"When sitting is about how I feel and what I want, we are preparing to begin. When the whole zendo is our zazen, when our practice is the practice of who and what we encounter, zazen has begun. Whatever condition, making our effort is the universe practicing us."

Cold, snowy day; perfect for January sesshin. Rohatsu sesshin in December, which commemorates the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha, is often a cold sesshin, with long dark nights of sitting and ongoing practice effort. We practice in a zendo where we sense the elements. This sesshin in January is often connected with Master Lin Chi. Even colder, more snowy time of year in Illinois, when practice, being present, is supported by the elements. Of course, practice is supported in warm weather too. Nevertheless, body-mind habits and attachments which arise are pushed, are exposed, by the snowy cold. Body-mind habits are just body-mind habits. Unfortunately, we miss this life when caught in body-mind habits, when holding and reacting to them. This is the practice opportunity of the manifested koan of our life.

“The Master Lin Chi took the high seat in the hall. He said ‘On your lump of red flesh is a True Person of No Rank who is always going in and out of the face of every one of you. Those who have not yet proved him, look, look!’ Then a monk came forward and asked ‘What about the True Person of No Rank?’ The Master got down from his seat, seized the monk and said ‘Speak! Speak!’ The monk faltered. Shoving him away, the Master said, ‘The True Person With-out Rank, what kind of shit-wiping stick is he?’ Then he returned to his quarters.”

This is from the Lin Chi Lu (Rinzai Roku in Japanese), the record of Master Lin Chi, who died in 866 C.E., in his 50’s. Lin Chi was addressing monks so he says “true man of no rank.” Nevertheless, “True Person” is not limited to “man,” not limited to “woman,” so Lin Chi says True Man, I say True Person. True person of no rank on this lump of red flesh is exactly this lump here, “just this face,” each of us, each of you. Going in and out of face, of whole body, is this functioning True Person, your functioning right now!

Don’t be distracted by the phrase “no rank.” In one sense, no rank means no status. If we think of T’ang dynasty Chinese society, where everyone had some status, whether high or low, not having any status is very unusual. Even more, no rank means no boundaries, not bound by any particular status, by rules of status society, by ideas and concepts. So, no rank is this person of emancipation.

Look at all the ranks that you believe and hold! We may even turn Lin Chi’s phrase into some idea, “practice is finding this no-rank, which is different from rank.” No! Dogen Zenji comments “What is the True Person of Rank?” No problem with rank. One of you is a doctor, one an engineer, a professor, a student, various ranks. If we interpret no rank as something other than this right here now, then we do not see no rank. Being exactly the rank we are is rankless, statusless; though it is so, rankless rank or statusless status, are stinky words. Sometimes we lead people around the zendo, sometimes we are led around the zendo. This true person of no rank is freely any rank; we are this rankless rank right now. Lin Chi reveals this True Person for each of us right now.

Unfortunately, there are all sorts of ways that we are not willing to be as we are. “He can’t say that to me.” “She can’t do that to me, after all I’m her father, mother, sister, etc.” All the rank ranks. “Well, I don’t do that, that’s someone else’s to do.” My son, a 12 year-old, is willing to walk the dog but not willing to pick up the dog shit. Even with a plastic bag, he says “Phew, I don’t do that.” Lots of ranks that we hold to, ranks that blind us right-here-now; even rankless blinds. We don’t want to be, to see, to respond. Unfortunately, when we spin off, imagine it the way we want, then we never see, never are, this right-here-now, this very moment. This is what Master Lin Chi is saying. Explaining it conceptually, this functioning of, hearing (reading) this, always going in and out of this body, is every one of you. Not something else. Do not think there is some “true person” coming in and out other than this; that is nonsense. This is exactly your functioning! Not a hairsbreadth of separation! And yet, if we do not see this, live this, then it is not so. Then even a hairsbreadth of separation blinds us. Truly, we can be every rank, every position, and yet, we hold back. What is the boundary of ranks in your life, what are the rank bounds right now? Where is this true person? See, this is what the monk is talking about.

What is the problem? Master Lin Chi says, “Bring to rest the thoughts of the ceaselessly seeking mind, allow the mind to rest.” Allow this open awareness. The constant spinning mind is trying to create life in a way that will be pleasant, that will make us feel safe, secure, feel good. It is grabbing on to every emotion-thought that arises. So, allow thought, emotion, feeling, to arise and pass, be this open awareness that you are and “you will not differ from the ancestor Buddha. Do you want to know the ancestor Buddha?” Lin Chi says. “He is none other than you who stands before me listening to my discourse.” In many Chinese and Japanese monasteries the tradition is to stand while the discourse was being given by the Master in a high seat. All of you listening are none other than the ancestor Buddha! (Hits stick on floor.) That is what he is talking about, this true person of no rank right now listening. “Since you students lack faith in yourself you run around seeking something outside;” Or seeking something inside. “Even if through your seeking you find something, that something will be nothing more than elaborate descriptions and written words. In the end you will fail to gain the Mind of the living ancestor. Make no mistake, worthy Ch’an practitioners, if you don’t meet it here now, you’ll go on transmigrating through the three realms for myriads of kalpas and thousands of lives, and, held in the clutch of agreeable circumstances, be born in the womb of an ass or a cow.” Very direct and descriptive language.

