I Celebrate Myself - 07

Existence is celebration

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

ONE DAY, SEKITO ANNOUNCED TO EVERYBODY THAT THE NEXT DAY THEY WOULD WEED THE GRASS IN FRONT OF THE BUDDHA HALL. THE FOLLOWING DAY, ALL THE MONKS GATHERED WITH SICKLES IN THEIR HANDS, BUT ONLY TANKA CAME WITH A TRAY FILLED WITH WATER.

BEFORE COMING THERE HE HAD WASHED HIS HAIR, BUT IT WAS NOT YET SHAVEN. NOW HE KNEELED DOWN IN FRONT OF SEKITO, AND SEEING HIM, SEKITO LAUGHED, AND SHAVED TANKA'S HEAD. AS THE MASTER USUALLY DID, SEKITO GAVE TANKA SOME SPECIFIC COMMANDMENTS, BUT AS HE DID SO, TANKA WALKED AWAY COVERING HIS EARS WITH HIS HANDS.

TANKA THEN LEFT FOR KOSEI TO SEE MA TZU. ARRIVING AT THE MONASTERY, HE WENT INTO THE HALL AND, CLIMBING ON THE STATUE OF MANJUSHRI, SAT THERE. THE OTHER MONKS WERE ASTONISHED AND TOLD MA TZU, WHO CAME IN, LOOKED AT HIM AND SAID, "MY SON IS TENNEN."

TANKA CAME DOWN, MADE A BOW AND SAID, "THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME A DHARMA NAME."

I Celebrate Myself - 06

Come to your own festival

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

SHODAI, WHO WAS BORN IN 738 IN CHINA AND DIED IN 820, WAS A DISCIPLE OF SEKITO.

SHODAI STAYED AT MOUNT NANGAKU UNDER SEKITO FOR THREE YEARS, THEN WENT TO MOUNT SHUKO WHERE HE SAW MA TZU.

MA TZU ASKED, "WHAT DID YOU COME HERE FOR?"

SHODAI SAID, "I CAME HERE FOR BUDDHA'S JAMUNA DARSHAN."

MA TZU SAID, "BUDDHA HAS NO JAMUNA DARSHAN. JAMUNA DARSHAN IS THE WORLD OF DELUSION. YOU ARE FROM MOUNT NANGAKU, BUT IT SEEMS THAT YOU HAVE NOT YET KNOWN THAT YOU NEED SEKITO. SO YOU SHOULD GO BACK."

HEARING THAT, SHODAI WENT TO SEKITO. ON MEETING THE MASTER, SHODAI ASKED SEKITO, "WHAT IS BUDDHA?"

SEKITO REPLIED, "THERE IS NO BUDDHA NATURE IN YOU."

SHODAI ASKED, "WHAT ABOUT ALL LIVING BEINGS?"

I Celebrate Myself - 05

Don't knock, wait!

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

GOSETSU AFTER BECOMING A MONK UNDER MA TZU, CAME TO SEKITO AND SAID, "IF YOU SETTLE THIS WITH ONE WORD, I WILL STAY HERE. IF NOT, I WILL LEAVE."

SEKITO, KNOWING THAT THIS MAN HAD PROMISE, MADE A GESTURE, BUT GOSETSU DID NOT GET IT. SO GOSETSU TOOK HIS LEAVE AND MADE FOR THE GATE, WHEN SEKITO CALLED TO HIM "TEACHER!"

GOSETSU TURNED AROUND, AND SEKITO SAID, "FROM BIRTH TO OLD AGE, IT IS ONLY THE FELLOW THERE AND NOTHING ELSE -- DON'T LOOK ANYWHERE FURTHER."

AT THIS, GOSETSU WAS GREATLY ENLIGHTENED. HE STEPPED ON HIS STICK TO BREAK IT AND STAYED THERE.

ONCE, SEKITO SAID TO HIS ASSEMBLED MONKS, "EVEN IF LANGUAGE IS USED, IT IS IRRELEVANT."

HEARING THIS, YAKUSAN SAID, "EVEN IF LANGUAGE IS NOT USED, IT IS IRRELEVANT."

SEKITO SAID, "HERE, EVEN A NEEDLE CANNOT GET THROUGH."

YAKUSAN SAID, "HERE, IT IS LIKE PLANTING A FLOWER ON A ROCK."

I Celebrate Myself - 04

Showering invisible flowers

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

SEKITO'S "SONG OF THE GRASS HUT."

I MAKE A GRASS HUT IN WHICH INSIDE THERE IS NO WORLDLY TREASURE.

I EAT AND SLEEP NATURALLY AND EASILY. WHEN I MADE THE HUT, THE REEDS WERE NEW. WHEN THE HUT GETS TORN, I COVER IT WITH REEDS AGAIN. THE PERSON LIVING IN THE HUT IS ALWAYS THERE. HE DOES NOT BELONG TO INSIDE OR OUTSIDE. I DO NOT LIVE WHERE ORDINARY PEOPLE LIVE; I DO NOT LOVE WHAT ORDINARY PEOPLE LOVE.

