering the Footprints
Along the riverbank under the trees,
I discover footprints!
Even under the fragrant grass I see his prints.
Deep in remote mountains they are found.
These traces no more can be hidden than one’s nose, looking heavenward.
Comment: Understanding the teaching, I see the footprints of the bull. Then I learn that, just as many utensils are made from one metal, so too are myriad entities made of the fabric of the self. Unless I discriminate, how will I perceive the true from the untrue? Not yet having entered the gate, nevertheless I have discerned the path.
3. Perceiving the Bull
I hear the song of the nightingale.
The sun is warm, the wind is mild,
willows are green along the shore,
Here no bull can hide!
What artist can draw that massive head, those majestic horns?
Comment: When one hears the voice, one can sense its source. As soon as the six senses merge, the gate is entered. Wherever one enters one sees the head of the bull! This unity is like salt in water, like color in dyestuff. The slightest thing is
not apart from the self.
4. Catching the Bull
I seize him with a terrific struggle.
His great will and power are inexhaustible.
He charges to the high plateau far above the cloud-mists,
Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.
Comment: He dwelt in the forest a long time, but I caught him today! Infatuation for scenery interferes with his direction. Longing for sweeter grass, he wanders away. His mind is still stubborn and unbridled. If I wish him to submit, I must raise my whip.
5. Taming the Bull
The whip and rope are necessary,
Else he might stray off down some dusty road.
Being well trained, he becomes naturally gentle.
Then, unfettered, he obeys his master.
Comment: When one thought arises, another follows. When the first thought springs from enlightenment, all subsequent ones are true. Through delusion, one makes everything untrue. Delusion is not caused by objectivity; it is the result of subjectivity. Hold the nose-ring tight and do not allow even a doubt.
6. Riding the Bull Home
Mounting the bull, slowly I return homeward.
The voice of my flute intones through the evening.
Measuring with hand-beats the pulsating harmony, I
direct the endless rhythm.
Whoever hears this melody will join me.
Comment: The struggle is over; gain and loss assimilated, I sing the song of the village woodsman and play the tunes of the children. Astride the bull, I observe the clouds above. Onward I go, no matter who may wish to call me back.
7. The Bull Transcended
Astride the bull, I reach home.
I am serene. The bull too can rest.
The dawn has come. In blissful repose,
Within my thatched dwelling I have abandoned the
whip and rope.
Comment: All is one law, not two. We make the bull only a temporary subject. It is as the relation of rabbit and trap, fish and net. It is as gold and dross, or the moon emerging from a cloud. One path of clear light travels on throughout endless time.
8. Both Bull and Self Transcended
Whip, rope, person and bull – all merge in No-Thing.
This heaven is so vast no message can stain it.
How may a snowflake exist in a raging fire?
Here are the footprints of the patriarchs.
Comment: Mediocrity is gone. The mind is clear of limitation. I seek no state of enlightenment. Neither do I remain where no enlightenment exists. As I linger in neither condition, eyes cannot see me. If hundreds of birds strew my path with flowers, such praise would be meaningless.
9. Reaching the Source
Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and the source.
Better to have been blind and deaf from the beginning!
Dwelling in one’s true abode, unconcerned with that
without -
The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red.
Comment: From the beginning, truth is clear. Poised in silence, I observe the forms of integration and disintegration. One who is not attached to ‘form’ need not be ‘reformed.’ The water is emerald, the mountain is indigo and I see that which is creating and that which is destroying.
10. In the World
Barefoot and naked of breast, I mingle with the people of the world.
My clothes are ragged and dust-laden and I am ever
blissful.
I use no magic to extend my life,
Now, before me, the dead trees come alive.
Comment: Inside my gate, a thousand sages do not know me. The beauty of my garden is invisible. Why should one search for the footprints of the patriarchs? I go to the market place with my wine bottle and return home with my staff. I visit the wine shop and the market and everyone I look upon becomes enlightened.
The last picture is the most important one -
it shows the unification of maya and brahman – god and world.
There is no distinction, so there is nothing to renounce and
nothing to hold.
Life becomes a huge celebration, a festival.
it shows the unification of maya and brahman – god and world.
There is no distinction, so there is nothing to renounce and
nothing to hold.
Life becomes a huge celebration, a festival.
One has to catch the bull by the tail. Do not struggle with it, as in this passive activeness, one day the bull will be yours. Now you can let go off all struggle and be in nothingness, be in emptiness.
Once emptiness is experienced, there is no need to stay away, one lives in the world and yet one is aloof and distant. Kakuan’s contribution to the spiritual world is immense, we remain indebted to this great Zen master for all eternity.
Ni komentarjev:
Objavite komentar