So, what is going on when this monk comes forward, “What about this true person of no rank?” Whatever the state of the monk, he is making the effort to clarify! “The Master got down from his seat, seized the monk and said, ‘Speak! Speak!’ The monk faltered. Shoving him away, the Master said ‘The true man without rank, what kind of shit-wiping stick is he!’”

Is a shit-wiping stick different from the true person of no rank? Do not be fooled! My teacher Soen Nakagawa Roshi said “I, too, am such a shit-wiping stick fellow, but also, this true man of no rank.” This true person is exactly our life. Not anywhere else, not something other than the exact life we are now. It transcends life, death, good, bad, delusion, enlightenment. Even shit-wiping stick and true person, it is NOT that and yet not anything else; this is exactly who we are. Lin chi says it right here. “This true man without rank, what kind of shit-wiping stick is he!” This is not a question. Look! What kind of shit-wiping stick he is! Only if we are not so, not clear, then this is not enough. It is our practice opportunity to be the shit-wiping stick fellow, though it may be hard or painful to be so in the midst of body-mind habits and attachments.

What is this ceaselessly seeking mind? Look! Only it gets in the way of this true person functioning. Bringing this ceaseless seeking to rest is allowing thoughts to come and go freely; then they are at rest. And “you’ll not differ from the ancestor Buddha.” When the Second Ancestor requests, “My mind is not at rest, please put it at rest,” Bodhidharma responds “Bring me this restless mind.” Finally, the Second Ancestor sees for himself the ungraspableness of this seeking, “nowhere to be found;” realizing this, therefore, ceaseless seeking is at rest.

Right now here is not other than this true person that we call ancestor Buddha. It’s none other than you who are listening right now; breathing, sitting; even saying that we make it into something. So Lin Chi says “We don’t have any Buddhas here. If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet the Ancestors, kill the Ancestors.” If you seek for Buddha, Buddha is merely a name. It is exactly our life, anything else sought is only a name, is extra, is an obstacle, a hindrance.

Have faith in this awareness that you are, this functioning. Joko uses the expression “create a shift from this spinning world we’ve got in our heads to right-here-now.” Yesterday I used the expression “a gap between the world that we are and the world we are caught up in and live in.” Not because there is a gap; and yet we create a gap with this ceaselessly seeking inside and out. So, we must look, we must prove, testify for our self. “Those who have not yet proved (proved means testify, know) Look! Look!” Look right now! This is exactly what we are doing here in sesshin; in this cold morning. It is nothing but this going and coming on this lump of red flesh. This going and coming is nothing but this lump of red flesh functioning, this true person.

This true person and our life are not two different things, yet not the same. Otherwise, we get satisfied with what is not satisfactory. And we can see the unsatisfactory right away when we are spinning off, where we falter as the monk does, where we “cloud.” Master Lin Chi speaks this way, as all teachers do, encouraging us. “Rest this ceaselessly seeking mind.” Be this awareness functioning. Zazen is this open awareness functioning. Our practice effort allows this gap to disappear, allows us to taste and testify as this true person that is sitting right here.

“Followers of the Way,” says Master Lin Chi, “as I see it we are not different from Shakyamuni the Buddha. What do we lack of our manifold activities today?” You don’t have to remember any of Master Lin Chi’s words or anyone else’s words. Just take them like the monk took them, to encourage practice, to remind you of who and what you are. It doesn’t matter what rank, doesn’t make us better or worse.

Zazen is manifesting who and what you are, this true person functioning. Right-here-now, sitting, standing up, walking. Being so, then this gap, this spinning off, of itself is gone. We make the choice, the effort, and of itself, moment by moment, this is taken care of. When it is time to testify, we testify. This endless functioning is exactly our life, whether we know it or not. It is not a matter of words. Faith in words, in ideas, in thoughts and what we get from others, from outside, or even from so-called inside, is what ails us. “Lack of faith in yourself” is what ails you. So, please allow your practice to practice you, be lived by your life, allow zazen to zazen. Then sitting and standing, you are exactly this true person, nothing but this true person.

© 2005 Elihu Genmyo Smith