ALTHOUGH THE HUT IS SMALL, IT CONTAINS THE DHARMA WORLD. A MAN OF ZEN UNDERSTANDS IT WELL. BODHISATTVAS OF THE SUPREME VEHICLE HAVE NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, BUT THE MEDIOCRE ARE BOUND TO BE DUBIOUS.

IF I WERE ASKED WHETHER THIS HUT BREAKS DOWN OR NOT, I WOULD SAY THAT THE SUBJECT IS ORIGINALLY BOTH IN THE BREAKABLE AND UNBREAKABLE. I DON'T LIVE IN THE NORTH OR SOUTH OR THE WEST OR EAST.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE HUT IS THE MOST SOLID. UNDER THE GREEN PINE TREE, IN THE HUT'S BRIGHT WINDOW -- EVEN A GOLDEN PALACE CAN'T COMPARE. IF I COVER MYSELF WITH THE OLD QUILT, EVERYTHING SETTLES. THEN I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING.

I Celebrate Myself - 03

The paradise of yourself

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

ONE TIME, WHEN DAITEN CAME TO SEKITO, THE MASTER ASKED HIM, "ARE YOU A ZEN MONK OR AN ORDINARY MONK?"

DAITEN REPLIED, "I'M A ZEN MONK."

SEKITO ASKED, "WHAT is ZEN?"

DAITEN REPLIED, "IT IS RAISING EYEBROWS AND MOVING EYEBALLS."

SEKITO SAID, "EXCLUDING RAISING EYEBROWS AND MOVING EYEBALLS, BRING YOUR ORIGINAL FACE AND SHOW IT TO ME."

DAITEN SAID, "PLEASE OSHO, EXCLUDE RAISING EYEBROWS AND MOVING EYEBALLS, AND LOOK AT ME."

SEKITO SAID, "I HAVE EXCLUDED THEM."

DAITEN SAID, "I HAVE GIVEN IT TO YOU."

SEKITO SAID, "WHAT IS THE NO-MIND YOU HAVE GIVEN TO ME?"

DAITEN SAID, "NOT DIFFERENT FROM YOU, OSHO."

SEKITO SAID, "NO CONCERN ABOUT YOU."

DAITEN SAID, "REALLY, THERE IS NOT A NO-MIND NATURE."

I Celebrate Myself - 02

Ringing bells in your heart

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

WHEN DAITEN FIRST CAME TO SEKITO, THE MASTER ASKED HIM, "WHAT IS YOUR NO-MIND?"

DAITEN REPLIED, "THE ONE WHO SPEAKS IS IT."

AT THIS, SEKITO SHOUTED, "KWATZ!" -- AND LEFT.

TEN DAYS LATER, DAITEN AGAIN CAME TO SEKITO AND ASKED, "THE LAST ANSWER I SAID TO YOU WAS NOT NO-MIND. WHAT IS NO-MIND?"

SEKITO SAID, "WITHOUT RAISING EYEBROWS OR MOVING EYEBALLS, BRING YOUR NO-MIND HERE."

DAITEN SAID, "THERE IS NO NO-MIND TO BE BROUGHT."

SEKITO SAID, "BASICALLY, NO-MIND IS. WHY DO YOU SAY NO-MIND IS NOT? THAT IS THE WRONG STATEMENT."

AT THIS, DAITEN WAS GREATLY ENLIGHTENED.

I Celebrate Myself - 01

The grand rebellion

OUR BELOVED MASTER,

SEKITO SAID:

"MY TEACHING, WHICH HAS COME DOWN FROM THE ANCIENT BUDDHAS, IS NOT DEPENDENT ON MEDITATION OR ON DILIGENT APPLICATION OF ANY KIND.

"WHEN YOU ATTAIN THE INSIGHT AS ATTAINED BY THE BUDDHA, YOU REALIZE THAT NO-MIND IS BUDDHA, AND BUDDHA IS NO-MIND; THAT NO-MIND, BUDDHA, SENTIENT BEINGS, BODHI, AND KLESA, ARE OF ONE AND THE SAME SUBSTANCE WHILE THEY VARY IN NAMES.

"YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOUR OWN NO-MIND ESSENCE IS NEITHER SUBJECT TO ANNIHILATION NOR ETERNALLY SUBSISTING, IS NEITHER PURE NOR DEFILED. IT REMAINS PERFECTLY UNDISTURBED AND SELF-SUFFICIENT. THE SAME IS SO WITH THE WISE AND THE IGNORANT. YOUR NO-MIND ESSENCE IS NOT LIMITED IN ITS WORKING, AND IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE CATEGORY OF MIND, CONSCIOUSNESS, OR THOUGHT.

"THE THREE WORLDS OF DESIRE, FORM, AND NO-FORM, AND THE SIX PATHS OF EXISTENCE ARE NO MORE THAN MANIFESTATIONS OF YOUR MIND ITSELF. THEY ARE ALL LIKE THE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER, OR IMAGES IN THE MIRROR. HOW CAN WE SPEAK OF THEM AS BEING BORN OR AS PASSING AWAY?